Metro Sports STL won Top-10 distinction for high school beat reporting in the 2025 Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) Contest it was announced last week.
APSE, considered by many to be the most prestigious sports journalism organization in the U.S., announced its contest winners after editors and journalists from around the country judged entries remotely and in person at the end of February.
Metro Sports STL competed in Division D, the division containing the smallest 25 percent of print and digital publications based on circulation and unique monthly visitors. Four stories were submitted for the contest in the categories of breaking news, event or game coverage, feature or enterprise, and wild card.
APSE added the High School Beat Reporting category in 2024 and judged “a collection of articles from a single author” that showed “authoritative, newsy and innovative” coverage of a high school sports beat and reflected “yearlong coverage from multiple angles.”
This is the first APSE Top-10 distinction for Metro Sports STL, which was founded in February 2023 by former St. Louis Post-Dispatch high school sports reporter Ben Vessa.
The four stories submitted for judging were:
Breaking News: https://metrosportsstl.com/2025/02/20/st-josephs-fires-coach-amid-tornado-of-unchecked-harassment-from-parents/
Wild Card: https://metrosportsstl.com/2025/05/02/cbc-races-past-micds-to-earn-program-defining-victory/