Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman won first place in the Division B short feature category of the 2025 Associated Press Sports Editors contest.
Carlson’s winning entry told the story of Sara Sweet, who wrote a personal note to her late father, Steve – a victim of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing – on a Thunder shirt and left it at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum before Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The note went viral; the Thunder won; and Sweet wrote a thank-you note to general manager Sam Presti for the joy the team brought her family. Presti, in turn, left Sweet a thank-you note for the message she wrote to her late father and how it made other Oklahomans feel.
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.
Carlson will receive a first-place plaque. The second- through 10th-place finishers will receive frame-worthy certificates.
Sports editors submitted 64 entries in the Division B short feature 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 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.
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. Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman (3)
2. Shelby Swanson, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) (1)
3. Julie Jag, The Salt Lake Tribune (1)
4. Sam Cohn, The Baltimore Sun (1)
T5. Francesca Bond, The Buffalo News
T5. Zoe Collins Rath, Austin American-Statesman
7. Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News
T8. Joe Freeman, The Oregonian
T8. Brian Wacker, The Baltimore Sun
10. Doug Fernandes, Sarasota Herald-Tribune
