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Resume

Erik Hall

Current position:
Digital Sports Editor
at St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Erik Hall, red shirt, interviews Bureau Valley athlete Adam Sanden during the Don Gooden Track & Field Invitational at Mendota, Ill., on April 10, 2010.

(Photo by Vicki Sanden)

Work experience

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Digital Sports Editor, Aug. 2022 — present

Lead strategy for college sports coverage and help increase digital traffic through SEO expertise and content strategy development. Develop and execute email newsletter strategies. Strategies led to college football content traffic increase by 174% and college basketball content traffic increase by 188%. 

USA Today

Lead digital producer for sports, March 2018 — July 2022

Look for and execute opportunities for digital and social growth for USA Today Network sites. Oversee the digital and social media plans for high school, college and pro sports at 72 USA Today Network sites.

OutSports.com

Regular contributor, April 2014 — March 2019

Wrote feature stories. Wrote a regular report on the performance of LGBT college athletes. Took photos. Produced video stories.​

You Can Play Project

Social media coordinator and producer/Digital manager (part-time), July 2017 — March 2019

Created and planned social media content for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube for $300,000 revenue non-profit. Published videos and press releases on the You Can Play website.

The Canadian Olympic Committee presented the 2017 International Olympic Committee Trophy for Sport Beyond Borders to You Can Play.

The Roanoke (Virginia) Times

Assistant sports editor, April 2015 — April 2017

Identified, edited and published stories on Roanoke.com. Edited stories and worked with writers. Updated social media content on Facebook and Twitter. Coordinated with page designers and copy desk on daily print product. Used Chartbeat to inform editorial decisions. Wrote enterprise stories. Wrote book reviews. Contributed to receiving 2016 APSE award for website/mobile and special sections and 2017 APSE award for Sunday sections.

 

Columbia (Missouri) Missourian

Assistant sports editor, May 2013 — May 2014 and July 2014 — January 2015

Covered the story of Michael Sam. Wrote feature stories. Edited sports stories. Updated social media. Designed pages.

 

San Diego Union-Tribune

Sports intern, May 2014 — July 2014

Covered the 2014 Stanley Cup Final and Western Conference Final; the 2014 San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon; the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Galaxy.

 

University of Missouri J-School Alumni Magazine

Copy editor, Jan. 2013 — May 2013

 

Charleston (Illinois) Times-Courier and Mattoon (Illinois) Journal Gazette

Full-time news/sports feature writer, news/sports copy editor, Jan. 2012 — Jan. 2013

Wrote profile stories, wrote book reviews, designed pages, edited photos, updated the website, updated Twitter, updated Facebook, and ran the daily news meeting regularly.

 

Industry Dive

Aggregated marketing news for MarkingDive.com, Oct. 2012 — Jan. 2013

 

Illinois Department of Transportation

Communications for Green Initiative, Sept. 2011 — Dec. 2011

Promoted and tracked participation by Illinois schools in International Walk to School Day. Looked at feasibility of IDOT buildings going to tankless water heaters.

 

NewsHallOnline.com

Created website to cover cross country, Aug. 2011 — Nov. 2011

Wrote stories. Took photos. Used HTML code to improve the appearance of site.

 

Charleston (Illinois) Times-Courier and Mattoon (Illinois) Journal Gazette

Freelance sports writer, May 2002 — Aug. 2005; Aug. 2011 — Dec. 2011

 

La Salle (Illinois) NewsTribune

Full-time sports writer and columnist, Aug. 2005 — Aug. 2011

Covered high school, college and youth sports of every kind.Regularly copy edited stories and pages, designed the four to six daily sports pages, took photos of sports and events.

