APSE results

As someone who has judged a couple state contests, I agree completely.

 

I don't agree. There might be 10 newspapers that cover a large state school. And for the most part, the judges probably don't know where the hell some of the high schools and small colleges mentioned in stories can be.

And pros? Let's say someone runs across a Knicks feature. Is it a New York paper? A Jersey paper? Connecticut? Or maybe the player is simply a hometown guy for that paper. Think they can really zero in on L.A.-area papers? Texas papers that write about the Cowboys? Ohio papers that write about Ohio State? South Florida papers that cover everything?

I really doubt that they put that much thought into playing Inspector Clousseau when they have to work through that much copy that quickly. Maybe in the 250,000-plus categories it's pretty apparent, but the lower categories? Highly doubtful.

 

Wait a minute.

While some of the judges I've seen are good journalists, there are others I wonder whether they're better managers than editors/writers. I know some SEs who might be afforded the time to take off and travel to the judging site who couldn't put together a year of hands-on writing and editing experience. They got on the fastrack to management and they're better at squeezing a buck than putting together a section.

Judging, no matter what context or level, is subjective.

 

Your specific subject examples just proved my point that the recognizable schools, teams and players will get more attention in a contest where the judge reads story after story.
Let's take a story on Oswego High School. Think that's coming from Arkansas?

 

Could be Kansas.

 

Could be Oregon.

 

My only win - a second - was in features for a high school sports story. I finished behind an archery story.

 

It's apparent by the rules, found at APSE's web site, that they're pretty paranoid about guarding against partiality, favoritism and the appearance of a good ol boy network. Having said that, for those who might judge these contests, and judge them regularly, the recognition of some fonts, styles and names of towns in the content would deduct a clue as to what paper it is and who is there. I've also heard it's an advantage to have a representative of your paper there as a judge.

 

Then, it would be Lake Oswego -- not Oswego.

 

Who the hell cares? If the story's that good, it'll grab the judges' attention whether the subject is a recognizable school/team/player or not. For what it's worth, I've covered major pro and colleges in my last two jobs, yet my APSE wins were mostly for stories and columns about average people.

 

So you're saying this is the ultimate, perfect, can't be beaten system for judging?

 

Unless I missed it earlier, I think these are the latest updates.

OVER 250,000

EXPLANATORY
Jeff Barker, Baltimore Sun
Rick Gosselin, Dallas Morning News
Juliet Macur, New York Times
Mike Reiss, Boston Globe
Bill Reiter, Kansas City Star
Brent Schrotenboer, San Diego Union-Tribune
Amy Shipley, Washington Post
Candus Thomson, Baltimore Sun
Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune

UNDER 40,0000

FEATURES

Rick S. Alvord, Longview (Wash.) Daily News
Spencer Campbell, Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier
Tim Flagstad, Idaho State Journal
Justin Jarrett, Beaufort Gazette
Jason Lloyd, Lorain (Ohio) Morning Journal
Alex Pavlovic, Santa Barbara News Press
Kellis Robinett, Idaho State Journal
Joe Sunnen, Bellingham (Wash.) Herald
Christa Turner, Anniston Star
Dave Zeitlin, West Chester (Pa.) Daily Local News