Herald-Leader’s Jared Peck wins 2025 APSE high school beat writing contest
For the second consecutive year, the Lexington Herald-Leader’s Jared Peck has been honored as one of the nation’s best high school beat reporters.
Peck tied for first place in the Division C high school beat writing category of the 2025 Associated Press Sports Editors contest, the APSE announced Monday afternoon; he also won first place last year in the award’s debut.
This year, Peck tied with Charles Baggarly of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Dan Deluca of the News-Press in Fort Myers, Florida. The three-way tie between Peck, Baggarly and Deluca is the sole of its kind for first-place in this year’s APSE contest, and one of three three-way ties irrespective of rank.
Peck was named as one of 10 finalists determined by a group of judges in early March, and a second panel of judges ranked the finalists from 1 to 10. Peck will receive a first-place plaque and will be honored at the 2026 APSE Summer Conference banquet July 18 in Arlington, Va.
“Nobody is more connected than Jared to the high school sports scene in Lexington and Central Kentucky,” Herald-Leader sports editor Brett Dawson said. “But it’s more than knowledge that sets him apart. It’s his unique voice and the way he tells the stories of athletes, schools and communities well beyond the scoreboard that make him so excellent at what he does.”
Peck’s four-story collection submitted by Dawson to the APSE contained both high-level and granular views of high school sports around the state of Kentucky. Each of the four pieces reflects Peck’s strength in identifying important subjects and reporting them with responsibility and care in order to produce meaningful work.
Peck profiled Bryan Station head football coach J.T. Haskins Sr. in January 2025 following the longtime Defenders’ hiring as the new top boss.
In July, Peck explained the impact of Senate Bill 151 — which limits teacher-student communication — on public high school coaches and sports teams.
In September, Peck wrote about the Kentucky High School Athletic Association’s decision to implement a shot clock for high school basketball beginning in 2027-28.
In October, Peck detailed the 11th Region boys soccer title match, which saw Bryan Station earn its first 11th Region boys soccer championship with an upset of top-seeded Henry Clay.
Peck, who began his journalism career in 1995 as a city reporter for the Mayfield Messenger, has spent more than 27 years at the Herald-Leader in a variety of roles, including as the paper’s high school beat reporter since 2019.
