Here’s an idea to steal and adapt: Gulf Coast Media and The Sumter Item revamped their Athlete of the Week contests to attract corporate sponsors and reader engagement.
High school sports and local news have been connected for decades. And who doesn’t love a good, low-stakes voting competition? Athlete of the Week, or AotW, is a way to celebrate our student-athletes, engage parents and teachers and grow our reach with Gen Z.
Many outlets cover high school sports, and many probably already do some type of “athlete of the week” recognition. This is a successful formula that allows us to turn that existing franchise into a revenue-generating, highly engaging campaign that has an efficient workflow and builds community across platforms. Plus, AotW allows us to highlight games and individual achievements we would otherwise not have time to cover or simply not know about, since it’s not possible to cover every game for every sport across an entire school year.