Sam McDowell of The Kansas City Star won first place in the Division B breaking news category of the 2025 Associated Press Sports Editors contest.
McDowell’s winning entry explained that a bullet broke through the glass of an office at the Kansas City Chiefs’ practice facility last summer, and that coach Andy Reid was inside the office at the time. The three-time Super Bowl champion coach was not struck by the gunshot, nor was anyone else, but Reid now works in an office protected by bulletproof glass, sources told McDowell.
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.
McDowell will receive a first-place plaque. The second- through 10th-place finishers will receive frame-worthy certificates.
Sports editors submitted 66 entries in the Division B breaking news 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 committee determined nine 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. Sam McDowell, The Kansas City Star (3)
2. Elena Perry, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)
3. Zoe Collins Rath, Austin American-Statesman (1)
T4. Alex Zietlow, The Charlotte Observer
T4. Jacob Calvin Meyer, The Baltimore Sun
6. Shelby Swanson, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) (1)
7. Seth Rorabaugh, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (1)
T8. Jadyn Watson-Fisher and Steve Wiseman, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)
T8. Greg Luca, San Antonio Express-News
10. Theo Lawson, The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, Wash.)
