Connor Pignatello of Advance Media New York in Syracuse won first place in the Division B high school beat writing category of the 2025 Associated Press Sports Editors contest.
Contestants in the category submitted four-part portfolios that included pieces of breaking news, event coverage, enterprise and a wild-card submission. Pignatello entered a portfolio that included breaking news on a lacrosse team having canceled its season as players faced criminal hazing charges; a girls basketball team winning its final home game of the season on the same day the diocese announced the school would close; a Syracuse charter school at the beginning of its first football training camp; and the five-year anniversary of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic having shut down the New York State high school basketball championships.
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.
Pignatello will receive a first-place plaque. The second- through 10th-place finishers will receive frame-worthy certificates.
This was the first year in which the high school beat writing category expanded to include Divisions A and B. Sports editors submitted 22 entries in the Division B category. 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. The first group read 88 total pieces in the category and 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.
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. Connor Pignatello, Advance Media New York (Syracuse) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
2. Jason Frakes, Courier Journal (Louisville, Ky.) (1) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
T3. Jordan Davis, The Oklahoman (2) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
T3. Langston Wertz, The Charlotte Observer (1) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
5. Kyle Neddenriep, IndyStar (2) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
T6. Clevis Murray, The Buffalo News 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
T6. Mike White, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
8. Christina Huang, San Antonio Express-News 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
9. Nik Streng, The Oregonian 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
10. Tyler Palmateer, The Tennessean 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
