APSE Judging Thread

That makes for an interesting point... how long will there actually be more than 10 or so papers with 250k circulation.

 

Ditto!!!

 

WFFW. Other than the whole winning and judging thing . . .

APSE awards are not the shield against buyouts and layoffs that we would like them to be. So really, what is the point? To receive a nice pat on the back, make you falsely confident in your job security so you stay until the next round of buyouts/layoffs?

 

If Pulitzer Prize winners can get laid off or have their papers close, no one is safe. Good luck to all nonetheless.

 

I see a lot of sections these days (everything but the West) and, I'm telling you, there isn't much difference between the 250Ks and the 50Ks.

In fact, I know of 2 under-50Ks that would win any competition against 2 particular over-250Ks. The little guys just do more staff stuff with those 6-8 pages both have than the bigs, many of whom still cram a lot of wire roundups and NHL agate in there.

I think the day is coming (if we're not already there) when there ought to be 2 categories:

-- the incredibly hard-working and much-admired 1- and 2-man sports departments
-- everyone else

It'd be fascinating (and humiliating, for some) to see a list of the 20 best sports sections (top 10 and 10 HM), regardless of circulation.

Unless the panel was completely biased, I suspect fewer than half of them would be in the 250K range.

I judged for 3 years and never ran into a hint of bias in my 4-man subcommittees. I did run, however, into a lot of chubby men who talked big games, took all the credit for their staffs' hard work and treated the under-100K sports editors like lepers.

Thankfully, a lot of those guys have shuffled off to places like ESPN's Page 2, the NCAA's New Media Strategies department, MLB.com and the LA Times as Tribune Co. sports coordinator.

 

Thanks for not naming names or anything, loser. And who you calling chubby?

 

Oh, for chrissakes. What do you want us to do? All curl up under our desks in the fetal position, sucking our thumbs and sobbing hysterically? Nobody's "worried" about this shit. We've all got bigger things to worry about. But we should give up trying to write great stories and produce great sections because our business sucks right now? We should stop taking three measly days a year to acknowledge great work and give everyone something, however minor, to aspire to because our business sucks right now? Give me a break.

Contests are silly, yes. Overly subjective, sure. But they cost practically nothing, they're a nice bit of positivity in a job sorely lacking in it, and they're a nice piece of solace in an otherwise shitty business where shitty people like you spout shitty shit about all the bad shit all the shitty time.

I almost lost my job this year. My wife almost did, too. We both took huge paycuts and endured furloughs. Just like everybody else. Will a state contest or an APSE make up for any of that? No. But you know what? I, and a lot of other people, wouldn't mind a token pat on the back at this point, even if it's all we can get.

Some of us still love this business, dying or not. I hope you got out a long time ago.

 

To bring it back to the awards themselves, congrats to . . .

40,000-100,000
SPECIAL SECTIONS

Top 10
Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle
The Canton (Ohio) Repository
Daytona Beach (Fla.) News Journal
Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News
Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star
North County Times (Escondido, Calif.)
Provo (Utah) Daily Herald
Santa Rosa (Calif.) Press Democrat
The State (Columbia, S.C.)

Honorable Mention
Colorado Springs (Colo.) Gazette
Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal Gazette
Fredericksburg (Va.) Free Lance-Star
Idaho Statesman
Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana
Mobile (Ala.) Press Register
Newport News (Va.) Daily Press
Palm Springs (Calif.) Desert Sun
Roanoke (Va.) Times
Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette

 

And more congrats to . . . .

100,000-250,000
SPECIAL SECTIONS

Top 10
Buffalo News
Des Moines Register
Florida Times-Union
Louisville Courier-Journal
New Orleans Times-Picayune
Omaha World-Herald
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Salt Lake Tribune
Seattle Times
Tampa Tribune

Honorable Mention
Birmingham News
Columbus Dispatch
Indianapolis Star-Ledger
Lexington Herald-Leader
The Oklahoman
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Palm Beach Post
Syracuse Post-Standard
Virginian-Pilot
Washington Times

 

I just assumed Indy and Newark had merged and I had not seem the memo.