 

WLPO-AM

Provided sports news reports and regular guest on “Chalk Talk” sports talk radio program, Aug. 2005 — Aug. 2011

 

Champaign (Illinois) The Daily Illini

Sports beat writer, fall 2001 — spring 2005

Covered each of these University of Illinois sports at least one season: men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, track and field, swimming, golf

 

Decatur (Illinois) Herald and Review

Freelance sports writer, spring 2003 — spring 2005

 

WEIU-FM

Broadcaster for high school basketball games, 2004-05 season

 

WPGU-FM

News and sports reporter, 2001

Skills

SEO expertise

Digital, social media strategy

Writing

Editing

Photo/Video editing

Education

University of Missouri — Columbia

Master’s student at Missouri School of Journalism studying investigative and convergence journalism

Classes: January 2013 — December 2014; Completed master's thesis May 2016

 

University of Illinois — Urbana/Champaign

Bachelor of Science in News-Editorial Journalism

August 2001 — May 2005

 

Charleston (Illinois) High School

August 1997 — May 2001

Awards 
  • Took third place in the breaking news category of the 2019 Louisiana-Mississippi Associated Press contest. 

  • Named the 2017 LGBTQ Journalist of the Year, which is named the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award, by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association.

  • Honored with third place for explanatory journalism in the 2017 Associated Press Sports Editors contest.

  • Selected as finalist for The Best American Sports Writing in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

  • Received the 2016 Excellence in Journalism award for Sports Writing. 

  • Named the runner-up for 2016 LGBT Journalist of the Year from the NLGJA

  • Selected to receive the 2015-16 Associated Press Sports Editors Diversity Fellowship

  • Contributed to the Missourian receiving 2015 awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for top five Sunday section and top five daily section. 

  • Contributed to the Missourian receiving 2014 awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors for top five Sunday section and top five daily section. 

  • Contributed to the Missourian receiving 2014 awards from the Missouri Press Association for first place in best sports pages and best overall design; second place in general excellence; third place in news or feature special section; honorable mention in news or feature special section.

  • Contributed to JG-TC receiving 2013 first-place awards from the Southern Illinois Editorial Association in general excellence, best local news coverage, newspaper design, best use of photography and best local sports coverage.

  • Contributed to JG-TC receiving 2013 awards from the Illinois Press Association for newspaper design, general excellence, best web project, news reporting single story, and best website

  • Honored by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn with 2011 Green Government Coordinating Council Award for work at the Illinois Department of Transportation to organize International Walk to School Day

  • Received awards from the Illinois Press Association while writing at the LaSalle NewsTribune: twice for sports column writing, once for sports feature writing and once for sports reporting

  • Won three Society of Professional Journalists regional awards as contributor to Best Student Magazine Published Once a Year, Best All-Around Online Student Magazine, and Best Radio In-Depth Reporting  

Experience/Accomplishments
  • Orchestrated judging for the 2020 Associated Press Sports Editors Student Contest

  • Elected in Aug. 2019 to a two-year term on the national board for NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists. 

  • Elected in Aug. 2019 to be APSE Southeast Region Vice Chair for a two-year term.  

  • Led a panel at the 2016 Associated Press Sports Editors national conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, on best practices for covering LGBT people in sports.

  • Led a panel at the 2016 NLGJA national conference in Miami on sports journalism.

  • Judged the Associated Press Sports Editors writing contest in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.  

  • Judged the 2015, 2016 and 2017 Editor and Publisher website and multimedia EPPY Awards contest

  • Spoke on a panel at the 2014 Associated Press Sports Editors national conference in Washington, D.C., about the Missourian's coverage of Michael Sam. The panel also included New York Times sports editor Jason Stallman and Poynter Institute vice president Kelly McBride.

  • Had story picked up by The Associated Press on Missouri athlete Greg DeStephen, and story was used in the Miami Herald, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Kansas City Star and Washington Times.

  • Selected to judge the Illinois High School Association state journalism competition, April 2012

  • Active member of the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE), National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (NLGJA),  National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association (NSSA), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), and United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA). 

  • Former member of the the Investigative Reporters & Editors (IRE), Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and Track and Field Writers of America (TFWA). 

  • Volunteered at the Illinois High School Association Track & Field State Finals, 1996-2004

  • Articles published in USA Today; