Metro Sports STL won Top-10 distinction for high school beat reporting in the 2025 Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) Contest it was announced in March.
Metro Sports STL competed in Division D, which includes 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, considered by many to be the most prestigious sports journalism organization in the United States, announced its Top-10 winners after editors and journalists judged 192 total pieces from 48 entries submitted from sports editors across the nation.
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.
To learn more about Metro Sports STL, visit the About Metro Sports STL page at: https://metrosportsstl.com/about/
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/