And … breathe.
Well, except if you’re an officer, who’s now taking your lists of entries and checking them twice before they get to judges for the 2024 APSE Contest.
Kudos to Paul Barrett for getting things off to a smooth start in this year’s event.
In case you missed the divisions and who you’ll be competing against, that’s here.
As far as the contest, a couple of final things:
We’re at almost 100 judges remote and in-person combined. We could use another 15 in one form or another. Please fill out the form here if you’ve not yet done so. Sections judging will start on Monday, Jan. 27, and stories to follow, ahead of the in-person winter conference on Feb. 23-27 in Orlando.
If you are attending in Orlando, please get your hotel rooms booked quickly. The deadline was just extended. You have until the end of January. Here’s the link to the Hilton site with our rate.
With that said, there are a TON of other things coming up over the next five months, with all roads eventually leading to Minneapolis and the summer conference. Here’s the Cliffs Notes version of what you’ll be seeing, reading about, and being asked to help with, along the way.
January 2025
Red Smith Award: Tomorrow, you’ll get an email from committee chairperson Matt Pepin detailing the early details on nominations for this year’s winner, who will be honored in Minneapolis. The deadline for nominations will be some time in mid-February, with voting to follow.
Ethics Policy: Did you know APSE has an ethics policy? It got left on a virtual shelf somewhere, around the time that we went away from the membership booklets that used to be mailed to all members annually. But we’ve revived that document, updated it with information and guidance relevant in today’s journalism climate. It’ll be published on our website on Monday, Jan. 27. The goal: We know that a large majority of our members are parts of chains and newsrooms that have ethics standards in place. With a growing number of independent journalism outlets in our ranks, however, we want them to have guidelines when faced with tough calls in the future.
Small-paper Google Meet: Thursday, Jan. 30, 5 p.m. ET. Division C and D newsrooms (and anyone, really) are invited to join third vice president Tony Maluso, and APSE multiple top-10 winners Jake Adams and Patrick Obley for a conversation on high school coverage as we get into the basketball playoff season and beyond. Topics will include coverage strategy and maximizing resources and time for Q&A. Here is the link to join.
February 2025
Conference planning: If you have any ideas for conference sessions in Minneapolis, please send them to me at apsepresident@gmail.com. In February we’ll begin figuring out the landscape for how many available session times we have, what needs to be in a big-group setting, what should be a small workshop, etc. NO IDEA IS OFF THE TABLE. We want as many things to choose from as possible. These suggestions will also be shared with region chairs for their upcoming meetings as well. The goal: Walk out of Orlando with an almost-complete plan and begin outreach for speakers, etc.
Naila-Jean Meyers Grant nominations: The Minnesota Star-Tribune is sponsoring a one-time grant for the Minneapolis conference, to be given to a minority or woman who has not attended a conference, or hasn’t attended in quite some time, to help cover registration, hotel and travel costs. Chris Carr is leading the local organization of this grant. Details from him will be shared on the website and to membership through an email, including a link to apply for consideration.
Calling Volunteers: Remember in the “olden days” when everyone signed up on the easels at the summer conference to be on a committee? We lost that during COVID, and with the width of our organization it’s something I will be bringing back, but in a digital sphere. More details shortly, but know that you’ll be asked to jump onto a committee – we need everyone’s help here and there throughout the year to create the growth and outreach necessary to sustain our membership. That might mean an hour this month or a couple hours in another month, but the more people we can get to help, the better we’re gonna be. We have terrific committee chairs currently; we also rely solely on them a little too much.
Second VP nominations: Nominations for the newest member of our officer team will take place at the closing meeting of the winter conference in Orlando, on Thursday, Feb. 27. A refresher on how to nominate and who can nominate … From the bylaws:
Candidates for second vice president will include the third vice president (in those years when the third vice president is completing a term of office) and outgoing regional chairs (unless one or more declines to run or is serving an additional two-year term as the result of a procedure described below).
The Executive Committee may nominate as many as four additional candidates for second vice president at a meeting during the winter workshop (described below).
Any Executive Committee member may nominate a candidate for second vice president by presenting the nomination via voice or in writing to a member of the Executive Committee, and having the nomination seconded by a different member of the Executive Committee, in the period beginning with the closing meeting of the winter conference, and ending at 11:59 p.m. on March 15.
March 2025
Volume II: The Billie Jean King Award for Excellence in Women’s Sports Coverage returns for stories written in 2024. More details to come from me and contest chair Paul Barrett, but we took entries in March of last year and that seemed to work well – so start getting your best work together! If you were a judge a year ago, I’ll be reaching out for your interest in doing so again in 2025. And then we’ll reach out for more judges as needed. This is a tremendous contest, and our first year was a smashing success.
Student Contest: The annual student contest will also begin its call for entries in March. This contest is open annually to members of APSE student chapters and individual APSE student members. Again, more details on judging, entries, etc., to come.
Donn Walden Leadership Grant nominations: Our annual Donn Walden Grant for the summer conference will begin accepting nominations in March. This grant, for $1,000 toward conference registration, hotel and travel, is given annually to a member of a small news organization that is a part of APSE. Donn Walden was the sports editor at the Lewiston Tribune in Idaho when he unexpectedly passed away in April 2023, and he was an enthusiastic APSE member. A link to submit nominations will be sent in March.
April 2025
Northeast Region Meeting: Monday, April 14, at Temple University. Region chair Jim Pignatiello, vice chair Nate Mink, past president Gary Potosky and others are in the process of creating the day’s schedule. Though geared toward Northeast members, anyone is allowed to attend any meeting in any region. Jim will have final details and a sign-up link soon.
More Regions: There will also be upcoming region meetings for the Midwest, Southeast and West. Jason Hoffman, John Devine and Christopher Boan, respectively, are in charge of those details, and Jason is hoping to have an in-person event in Cincinnati.
Commissioners Meetings: This event has hovered between April and early May depending on when commissioners are available in New York City. Hank Winnicki continues as point person in 2025. Any specific questions can go to him early, and we’ll have more details once the dates and lineup are set. (I’m hoping I can make my debut at this one!)
June 2025
Summer Conference: We’ll converge on the Twin Cities over the last weekend in June to celebrate our contest award winners and bring everyone together for knowledge, celebration and camaraderie in the North Star state. Conference dates are set for June 26-28, but coming to town on the 25th will put you in line for some pre-conference fun.
Obviously a LOT going on. It’s an exciting time for us as we rev up for the year. As always, please email me at apsepresident@gmail.com or text me with questions.
Hope your year is off to a great start –
dan
