Nick Kelly and Nick Gray of The Tuscaloosa News won first place in the 2021 Associated Press Sports Editors contest in the Division D Event Coverage category for their comprehensive coverage of Bryce Young winning the Heisman Trophy. Event Coverage is a new category in the APSE contest.
Kelly and Gray will be presented a first-place plaque at the 2022 APSE Summer Conference banquet at The Alexander Hotel in Indianapolis on June 18. Click here to register for the conference.
McClain Baxley, Ryne Dennis, Joshua Jones and Marc Weiszer of the Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald finished second, and Tim Buckley of The Daily Advertiser in Lafayette, La., took third.
Sports editors in Division D submitted 17 entries in Event Coverage.
Contest chair Jorge Rojas and fellow APSE officers Gary Potosky, Naila-Jean Meyers and Ed Reed prepared the entries. The contest is open to APSE members.
In February, judges at the APSE Winter Conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., selected a top 10, with each judge ranking the entries in order from 1 to 10 on a separate ballot. Entries were given 10 points for a first-place vote, nine points for second and so on down to one point for a 10th-place vote. The final 10 were given to a second judging group, which ranked the entries 1-10 in the same fashion.
The final rankings are determined by tallying the ballots.
The winner in each category will receive a plaque at the summer conference. The second- through 10th-place finishers will receive frameable certificates.
The top 10 is listed below with voting results and links to the winning entries.
1. The Tuscaloosa News – Nick Kelly, Nick Gray 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 59 points (5 first-place votes)
2. Athens (Ga.) Banner-Herald – McClain Baxley, Ryne Dennis, Joshua Jones, Marc Weiszer 1, 2, 3, 4, 44 points
3. The Daily Advertiser (Lafayette, La.) – Tim Buckley 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 40 points (1 first-place vote)
4. The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer – David Thompson, Rodd Baxley, Chapel Fowler 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 36 points
5. Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal – Jake Jennings, Christian Knox, Michael Doti, Anna Snyder 1, 2, 3, 4, 33 points
T6. Florence (S.C.) Morning News – Scott Chancey, Justin Driggers, Matthew Christian, Andrew Boardwine, David L. Yeazell 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 29 points
T6. Sun Journal (Lewiston, Maine) – Wil Kramlich, Adam Robinson, Lee Horton 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 29 points
8. PowerMizzou.com – Gabe DeArmond, Sean Williams, Mitchell Forde 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 27 points
9. The Daily News Journal (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) – Cecil Joyce 1, 2, 3, 17 points
10. Daily Record (Rockaway, N.J.) – Jane Allison Havsy, 16 points
