OKLAHOMA CITY—Jeffrey Martin of the Wichita Eagle captured two first-place finishes in the Associated Press Sports Editors Great Plains Region writing contest, while the Quad-City Times’ five-person team took top honors for best enterprise project.
The inaugural APSE Great Plains competition was open to member and nonmember papers. Based on the number of entries, a section competition was canceled and all writing entries were judged in one group for under-100,000 circulation. Judging was done by editors at Great Plains Region papers with greater than 100,000 circulation that have won numerous APSE national honors.
The Great Plains Region includes Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Colorado.
Martin won first place in the game story and feature story.
Paul Suellentrop of the Wichita Eagle topped the breaking news category, and Steven Sipple of the Lincoln Journal Star topped the column-writing category.
The Quad-City Times quintet of Don Doxsie, Craig DeVrieze, Steve Batterson, Andrew Petersen and Eric Page put together a weeklong summer enterprise project examining the increase in youth select sports with the effects on high school teams, the increase in facilities, traveling teams, early recruiting and specialization.
Enterprise
1. Don Doxsie, Craig DeVrieze, Steve Batterson, Andrew Petersen, Eric Page, Quad-City Times (Davenport, Iowa)
2. Kary Booher, Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader.
3. Allen Vaughan, Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader
4. Brian Christopherson, Lincoln Journal Star
Game Story
1. Jeffrey Martin, Wichita Eagle
2. Brian Christopherson, Lincoln Journal Star
3. Rick Plumlee, Wichita Eagle
Honorable mention: Justin Williams, Longmont Times-Call; John Bohnenkamp, The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa)
Columns
1. Steven M. Sipple, Lincoln Journal Star
2. Bob Lutz, Wichita Eagle
3. Ken Hambleton, Lincoln Journal Star
Features
1. Jeffrey Martin, Wichita Eagle
2. Ken Hambleton, Lincoln Journal Star
3. John Bohnenkamp, The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa)
Honorable mention: Pam Mellskog, Longmont Times-Call; Rick Plumlee, Wichita Eagle
Breaking News
1. Paul Suellentrop, Wichita Eagle
2. Toby Carrig, Southeast Missourian (Cape Girardeau, Mo.)
3. John Bohnenkamp, The Hawk Eye (Burlington, Iowa)
Honorable mention: Lyndal Scranton, Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader; Erin Bolen, Springfield News-Leader
