Derrick Goold, who covers the St. Louis Cardinals for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, won first place in the Associated Press Sports Editors 2015 contest in Beat Writing for the 75-175,000 circulation category.
Goold’s body of work included his breaking story of the Cardinals firing their scouting director in the midst of a hacking investigation. Gould 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.
Gould collected three of the seven first-place votes and finished with 63 points. Finishing second was Michael Phillips of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, who finished with 62 points and three first-place votes. Tyler Dunne of The Buffalo News finished in third with 51 points.
Sports editors in the 75-175,000 category submitted 37 beat writing 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. 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.
The beat writing category recognizes the most authoritative, newsy and innovative coverage of a beat during 2015. Each APSE member news organization was permitted to submit up to two entries of five stories each. Each entry consisted of at least one breaking news story, one event or game coverage, one enterprise piece and two wildcard stories that could include a blog post.
The top 10 are listed below with links to writers’ Twitter pages, APSE member websites and winning entries:
- Derrick Goold, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3 first-place votes, 63 points
A Cardinals core for the ages meets its next generation
Wong carries a mountain with him to the plate
Cardinals fire scouting director as hacking investigations continue
Baseball finds an ally named Castro
- Michael Phillips, Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, 3 first-place votes, 62 points
Redskins return amid renewed concerns about economic performance
Fights bring premature end to Redskins-Texans joint practice
Depleted Redskins unable to hang with Jets in second half
- Tyler Dunne, The Buffalo News, 51 points
Bills’ Dareus keeps playing through life’s losses
Bills’ Butler finds faith in forgiveness
Fifteen years later, the ‘Miracle’ lingers on for Bills
Bills receiver Sammy Watkins: ‘Just target me’
‘We know Fitz:’ Leodis McKelvin calls his shot, backs it up vs. Jets
- Jason Kersey, The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), 1 first-place vote, 41 points
OU football: Baker Mayfield leads Sooners past Baylor, 44-34
Oklahoma football: Eric Striker can’t stay silent any longer
Oklahoma football: Former Sooner great battling ALS
- Jason Wolf, The Tennessean (Nashville), 40 points
Titans’ Delanie Walker collects records on, off field
Titans love their hands-free scooters
Fran Tarkenton on Marcus Mariota: It’s the character
Can Mularkey succeed where others failed?
Titans hit new low in loss to Jets
- Steve Bulpett, Boston Herald, 32 points
Bulpett: Before Patriots hate, it was Celtics paranoia
Celtics’ failed trade talks tough to swallow
Kelly Olynyk a dead-eye shooter
Bulpett: 30 years later ’86 Celtics still a team for ages
Isiah Thomas praises Celtics’ pickup of Isaiah Thomas
Inside look at the Jaguars’ draft process
Tony Khan using passion for analytics, football to help build Jaguars
Jaguars’ deal in London extended 5 years with option for more in future
Jaguars QB Blake Bortles enters season confident he’s prepared, ready to lead
Jaguars coach Gus Bradley’s task: Difficult, but not impossible
- Brian Davis, Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, 27 points
Texas officials fly to Tulsa, land offensive coordinator Sterlin Gilbert
UT audit finds Longhorns staff used prime seats to play favorites, help ticket brokers
Texas, Washington headed to China: ‘This isn’t just a basketball game’
After third concussion, guard Felix admits health concern
- Stephen Bailey, The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.), 20 points
Robert Washington says he decommitted based on lack of trust in Syracuse assistant
Shyheim Cullen’s journey to Syracuse includes 8 foster homes, hospitals and an academic comeback
Scott Shafer’s questionable timeout, blown kickoff lead to Florida State TD to end 1st half
Scott Shafer’s letter to Syracuse football team before final game as coach
How many hits did Syracuse QB Eric Dungey take in exciting performance against Virginia?
- Jeff McDonald, San Antonio Express-News, 19 points
The Making of LaMarcus: Spurs’ offseason coup has Dallas roots
How the Spurs built Kawhi Leonard into a monster
Spurs’ foreign policy: Draft, stash, repeat
