Meet the candidates for 3rd Vice President

 

The election period for APSE third vice president is open. Candidates are, from left: John Bednarowski of the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal, Tommy Deas of the Tuscaloosa (Ala.) News and Robert Gagliardi of the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. The third vice president will assume office at the concluding meeting of the summer conference in Chicago in June and serve a two-year term. Each news organization with circulation of under 40,000 has one vote.

 

To vote, send your choice to Executive Director Jack Berninger at jackapse@aol.com. The deadline is June 1.

 

Bios of the candidates are below in alphabetical order.

 

News organization: Marietta Daily Journal

Background: I began my career while still in college at UAB. I worked as a stringer for current APSE second vice president Tim Stephens at the now-defunct Birmingham Post Herald. From there I went to the St. Clair News Aegis in Pell City, Ala., where I received the true taste of what it is like to work for a small city newspaper. In addition to being a one-man sports department, I got my fill of local government, community features and advertorials. I left the News Aegis in the summer of 2003, and after working as a correspondent during football season for the Birmingham News, I was hired as a sports writer at the Gadsden Times in Gadsden, Ala. In 2006, I was hired as sports editor for the Marietta Daily Journal where we have taken prep and local sports coverage to a new level in print, online and through social media.

APSE experience: I joined APSE in 2007. I am currently serving as the Southeast Region Chairman. I have been a contest judge the last four years. I will attend my fourth national convention in Chicago where I will be heading a workshop panel on how small papers can brand their local coverage. Last year, I took part in the new APSE mentoring program. I am currently a member of the scholarship and convention committees and was a member of the most recent third-vice president committee.

Objective: To continue to help APSE in building a strong foundation for smaller news organizations. In order to do that, the third VP has to take a leading role in making sure the smaller papers have an avenue to share ideas. We have to show each other how to improve their sections and online content despite our ever contracting industry and we have to find a way to bring new members into the fold that can follow the lead of those who have come before us.

Quotable: Only at APSE do the members understand what it means to have election night nearly every Friday and Saturday night of the year. Because of that, it is important to nurture our leadership qualities to help sports editors thrive in that environment and help their staffs provide the best products for their readers.

 

News organization: The Tuscaloosa News

Background: My earliest memories of reading are of pouring through Sunday sports sections of The Tuscaloosa News. I started stringing for The Tuscaloosa News on March 17, 1980, the day I got my driver's license, and continued all the way through high school and college at the University of Alabama. In March, 2008, I was promoted to executive sports editor of The Tuscaloosa News. That speaks well of The Tuscaloosa News, because two other publications that I worked for along the way did not survive having me as an employee. I spent five years in Nashville, first at the now-defunct Banner for four years, and for another year at a start-up free publication, The Sports Page. I left the Music City after the latter folded, and the Banner closed shop shortly after. I returned to my hometown to work in the finance industry, where I strong-armed deadbeats to get them to pay their bills for a couple of years while stringing for, you guessed it, The Tuscaloosa News. I returned to journalism full-time in January, 1993, as interim sports editor, for what was supposed to be a one-year gig while the sports editor was traveling the world on a leave of absence. Ignoring my reputation for killing publications, they kept me after he returned. I covered everything from high schools to big-boy college football until I was promoted to my current position. My most notable accomplishment in my current position is identifying and negotiating a partnership with Rivals.com to give our sports department a base of thousands of paid subscribers for our online product.

APSE experience: Served as a judge for the last three years at the Winter Conference, sleeping a total of 11 hours during those 15 days. Attended the Summer Conference in 2010 and 2011, having the honor of serving on a general session panel — on the topic of big-event coverage on multiple platforms — last summer in Boston with Joe Sullivan of the Boston Globe, Tom Jolly of the New York Times and Mike James of the Los Angeles Times (while humming "One of These Things Is Not Like the Other" under my breath). Currently serving as vice chairman of the Southeast Region. Have participated in annual region meetings and made a presentation last year on our weekly 16-page color high school football tab.

Objective: The Third Vice President chair is tasked to give a voice to the under-40,000 circulation publications. My experience has been that APSE wants to listen. To represent that voice, my plan is to contact a number sports editors at smaller-circulation shops to determine their needs from the APSE, then follow that up with a wider, more formal, survey to rank those needs in importance and elicit feedback on how those needs are being met. From that information will come an agenda that I can pursue in my role as vice president.

Quotable: I need the APSE far more than it will ever need me. I owe you all.

 

New organization: Wyoming Tribune Eagle/WyoSports

Background: Started at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in Cheyenne in December of 1993 as a sports writer after graduating from the University of Wyoming, and was fortunate enough to be hired full-time before I graduated. Have served as a sports writer, outdoors editor, assistant sports editor and as the sports editor since November of 2002. In the fall of 2009, the sports departments of the Tribune Eagle and Laramie Boomerang in Laramie, Wyo., combined to form WyoSports, and I oversee the sports coverage, content and staffs at both papers and provide four three other smaller daily papers in this family-owned chain with content. With Cheyenne’s circulation at just under 15,000 and Laramie’s at 5,000, I am a writing sports editor as the main beat writer and columnist covering University of Wyoming sports, primarily football and men’s basketball. I have covered Wyoming football the last 15 years, and basketball the last 10.

APSE experience: Have been an active member for more than 10 years. Attended summer conferences in Orlando, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Boston. Have been a contest judge three times, including each of the last two. Attended one Northwest Region meeting, and hope to get to others in the future. The Wyoming Tribune Eagle has won the Triple Crown the last two years, and 10 APSE top 10 section awards since 2008. I also have won four top 10 APSE writing awards, and two of my staff members have won APSE top 10 writing awards. Prior to my involvement, the Tribune Eagle and Laramie Boomerang, including any of their writers, had never won an APSE award.

Objective: To continue past efforts to get more small newspapers involved in APSE and what the organization has to offer. It’s not just about entering contests and winning awards (although that is great). There are a lot of people in APSE who have a wealth of knowledge to share. Would like to get more smaller papers to join the organization, but also to let them know what we do and how we can help them even as a sounding board for ideas and the frustrations in our business. Would like to form a sort of digital “suggestion box” where editors at small papers can submit ideas and frustrations and offer ideas and suggestions to help, and perhaps do a monthly or bi-monthly online chat and conference call to discuss current issues that affect us every day. Would like to get more college journalists involved and aware of APSE as well, and always to continue work and progress on diversity in our business.

Quotable: Even though I haven’t worked at many papers, I have done just about everything imaginable at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle and WyoSports. I have a broad scope of the challenges that face small-paper sports editors, and want to be there to provide guidance, encouragement and hopefully learn some things myself. What sports staffs do at these smaller papers still play a vital role in their communities, and I want to help make sure they continue to do that and provide ideas and ways to do them even better.