APSE results

[WaylonJennings]

State contests suck? That's a pompous attitude.

You're not encouraging me to battle my boss on this issue at all.

I don't think that's what he meant at all. He meant SOME state contests suck!

But in reality, think about it. Let's say that you win your state contest, or place. That's three places probably, spread over 50 states. 150 stories. Now whittle that down to 10.

Those are the odds here. It should come as no great surprise that a state winner, even a big winner, doesn't hit APSE gold.

One think I've always felt about a lot of state contests is that you can win with a nice package, including art, graphic elements and play on the page. And I'm no angel - I've definitely gamed that system before. APSE tries its best to take that all of that out of the equation.

 

[hondo]

I was agreeing with you. If people enjoy these things, let them enjoy it. It's not hurting anything.

Except dickheads like notepad feel it's their job to pee on anything while they feel superior.

On the contrary. Journalism was built on breaking stories and captivating readers, not on winning awards.

I have done all of those.
I'll stick to the first two while too many people nowadays think the true measure of a writer is the third.

THe line will now form to kiss notepad's ring. Thank God he's around to protect investigative journalism as we know it.

 

[printdust]

What's not being said is why the national contests are better. And I'd like a rebuttal to the comment I made about the "hiding identity" rule. To do so completely is impossible unless you obliterate community names in stories.

Having said all that, I was pleased with the attempt toward a split of the 40,000 and under category. We were still in the upper half of that by 100 subscribers, which puts us at an even greater competitive disadvantage. Maybe we should find a way to alienate 100 more subscribers like some high school coaches get 100 kids moved to a neighboring school so they can drop a classification.

BTW, a 39,000 paper will have three times as many staff as we do. And we just had even more cuts and editing is at a crisis point now. At this point, with some really kick-ass stuff we've done in the past five years not making the cut, I can guarantee that 2009's work won't stand a chance.

 

[Q-Bert]

It's not being said because it doesn't need to be said. The national contests have more entries and more qualified judges.

 

[friend of a friend]

It's not being said because it doesn't need to be said. The national contests have more entries and more qualified judges.

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

 

[WaylonJennings]

What's not being said is why the national contests are better. And I'd like a rebuttal to the comment I made about the "hiding identity" rule. To do so completely is impossible unless you obliterate community names in stories.

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.

 

[printdust]

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.

 

[printdust]

What's not being said is why the national contests are better. And I'd like a rebuttal to the comment I made about the "hiding identity" rule. To do so completely is impossible unless you obliterate community names in stories.

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.

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?

 

[Barsuk]

What's not being said is why the national contests are better. And I'd like a rebuttal to the comment I made about the "hiding identity" rule. To do so completely is impossible unless you obliterate community names in stories.

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.

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.

 

[BigSleeper]

Could be Oregon.

 

[WaylonJennings]

What's not being said is why the national contests are better. And I'd like a rebuttal to the comment I made about the "hiding identity" rule. To do so completely is impossible unless you obliterate community names in stories.

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.

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?

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

 

[doggieseatdoggies]

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.

 

[awriter]

Could be Oregon.

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

 

[awriter]

What's not being said is why the national contests are better. And I'd like a rebuttal to the comment I made about the "hiding identity" rule. To do so completely is impossible unless you obliterate community names in stories.

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.

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?

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.

 

[doggieseatdoggies]

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

 

[BigSleeper]

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

 

[WaylonJennings]

Sometimes geography is at the heart of story telling. Would you redact all the west Texas indicators in "No Country for Old Men"? Could "Gone With the Wind" have taken place in Buffalo just as much as Georgia? What if Dorthy had been trying to get back to Philadelphia?

 

[shotglass]

What if Dorthy had been trying to get back to Philadelphia?

Then there really WOULD have been no place like home. : ;D

 

[Barsuk]

What if Dorthy had been trying to get back to Philadelphia?

Then there really WOULD have been no place like home. : ;D

Would've had to redact the whole damn tornado, or else somebody might have figured out they were in Kansas. s

 

[GBNF]

ATTABOY 'SUK