Kyle Goon, Childs Walker, Giana Han, Giacomo Bologna and the photo staff of The Baltimore Banner won first place in the Division B event coverage category of the 2025 Associated Press Sports Editors contest.
The Banner’s winning entry was for its coverage of the 150th and final running of the Preakness Stakes before the demolition of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.
APSE contest winners will be honored at the 2026 APSE Summer Conference banquet July 18 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va. Registration for the conference is open; you can register right here.
The Banner will receive a first-place plaque. The second- through 10th-place finishers will receive frame-worthy certificates.
Sports editors submitted 26 entries in the Division B event coverage category. Each entry was permitted to contain up to five pieces, along with supplementary optional content for judges to consider. Contest chair Perryn Keys and APSE officers Paul Barrett, Erik Hall and Tony Maluso prepared the entries.
Contest results: Digital, print and podcasts | Writing and photography
Judges convened in late February, in person at the APSE Winter Conference in Las Vegas and remotely around the nation, to select the top entrants, reading 122 total pieces in the category. The committee determined 10 finalists, with each judge ranking the entries in order from 1 to 10. The final 10 were given to a second judging group in late February and March, ranking the entries from Nos. 1 to 10 in the same fashion.
The final rankings are determined by tallying the ballots. 666
The top 10 are listed, with first-place votes in parentheses, along with links to the winning entries.
The contest is open to APSE members. Click here to join.
1. Kyle Goon, Childs Walker, Giana Han, Giacomo Bologna and photo staff, The Baltimore Banner (4) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
2. Kacen Bayless, Vahe Gregorian, Matthew Kelly, Blair Kerkhoff and Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star (1) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
T3. Lance Lysowski, Jay Skurski, Katherine Fitzgerald and Ben Tsujimoto, The Buffalo News 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
T3. Greg Luca and Mike Finger, San Antonio Express-News 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
T3. Aria Gerson, Gentry Estes and Paul Skrbina, The Tennessean (1) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
T6. Scott Fowler, Chase Jordan, Mark Price and Alex Zietlow, The Charlotte Observer 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
T6. Payton Titus, C.L. Brown, Jason Frakes, Ryan Black and Brooks Holton, Courier Journal (Louisville, Ky.) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
T8. Steve Wiseman and Luke DeCock, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
T8. Staff, The Oklahoman 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
10. Chris Harlan, Kevin Gorman, Paul Schofield, Chuck Curti and Bill Hartlep, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
