The Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) have announced the winners of its 2023 Breaking News contest within its four divisions, all of whom will be honored at the organization’s Summer Conference banquet taking place from the Marriott South Park in Charlotte, N.C. on June 22. Contest winners will receive a plaque, while those who finished in second through 10th-place will receive a frameable certificate.
Judges present at the APSE Winter Conference in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., along with remote judges around the country, were tasked with ranking the entries from one to 10. A second judging group received the final 10 recipients, leading to an additional ranking before a final determination was made by tallying the ballots.
Ross Dellenger and Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports were named as the first-place finishers in Division A for the contest held by the APSE. Dellenger recently joined Yahoo Sports as its senior college football reporter after spending five years with Sports Illustrated and is a preeminent news breaker in the business. Wetzel has worked with Yahoo Sports since 2003 and currently serves as a national columnist for the digital outlet, and he also hosts the Yahoo Sports College Podcast. Newsday reporters Laura Albanese and Gregg Sarra finished second in the division, while Ryan Kartje of the Los Angeles Times placed third overall.
Adam Sparks of the Knoxville News Sentinel garnered the first-place finish in Division B for his work with the outlet as the Tennessee Volunteers football beat reporter. Before joining the publication, he worked as the Vanderbilt beat reporter at The Tennessean and has earned numerous awards for beat writing, breaking news and investigative writing throughout his journalism career. Kevin Reynolds and Julie Jag of The Salt Lake Tribune finished second in the category, while Mike Wilson of the Knoxville News Sentinel received a third-place finish.
Marc Stein finished in first place within the Division C breaking news category for his work on his Substack platform, The Stein Line. As a veteran reporter covering the NBA for approximately three decades, Stein has worked for numerous publications including The Washington Post and The New York Times. Additionally, he worked for ESPN as an NBA insider on television and radio while also serving as a columnist. Finishing second in the category was Clarence Hill from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, while Ed Reed of The News-Press placed third overall.
Sam Sklar of the Hattiesburg American finished first in the Division D breaking news category, achieving the accolade within his first year with the outcome. Sklar is a recent graduate of Michigan State University where he worked at The State News through his four years of college and covered several sporting events. Before beginning his current role as the Southern Miss beat reporter, he worked as an intern with the South Florida Sun Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. where he covered the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final and Lionel Messi playing for Inter Miami. Fletcher Page of the Augusta Chronicle finished in second place, while Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald came in third place.
