By Erik Hall
USA Today Sports Network
Entries for the 2020 Associated Press Sports Editors student contest are now being accepted.
Entries and questions about the contest should be emailed to Erik Hall at hallerik7@gmail.com with STUDENT CONTEST in the subject line.
The entry deadline is Saturday, April 11, 2020.
Previous winners include George Stoia (University of Oklahoma), Kelli Stacy (University of Oklahoma), and Emily Giambalvo (University of Georgia).
2020 APSE Student Contest Rules
1. The contest is open to all APSE student members, and members of any APSE student chapter at any college or university. Annual dues for APSE student membership are just $25. It is not too late to join APSE. Learn how here.
2. Entries must come from undergraduate or graduate students who have been enrolled at a college or university during summer 2019, fall 2019 or spring 2020 academic terms.
3. Work must come from the period of May 1, 2019, through April 10, 2020.
4. DEADLINE TO ENTER IS April 11, 2020
5. The single contest category will be Portfolio. A student may enter only one portfolio.
The portfolio will have three elements: (a) a feature or enterprise story, (b) a multimedia or video item (not to exceed 30 minutes) and (c) a wild-card entry, which can be from the above categories or something else.
All written work must have been done by the student alone — no co-byline on written material allowed.
For the multimedia or video entry, the student entering must have had a key role in conceiving, editing and producing the item, but it can involve someone else. An example, someone else operating the camera if the student is on camera.
Multimedia is defined as a website post with the author’s name on it that includes:
- Anything interactive (stay or go, football picks, report cards, etc., and charts)
- Charts that further explain something in the story, or more clearly shows something written about in the story
- Video that the writer shoots and publishes (rather than just a video embedded in a story)
- Podcasts
6. All work entered must have been published, but does not have to have been published in a student publication. It can be from an internship, from stringing with a local paper, writing for a website, etc. It cannot, however, be published only on the student’s own “see my work here” portfolio web page.
7. No redaction will be required and there is no anonymity for entries. All entries will be submitted via links to the published work.
If you have a paywall you need to provide us with a contest username and password (on your entry key), good through May 15, 2020.
8. It is not required, but you may include a cover letter that is 200 words or less. If included, the cover letter should reflect the impact of stories included in the portfolio and/or metrics that show authority and audience engagement.
9. A top 10 will be chosen out of all entries, with the top 10 then ranked in order from first place to 10th.
10. Winners will be announced before the APSE Summer Conference, which will take place in June in Indianapolis. Everyone that enters the contest is encouraged to attend the APSE Summer Conference. A plaque will be awarded for first place. Certificates will be given to other top 10 finishers.
11. Details on how to enter will be distributed to all APSE student chapters and all APSE individual student members by March 15, and will be posted on the apsportseditors.com website and Facebook pages.
