Nancy Armour, Rachel Axon, Steve Berkowitz, Kenny Jacoby and Lindsay Schnell of USA TODAY Sports won first place in the 2022 Associated Press Sports Editors contest in the Investigative category for their reporting on Title IX disparities in major college sports.
APSE contest winners and top-10 finishers will be honored at the 2023 APSE Summer Conference banquet at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas on July 12. Click here to register for the conference, which begins on July 9 and will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of APSE.
The New York Times was second for its investigation into the growth of sports betting, and Scott M. Reid of the Southern California News Group was third for his investigation into abuse in the University of California swimming program.
USA TODAY Sports will receive a plaque. The second- through 10th-place finishers will receive frameable certificates.

Sports editors from all divisions submitted 33 Investigative entries, which could include up to 10 articles each. There were 16 entries from A Division, 9 from B and 4 each from C and D.
Contest chair Naila-Jean Meyers and fellow APSE officers Jorge Rojas, Dan Spears 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., and remote judges around the country selected a top 10, with each judge ranking the entries in order from 1 to 10. 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 top 10 is listed below with voting results and links to the winning entries.
- USA TODAY Sports, Nancy Armour, Rachel Axon, Steve Berkowitz, Kenny Jacoby, Lindsay Schnell: How colleges have sidestepped Title IX. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10, 56 points (4 first-place votes)
- The New York Times, Staff: Investigation into sports betting. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5, 50 points (2 first-place votes)
- Southern California News Group, Scott M. Reid: Abuse in University of California swimming. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10, 42 points
- IndyStar, David Woods: Huntington University track scandal, 33 points
- The Montgomery Advertiser, Bennett Durando: Harvey Updyke and the Auburn Oaks, 32 points
- The Record (Bergen, N.J.), Jean Rimbach and Abbott Koloff: Rutgers University athletics finances. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10, 30 points
- The Boston Globe, Bob Hohler: SafeSport and youth hockey, 29 points
- The Washington Post, Gus Garcia-Roberts: Trevor Bauer accusations. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6, 27 points
- Knoxville News Sentinel, Adam Sparks: University of Tennessee football rules violations. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8, 16 points
- 10. The San Francisco Chronicle, Ron Kroichick and Lance Williams: Santa Clara vs. the 49ers. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9, 15 points
APSE Contest Winners