By Todd M. Adams, APSE Second Vice President
Pete Thamel of Yahoo!Sports won first place in the Associated Press Sports Editors 2017 contest in beat writing for the Over 175,000 circulation category.
Thamel will be presented a first-place plaque at the 2018 APSE Summer Conference Banquet at the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University on June 20.
Powers edged runner-up Adam Himmelsbach from the Boston Globe. Jeff Passan from Yahoo!Sports placed third.
Sports editors in the Over 175,000 category submitted 46 beat writing entries. The contest
is open to APSE members. Click here to join.
Contest chair John Bednarowski and fellow APSE officers Todd M. Adams, Robert Gagliardi and Jeff Rosen 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 February, preliminary judges at the APSE Winter Conference in St. Petersburg, Fla., and off-site around the country, 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, nine points for second and so on down to one point for a 10th-place vote. 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 winner in each category will receive a plaque at the 2018 APSE Summer Conference at the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University on June 17-20. The second- through ninth-place writers will receive frameable certificates.
The beat writing category judges a collection of articles by a single author that shows authoritative, newsy and innovative coverage of a beat. Entries were limited to 5 stories.
The top 10 is listed below with links to writers’ Twitter pages, APSE member websites and winning entries.
1. Pete Thamel, Yahoo!Sports, 53 points, 2 first-place vote
Meet Christian Dawkins, the ‘sloppy and reckless’ prodigy at heart of college hoops scandal:
UCLA finalizes deal with Chip Kelly
Ohio State’s J.T. Barrett changed this college football season in one quarter
The two men who could bring down college basketball
For hire: Les Miles eager to coach again … will SEC school call?
2. Adam Himmelsbach, Boston Globe, 50 points, 2 first-place votes
Celtics agree to deal Isaiah Thomas to Cavaliers for Kyrie Irving
Why was Boston Garden nearly empty when Bill Russell’s number was retired in 1972?
Gordon Hayward suffers fractured left ankle in first game with Celtics.
A night out with Gordon Hayward, discussing his recovery, his team, and his eventual return
3. Jeff Passan, Yahoo!Sports, 46 points, 1 first-place vote
How the Houston Astros won an epic, homer-happy World Series Game 2
Recent physical shows Angels’ Shohei Ohtani has a damaged elbow ligament
Inside the frenzied 12 minutes that led to the Dodgers’ deal for Yu Darvish
Lox to advance: How Israel’s WBC team engineered the greatest Jewish miracle since the oil burned for eight days
How 10 Facebook comments tell the story of Dexter Fowler, the Cardinals and America in 2017
(Tied) 4. Karen Crouse, The New York Times, 44 points
It Takes a Small Army to Equal Arnie
Phil Mickelson Says He’ll Skip U.S. Open to Attend Daughter’s Graduation
On Trump’s Turf, U.S. Women’s Open Contenders Will Feel the Heat
Spieth Goes From Hunted to Hunter, and Back Again, in Winning British Open
An Absent Friend Casts a Shadow Over a Rookie’s Tour Milestone
(Tied) 4. Andy McCullough, Los Angeles Times, 44 points
How Dodgers GM Farhan Zaidi became one of the most coveted minds in baseball
Reconstructing the Dodgers’ 2016 Game 5 NLDS win over Washington
Astros are one win from World Series title after outslugging Dodgers 13-12 in Game 5
Dodgers struggle to balance Corey Seager’s zeal for playing with team’s concern for rest
‘We got Darvish’: How the Dodgers’ dramatic trade played out
6. Scott Miller, Bleacher Report, 36 points, 1 first-place vote
Remembering Baseball Legend Roy Halladay: Friend, Father, 5 a.m. Workout Warrior
Astros’ Huge Game 7 Win Dedicated to Houston After Hurricane Harvey’s Terror
‘The Game’s Better When They’re Hated’: MLB Reacts to Yankees’ Stanton Trade
The 107 MPH Man: Michael Kopech’s Quest to Be the Hardest Thrower of All Time
Charlie Blackmon’s Trash 2004 Jeep Just One Layer of MLB’s Quirkiest Superstar
7. Howard Beck, Bleacher Report, 32 points
The Winner of the DeMarcus Cousins Trade Isn’t Who You Think It Is
HATE THEM IF YOU WANT, BUT THE WARRIORS ARE WHAT EVERY TEAM SHOULD HOPE TO BE
THE GHOST OF THE GOAT: WHY THERE ISN’T A ‘NEXT MICHAEL JORDAN’ ANYMORE
WHY THE PHIL JACKSON ERA WASN’T A TOTAL DUMPSTER FIRE
(Tied) 8. Anthony Fenech, Detroit Free Press, 27 points
Detroit Tigers trade Justin Verlander to Houston Astros
Detroit Tigers LHP Daniel Norris is a man beyond the van
Anatomy of Justin Verlander trade: Inside the deal as deadline neared
How the Detroit Tigers built a sinking ship over four years
Justin Verlander wins World Series with Detroit close to his heart
(Tied) 8. Adam Kilgore, The Washington Post, 27 points
Matt Ryan shakes off past playoff failures, leads Falcons to NFC title
Aaron Hernandez’s precipitous decline ends in a Massachusetts prison cell
During an NFL season of protests and criticism, Chris Long asked, ‘Why not help?’
‘What real cold feels like’: Revisiting the Packers-Giants 2008 NFC showdown
The NFL has an offensive line crisis
10. Chuck Culpepper, The Washington Post, 26 points, 1 first-place vote
Clemson stuns Alabama to win College Football Playoff national championship
Tennessee football was drowning in chaos before going with the Tide
‘He’s still stealing from us, that little sawed-off S.O.B.’: Nick Saban’s long shadow lingers at LSU
Before landing the big job at Texas, Tom Herman worked the little jobs in Texas
The mysteries of the college football universe sometimes alight in places like Iowa City