By LYNN HOPPES
Associate Managing Editor/Sports
Orlando Sentinel

The 2007 APSE Convention wrapped up this past weekend and here's the highlights:

■ 1. Two mandatory dates were selected for the 2007 APSE section contest, Jan. 4 (a Thursday) and May 27 (a Sunday). Two more mandatory dates will be picked by the end of the year.

■ 2. The category of Breaking News in the contest will now allow for copies of internet stories and a cover letter explaining what was written for online and what was written for print. This will go into affect for the 2008 contest. So not this year.

■ 3. APSE judging for 2009 will be in Las Vegas in the middle of February. Judging for the 2007 contest will be in February 2008.

What didn't get resolved:

■ 1. Changing the circulation categories for the contest became a hot button issue with no resolution. Some people thought changing the large category from 250,000 and above to 150,000 and above would include too many newspapers without a real shot of winning. Some people thought the categories should be split evenly. Some people thought we should add a fifth category. Some people thought we should add people outside the judges to help with the workload. So the discussion of the contest categories will come up at a later date.

■ 2. The discussion on sports websites competing in the contest never got off the ground. It was brought up and pushed aside as most people wanted to talk about circulation categories.

■ 3. The group has decided to eliminate plaques for fourth and fifth place finishers with the money being used for region scholarships. Details will be announced soon.

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