11 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020
Hampton Inn and Suites, St. Petersburg, Fla.
Meeting called to order at 11:02 a.m.
Officers introduction by President Todd Adams:
- President Todd Adams of the Raleigh News & Observer introduces himself
- First vice president Lisa Wilson of The Athletic
- Second vice president Gary Potosky of The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Third vice president Dan Spears of the Wilmington Star-News
- Executive Director Bill Eichenberger of the Las Vegas Review-Journal
- Conference Coordinator Glen Crevier, retired from the Star Tribune in Minneapolis
Past presidents present:
- Bill Eichenberger, Newsday (2003)
- Glen Crevier, The Star Tribune of Minneapolis (2005)
- Jim Jenks, MLB.com (2006)
- Mike Sherman, Tampa Bay Times (2014)
- Tommy Deas, The Tennessean (2016)
- Jeff Rosen, Kansas City Star (2017), **
- John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal (2018)
Region representatives:
- Atlantic Coast: (Steve Hemphill, Roanoke Times)
- Great Lakes: (Kyle Nabors, Northwest Herald)
- Great Plains: (Michael Peters, Tulsa World)
- Mid-Atlantic: (Tony Maluso)
- Northeast: (Justin Pelletier, Boston Herald)
- Northwest: (Paul Barrett, Seattle Times)
- Southeast: (Perryn Keys, The Advocate)
- Southwest: (Maria McIlwain, Houston Chronicle)
- West: (Joe Baird, Salt Lake Tribune)
- Associated Press: Barry Bedlan
Finances and budget update
From Executive Director Bill Eichenberger:
- No update since Saturday.
Conference update
From Conference Coordinator Glen Crevier:
- No update since Saturday.
Committee reports:
APSE ALUMNI
From chairperson Jim Jenks:
- Reception to presidential scholarship was overwhelming, already raised $800. Will start initial letter and solicitation letters in the near future.
COMMISSIONERS MEETING
From chairperson Jeff Rosen:
- Nothing new since Saturday.
DIVERSITY
Notes from chairperson Larry Graham (unable to attend):
- Nothing new from Saturday.
FUTURES
- From chairperson Steve Hemphill: unable to attend.
LEGAL AFFAIRS AND ETHICS
Notes from co-chairs Gerry Ahern and John Cherwa (unable to attend):
- Nothing new from Saturday.
MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
From Chairperson Mike Harris:
- Nothing new from Saturday.
OLYMPICS
- We’ve had a few people express interest in filling the open Olympics Chair position. We’re planning on making a decision soon. If anyone else is interested or knows someone who would be interested, let us know ASAP.
OUTREACH
Notes from chairperson Chris Fickett (unable to attend)
- Nothing new to report since Saturday.
RED SMITH AWARD
Chairperson Jack Berninger
- Nothing new to report since Saturday.
REGIONS
Chairperson Mike Kates:
- Great Plains will have a region meeting in late April, working out final details. Any other meetings that are planned, reach out to Mike.
REVENUE
Chairperson Tommy Deas:
- Nothing new since Saturday.
SCHOLARSHIP
Chairperson Phil Kaplan:
- Nothing new to report since Saturday.
STUDENT LIAISON
From co-chair Nicole Saavedra (co-chair Jenni Carlson unable to attend):
- Nothing new to report.
STUDENT CONTEST
From chairperson Erik Hall:
- Will set a deadline of April 11, have 2 weeks to judge, winner decided around early May so hopefully they can attend in June. Reduce entries per student 5 to 3. Looking for judges.
WEBSITE
Chairperson Gary Potosky:
- Nothing new to report since Saturday.
WRITERS
From chairperson Joey Chandler (unable to attend):
- Nothing new to report since Saturday.
OLD BUSINESS
No old business.
NEW BUSINESS
From Todd Adams:
- We will now take nominations for 2nd vice president. As a reminder, nominations must come from executive committee members, which includes officers, former presidents and region chairs. Are there any nominations?
