Olivia Janik will hop on I-94 West this June for the 270-mile drive from Madison, Wis., to Minneapolis and arrive at the 2025 APSE Summer Conference as the Naila-Jean Meyers Grant recipient.
The APSE and Minnesota Star Tribune are pleased to honor both Janik, a first-year sports reporter at the Wisconsin State Journal, and Meyers, the 2023-2024 APSE President and Deputy Sports Editor at the Star Tribune.
Janik was chosen from a pool of finalists by a group of Star Tribune editors. Janik will receive $1,500 from the Star Tribune to attend the summer conference in Minneapolis.
The grant was established by the Star Tribune and APSE with this in mind: One of Naila’s great passions is ensuring there’s room in sports journalism and room in APSE for the next Naila-Jean Meyers.
Janik is a 2024 Maryland grad who is also a Class of 2024 SJI participant and started at the Wisconsin State Journal in October. She wrote in her application that she is “passionate about improving the quality and quantity of women’s sports coverage at all levels. We’ve seen an astronomical rise in the popularity of women’s sports in the past few years and sports journalism needs to catch up.”
The summer conference is June 26-28. Janik will be there, ready to learn.
“I want to thank APSE and the Star Tribune,” she said. “I promise to make the most of the opportunity.”
— Chris Carr, The Minnesota Star Tribune
