By Jeff Rosen
APSE President
Matt Stanmyre, Steve Politi and Andrew Mills of the Newark Star-Ledger won first place in the Associated Press Sports Editors 2017 contest in the all-inclusive investigative category.
The Star-Ledger trio’s investigative entry uncovered an international pipeline that stocked the rosters of a local high school’s boys and girls basketball teams over the past several years.
Stanmyre, Politi and Mills will be presented a first-place plaque at the 2018 APSE banquet. The banquet and awards dinner concludes the APSE Summer Conference June 17-20 at the Marriott Hotel Nashville/Vanderbilt University. The second- through 10th-place winners will receive frameable certificates.
The contest is open to APSE members. Click here to join.
Contest chair John Bednarowski and fellow APSE officers Jeff Rosen, Todd Adams and Robert Gagliardi numbered each entry. Preliminary judges selected a top 10, and from there another group of judges ranked the finalists in order from 1 to 10 separately on a secret ballot. Entries were given 10 points for a first-place vote, 9 for second, etc. The winner and final rankings are determined by tallying the ballots.
In judging APSE’s investigative category, main criteria considered included the entry’s enterprise, initiative, documentation, resourcefulness and original reporting in uncovering newsworthy and significant facts and developments that otherwise might not have been reported. Impact and aftermath of the work were also considered.
The top 10 are listed below with links to writers’ Twitter pages, APSE member websites and the winning entries.
1 . Matt Stanmyre, Steve Politi and Andrew Mills, Newark Star-Ledger, 56 points, 5 first-place votes
Hoops power packs roster from overseas; state questions safety of teens living with coach
New questions, including human trafficking concerns, broadside N.J. basketball power
School forged transcripts in Paterson hoops scandal. See the documents
Broken promises & disposable players: The remarkable story behind a high school sports scandal
T-2 . Scott Reid, Southern California News Group, 42 points
Banned coach Don Peters kept ties to 2 Orange County gymnastics schools, records show
Former gymnast Jeanette Antolin speaks about sexual abuse accusations against U.S. team doctor
State Attorney General investigating SCATS gymnastics academy
USA Gymnastics settled sex-abuse complaint against Larry Nassar
McKayla Maroney alleges in civil suit that team doctor Larry Nassar took pornographic photos of her
T-2. Andrew Wolfson, Louisville Courier Journal, 42 points
Is Tom Jurich worth his pay? His lawyer says yes, and then some
Rick Pitino raked in 98% of the cash from University of Louisville’s current Adidas deal
Despite winning seasons, University of Louisville athletics doesn’t turn a profit
T-4 . Bob Hohler, The Boston Globe, 41 points, 1 first-place vote
A hockey pro dies, and coach he said raped him is free
T-4. Nancy Armour and Rachel Axon, USA Today, 41 points
Lopez brothers, Olympic taekwondo royalty, hit with sex abuse allegations
USA Taekwondo ignored own rules to allow felon to compete
USA Taekwondo athlete allowed in Rio Olympics training gym after ban for sexual misconduct
Executive director out at USA Taekwondo after handling of misconduct cases
USA Taekwondo lifts interim tag on executive director Steve McNally
Taekwondo athlete who was suspended, then reinstated, gets suspended again
6 . Dan Wetzel, Pete Thamel and Pat Forde, Yahoo!Sports, 32 points
FBI brings Armageddon to college basketball, and it’s just the tip of the iceberg
Meet Andy Miller, the controversial agent tied to college hoops scandal
Meet Christian Dawkins, the ‘sloppy and reckless’ prodigy at heart of college hoops scandal
The two men who could bring down college basketball
Meet Rashan Michel, the suit-making middleman caught in college hoops scandal
Why feds decided college basketball’s corruption was worth their time
Meet the most dangerous man in college basketball
Former AAU basketball coach says those wrapped up in college basketball scandal will flip for feds
Source: Indictments expected next week in college hoops scandal
T-7 . Christine Willmsen, The Seattle Times, 28 points
UW women’s rowing-team numbers inflated, avoiding Title IX scrutiny
T-7. Rebecca R. Ruiz, The New York Times, 28 points
Olympic Doping Diaries: Chemist’s Notes Bolster Case Against Russia
T-9 . Danny Moran, Brad Schmidt and Lynne Palombo, The Oregonian/OregonLive, 10 points
Luke Heimlich sex crime surfaces as Oregon State baseball nears College World Series
T-9. James Pilcher, Cincinnati Enquirer, 10 points
‘Team time:’ NKU team faced sexual behavior concerns in 2015
