APSE liaison: Chris D'Amico, Newark Star-Ledger

President: John McClain, Houston Chronicle. Phone: (713) 984-2416. E-mail: john.mcclain@chron.com.

First Vice President: David Elfin, Washington Times. Phone: (301) 320-5646., E-mail: elfind@cs.com.

Second Vice President: Alex Marvez, South Florida Sun Sentinel. Phone: (305) 553-2661. E-mail: amarvez@sun-sentinel.com.

Secretary-Treasurer: Howard Balzer, 12030 Cedar Lake Court, Maryland Heights, Mo., 63403. Office: (314) 453-0755, E-mail: Hbalzer@aol.com.

Annual meetings: Super Bowl week and at the NFL owners meetings in March.

Membership: More than 300 reporters, columnists and editors. No radio-TV members unless they also write.

Dues: $50.

Are Internet reporters allowed? Allowed as long as they are with a credible news organization, such as CBS Sportsline.com or ESPN.com. Reporters for team-based web sites are not allowed membership.

Concerns and issues: Access continues to be the major issue. Although teams are required to open locker rooms during the week, reporters sometimes walk in to find just a handful of players. Or the league-mandated 45-minute period is not being honored. More practices and training camps are being closed to the media and more assistant coaches are not allowed to talk to the media.

Financial contracts: None.

Activities: Writing contests continue for PFWA members, with small monetary prizes. The PFWA also hands out four awards: Most Courageous athlete, Good Guy, Comeback Player and Best P.R. staff. There are no monetary awards for these four awards. The PFWA president has a seat on the Hall of Fame voting committee, and all members of that committee are PFWA members.