By BRIAN WHITE
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

	WORKSHOP

There are many reasons the Hartford Courant has won an APSE Triple Crown four years in a row. One of the most important is stored away in what deputy sports editor Scott Powers calls "the bank."

Tucked into the computer system at Powers' desk are several completed enterprise stories awaiting publication. They are products of the planning and production that are the keys to success on sports editor Jeff Otterbein's staff.

As part of the panel at the workshop, "Changing Culture: It's Not Your Father's Sports Section Anymore" at the APSE Convention, Powers described an atmosphere that has the Courant "batting .900" on having enterprise in its daily sports section.

Also on the panel of the workshop that discussed ways sections can evolve from the results-driven ways of the past were Tim Wheatley, assistant managing editor/sports for the Indianapolis Star, and Holly Lawton, deputy sports editor for the Kansas City Star.

"Years ago, you had to have enterprise on Sunday," Powers said. "We took it up a notch, to finding enterprise every day."

And if he runs into a day with nothing planned, or if something falls through, Powers said, "We go to the well."

The Courant's stockpile does not include all large, space-eating projects.

Instead, Powers said the Courant aims for "What can I put in the paper that people aren't expecting?"

Included are a series of "Where are they now?" type of stories, tales of "Connecticut Treasures" and several "What If" items. Each staff member — writers and copy editors — is responsible for producing story ideas, and the ability to do so is reflected on evaluations.

David Manning / David Manning Photography Tim Wheatley of the Indianapolis Star and Holly Lawton of the Kansas City Star stress the need for creative enterprise planning.

Lawton said the key to enterprise is planning and creativity. She said the process for the Star's excellent special sections begins early and that she and Mike Fannin, the paper's assistant managing editor/sports, stress that the staff provide something nobody else will have. They involve copy editors and the art department in their meetings.

The same goes for daily stories.

"Enterprise doesn't have to be a 75-inch story with all kinds of graphics," Lawton said. "It can be something done differently. It can be done in short breakouts, or in one column."

In Indianapolis, Wheatley changed the culture of his department by creating an enterprise team of an editor and three reporters. The sacrifice was some daily local sports.

"We made choices on what we wanted to give the reader, and our choice was to give enterprise," Wheatley said. "The minor league teams in town hate me."

How does a sports editor create an atmosphere that produces creative ideas?

Lawton said that one of the ways is to get out of the office. "Everyone has to eat lunch," she said. "We go to lunch and talk about story ideas. ... Get off campus and build relationships."

The Courant puts in staffers' evaluations that they need to contribute, but Powers said the paper also rewards those on the copy desk whose enterprise ideas come to fruition. If the project turns out to be exceptionally good, Powers said, the person who had the idea might get dinner for his or her family or even a day off.

"Whoever comes up with it, they get ownership of it," Powers said. "It's their baby. It does well for morale."

Powers also taps into other parts of the newsroom. When the Red Sox named a foul pole at Fenway Park after Carlton Fisk, a query went out to the room looking for other such naming ideas. In came 36 responses, including a "Jeffrey Maier Seat" and a "Ron Artest Press Table."

The ideas were given to a writer, and another enterprise story was born. And most likely, it jumped to the front of the line and the "bank" remained filled.

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