Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
Helping women and minorities into newsrooms since 1993
Jane Allison Havsy of the Daily Record received APSE awards through her storytelling.
Havsy received two first-place honors in Short Feature and Explanatory stories in the Division D categories.
The award-winning feature highlighted Jim Miller, an experienced UFC fighter and his time in the ring.
“Jim Miller has been in the fight game for a very long time,” Havsy said. “Luckily, he’s one of the good ones, and because he’s a fighter he knows how to throw shade and do all the things the fight media want him to do. For his hometown paper, he also has had to tell the stories that work for me.”
The feature on Miller not only delved into his abilities in the ring but also highlighted his more human elements, like his relationship with his brother and father and the gym that he opened.
But that information was not new to Havsy. She’s been around the Miller family for a long time, making this story happen.
“I was there before he and his brother opened his hometown gym. I’ve been there and I’ve shown up. I’ve known the guy for a very long time.”
Havsy’s other explanatory story took a unique approach. The route taken painted a picture that not many people have seen: adaptive sports.
She shed light on the challenges adaptive athletes face, particularly the high cost of prosthetic limbs needed for competition.
“It’s about getting activity-specific prosthetics for people. I have actually done a lot of work with adaptive sports over the years,” Havsy said. “I know a lot of people in that world, and it’s not a very big world.”
The APSE award winner shared the stories of young kids and adults who were involved in adaptive sports, such as surfing, track and field and weightlifting.
“A good story is a good story, I just wish more people read our adaptive work,” Havsy said.
For Havsy, it didn’t stop with the two first-place awards. She received a grant for this summer’s upcoming APSE conference, which will allow her to attend, something she didn’t expect.
“I was totally shocked to find out because while I am at a small paper, I’ve been to a lot of conventions mostly on my own time and my own dime,” Havsy said “I’m not a sports editor so I wasn’t even sure that I qualified.”
Qualified or not, she entered and won.
“I entered, of course, but I didn’t expect to win the grant because I figured there’s got to be somebody who hasn’t been before.”
Moving forward, Havsy wants to continue down this same path. She just wants to talk with people.
“I hope I get to have people who are willing to share their stories with me.”