Matt Porter of The Boston Globe won first place in the Division A 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. Porter entered a portfolio that included breaking news on a security issue that left two fans bloodied at a state championship soccer game; a game story about a high school that won for the first time in more than a year, and in its first game since a teammate suffered a traumatic brain injury; an enterprise story on how private money has taken over boys high school hockey; and a feature on a state champion diver who was killed in a car crash.
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.
Porter 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 14 entries in the Division A 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 56 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. Matt Porter; The Boston Globe (2) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
2. Greg Riddle; The Dallas Morning News (2) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
3. Cassidy Hettesheimer; The Minnesota Star Tribune (1) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
4. Jon Poorman; Houston Chronicle 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
5. Michael Errigo; The Washington Post (2) 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
6. Nathan Canilao; Bay Area News Group 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
7. Richard Obert; The Arizona Republic 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
8. Joseph Santoliquito; The Philadelphia Inquirer 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
9. Chris Dabe; The Advocate/The Times-Picayune 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
10. Zac Bellman; USA TODAY Sports-Wisconsin 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
