The team of Jeff Duncan, Jim Kleinpeter, Evan Woodbery, Ron Higgins, John Reid, Katherine Terrell and Todd Masson of NOLA.com (New Orleans) won first place in the Associated Press Sports Editors 2015 contest in projects for the 75-175,000 circulation category.
The team won for their series of stories centered on the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The group from NOLA.com will be presented a first-place plaque at the 2016 APSE banquet. The banquet and awards dinner concludes the APSE Conference June 22-25 at The Omni in Charlotte, N.C.
NOLA.com collected two first-place votes and finished with 54 points. Finishing second was Dirk Chatelain of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, who received one first-place vote and finished with 48 points. Mike Kilen and Andrew Logue of the The Des Moines (Iowa) Register came in third with 42 points.
Sports editors in the 75-175,000 category submitted 16 entries. The contest is open to APSE members. Click here to join.
Contest chair Tommy Deas numbered each entry, assuring they had been stripped of headlines, graphics, bylines and any other element that would identify the writer or news organization.
In late February and early March, preliminary judges at the APSE Winter Conference at Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla., selected a top 10, with each judge ranking the entries in order from 1 to 10 separately on a secret ballot. Entries were given 10 points for a first-place vote, 9 points for second and 8 points for third place, and so on. The final 10 were given to a second judging group, which ranked the entries 1-10 in the same fashion. The winner and final rankings are determined by tallying the ballots.
Each paper was permitted to enter one project entry. The projects were a collection of articles, and some with multi-media elements, that shed new light on personalities and issues in the news, including trends and original ideas. Though some collections may have been more than 10 entries, organizations were limited to 10 stories per entry.
The top 10 are listed below with links to writers’ Twitter pages, APSE member websites and winning entries:
- Jeff Duncan, Jim Kleinpeter, Evan Woodbery, Ron Higgins, John Reid, Katherine Terrell and Todd Masson, NOLA.com (New Orleans), two first-place votes, 54 points
New Orleans sports in midst of boom 10 years after Hurricane Katrina: Jeff Duncan
LSU coach Les Miles’s experience with Hurricane Katrina forged a bond with Louisiana
Leonard Fournette’s bridge over troubled water made him a man: Ron Higgins
The 2008 NBA All-Star Game played a huge role in the city’s Katrina recovery efforts
Remembering 10 years ago and the final game played at the old Superdome: Jeff Duncan
How Paul Tagliabue and the NFL helped save the Saints and the Superdome
- Dirk Chatelain, Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, one first-place vote, 48 points
Ducks’ rise cast shadow on Riley’s Oregon State program
Tom Brady was always the big one who got away from Mike Riley
Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst says Mike Riley showed him nice guys can finish first
- Mike Kilen and Andrew Logue, The Des Moines (Iowa) Register, 42 points
The Last Flight: Grieving, moving forward
T4. Darnell Mayberry and Anthony Slater, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), 39 points
A boy and a dream: How Billy Donovan’s childhood goal turned him into a legendary ballplayer
Looking back on Billy Donovan’s brief NBA career
How a short stint on Wall Street led Billy Donovan to coaching
How Billy Donovan built a basketball powerhouse at Florida
What life was like for Billy Donovan after his national titles at Florida
T4. Dave Ammenheuser, Skip Nipper, The Tennessean (Nashville), three first-place votes, 39 points
- Tom Yantz, Lori Riley, Matthew Conyers, Steve Goode, Paul Doyle, Mike Anthony, Tim Fontenault and Scott Powers, Hartford (Conn.) Courant, 29 points
Kevin Frederick: So Much More Than A Football Coach To Sabby
Ray Aramini: Eastern Rugby Team Follows His Inspiration To Help
Cookie And Bob Bromage: Connecticut’s First Couple
Jennifer Schulten: Getting Kids To Run For Fun
Jose Colon: A Lifetime Of Improving Lives Through Boxing
Kelvan Kearse: Making A Commitment To Windsor Athletes
Shyheim Russell: A Young Guy Who Reaches Out To Younger Kids
Katie Martensen: Somehow, She Always Finds Time To Help Others
- John Whisler, Tom Orsborn, Dan McCarney, Mike Finger, Tim Griffin and Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 28 points
Texas Open has had big impact on golf history
McCombs ranks Spurs as his crowning achievement
Tennis star put Trinity on ‘world map’
Landing Duncan put Spurs ‘in a class of our own’
Gustafson built baseball dynasty at South San
Wings gave S.A. early taste of pro football
Holt’s low-key style has earned him respect
Bout set the bar for big events in S.A.
Saints endured season like no other in San Antonio in 2005
Popovich’s legendary career got off to a rocky start
- Paul Woody, Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, 22 points
Women in NASCAR: Intimidation? Not in Earnhardt Miller’s DNA
Women in NASCAR: Busch makes husband, team, family a better place to be
Women in NASCAR: Mueller rarely notices her unique status in NASCAR
- Gary Schwab, The Charlotte Observer, 19 points
Concussions forced young soccer player to leave game she loved
Lindsay’s journey: Should she play again after two concussions?
‘Sarah’s story all too common,’ says ex-UNC and USA star Cindy Parlow Cone
Sarah’s story brings home what’s at stake with concussions
- David Briggs and Nicholas Piotrowicz, The Blade (Toledo, Ohio), 8 points
A Toledo-born rivalry: Harbaugh, Meyer share roots in northwest Ohio