APSE members,
With recently elected third vice-president Justin Pelletier accepting the sports editor job at the Boston Herald, the third- v-p position has become open again. Dan Spears and Emily Horos, the other two third v-p candidates, have agreed to run again to fill the vacancy. This person fills a two-year term representing APSE’s smallest member organizations.
Below find their bios.. Please review and email me your vote to me by Monday, June 4.
A key reminder: Only those members working for under 40,000 circulation newspapers; stand-alone websites with under 250,000 unique monthly visitors or weekly newspapers are eligible to vote. Each organization gets one vote.
EMILY HOROS
CURRENT POSITION: Sports Editor, American News (Aberdeen, S.D.)
JOURNALISM BACKGROUND: Since August 2015, I have been the sports editor at the American News. During my time here, we have expanded our coverage of college football and made a push toward digital platforms and video. Prior to my move to South Dakota, I served as the sports editor at the Cherokee Tribune (Canton, Ga) and a sports writer at the Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal. Other industry experience includes a stint as a design editor at the Bradenton (Fla.) Herald and as the assistant sports editor at the Daily Journal (Seneca, S.C.). I got my start in journalism as a photographer at a weekly in Easley, S.C. and later established myself as a freelance photographer with clients including the Associated Press, The New York Times and the Orlando Sentinel. I am schedule to graduate in May from the South Dakota State with a Master’s in Mass Communications.
APSE EXPERIENCE: I was a member of the 2013 APSE Diversity Fellowship class. APSE judge for four years and former vice-chair of the Southeast Region. I will be attending my fifth summer convention in Nashville this summer. The APSE and the connections I made through it, helped me go from a one-person sports department to overseeing a staff of four in less than two years. I currently serve as the chairperson of the Great Lakes Region and am also a member of the Diversity Committee.
OBJECTIVE: In order to not only maintain, but increase membership, APSE needs to find ways to offer more to its members, particularly small papers. Regions need to look for a way to involve more publications and show the value to being a member. As a sports editor at not only a small paper, but a rural one, I have found the importance of getting information to readers that are spread over a large coverage area. I believe small papers need to band together and share the techniques we have learned to make our work more efficient. Digital journalism is a big part of that, but I have learned that even it isn’t a perfect solution. As a representative of small newspapers, I would work to not only bring more publications into the fold, but create a stronger network of members. There are two small colleges in my coverage area with hundreds of athletes. I know there are sports editors at papers around the country that would like the features we have products on some of these student-athletes. I would like to build a network to connect these two pieces so everyone, especially the readers, can get more.
QUOTABLE: You have to learn to play with what you’ve got.
DAN SPEARS
CURRENT POSITION:
Assistant Managing Editor, Wilmington StarNews. That’s an ambiguous title, Dan. What do you do? I now oversee two sports editors for four papers (including Wilmington) as well as digital projects, and I also coordinate statewide sports coverage for GateHouse’s papers in the Carolinas
.
JOURNALISM BACKGROUND:
Wilmington StarNews (AME, May 2017-present; Sports Editor, September 2008-May 2017; Asst. Sports Editor, August 2006-September 2008). Augusta Chronicle (Asst. Sports Editor, July 2002-August 2006). The Herald-Mail, Hagerstown, Md. (preps & desk, February 1998-July 2002). The Independent-Mail, Anderson, S.C. (sports copy desk & design, May 1995-February 1998)
APSE EXPERIENCE:
Judging since 2014 (or ’13 … It’s one of those two). Summer convention attendee multiple times over, first one in 2006. Chief laugher at Lisa Wilson’s decisions during Cards Against Humanity in any Hospitality Room since 2015. Current Atlantic Coast region chair.
OBJECTIVE:
Reinforce our ability to provide opportunity and mentoring for our smallest organizations and the wide variety of journalists that work in those places. What technology hurdles can they overcome with more feedback and training they might not be able to get in-house? In addition, we also have a growing number of papers falling into our smallest circulation levels — what do they need to continue to be effective in their communities?
QUOTABLE:
”No, we can’t solve every problem. But what can we start fixing today?”