- Jeff Rosen nominates Jorge Rojas, Jorge accepts
- Bill Bradley automatically nominated, accepts
- Dan Spears automatically nominated, accepts
- We will now take nominations for 3rd vice presidents. As a reminder, nominations must come from someone who works at a news organization with a circulation of 40,000 or under. And that nominees must come from organizations with a circulation of 40,000 or under. Are there any nominations?
- Chris Imperiale and Donn Walden have expressed interest. Have until March 15 to have candidates.
Is there any other new business?
CONTEST
- Chairperson Lisa Wilson opens wid-ranging discussion on this year’s contest and suggested contest changes going forward.
From Gary Potosky
We are looking to restore the contest committee, which Lisa and I will chair, for the primary purpose of having a four month run of revising next year’s contest to make it, as we do every year here and there, easier to enter, easier to judge, and best reflect what we do every day as sports editors. The specific goal is to bring need and desired changes — agreed to by the committee after a number of steps along these four months — to Indianapolis to present to the membership there. Your comments in this meeting will be part of the committee’s discussions.
- If you are interested, please email me at gpotosky@inquirer.com in the next few weeks. If you signed up last summer in Atlanta and you want to be on the committee, let me know. In addition to volunteers, I will reach out to some people so that we can have a committee well represented across organization size, age, diversity, and APSE seniority. We’re looking for 8 committee members in addition to Lisa and I.
- We’re not expecting a heavy lift for any individuals on the committee, but rather a collective input by everyone involved. Ideas, discussion, rough draft and feedback, final draft to bring to Indianapolis.
In a show of hands, how many editors here today have e-editions of their newspapers? As the contest gets increasingly digital, we will spend this next year trying to determine how realistic it is to make the section contest digital in the next few years, hoping that this could increase the number of dues-paying papers that participate.
Some e-editions may not go back a year
DIGITAL CONTEST
We are planning to overhaul the website contest, which has run into significant issues the past few years in terms of judges being able to commit time to it, especially during football season and holidays.
Many details to come in the next few months on this, and we may fold these discussions into the contest committee discussions.
The purpose will be to make the website contest best reflect the quality of our sites based on the sites’ individual goals and resources — your best web experiences for readers should be fairly included in contest judging.
Motion to adjourn — Steve Hemphill
Seconded — John Bednarowski
Time 12:24 p.m.
Attendance:
Steve Henson, Los Angeles Times
Jeremy Johnson, The Oconee Enterprise
Bill Eichenberger, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Joe Battaglia, FloSports
Nick Talbot, San Antonio Express-News
John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal
Justin Pelletier, Boston Herald
Kyle Nabors, Northwest Herald
Paul Barrett, Seattle Times
Rachel Lenzi, The Buffalo News
Joe Baird, Salt Lake Tribune
Michael Kates, Gambling.com
Tony Maluso, Citizens Voice
Christopher Boan, East Valley Tribune
Marquel Slaughter, Utica Observer-Dispatch
Michelle Martinelli, USA Today Sports
Chris Carr, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Naila Meyers, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Donovan Dooley, The Undefeated
Kirkland Crawford, Detroit Free Press
Steve Hemphill, The Roanoke Times
Tommy Deas, The Tennessean
Oskar Garcia, The New York Times
Perryn Keys, The Advocate/The Times-Picayune (Baton Rouge/New Orleans)
Barry Bedlan, The Associated Press
Chris Kwiecinski, The Spectrum (Utah)
Alexis Cubit, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Jorge Rojas, The Athletic
Erik Hall, USA Today Sports
Damon Marx, Dallas Morning News
Hank Winnicki, Newsday
Nicole Saavedra, The Tennessean
Sierra Webster, Herald & News (Oregon)
Jeffrey Perkins, The Bryan-College Station Eagle
Maria McIlwain, Houston Chronicle
Jim Pignatiello, MassLive
Jim Jenks, MLB Network
Glen Crevier, APSE
Mike Sherman, Tampa Bay Times
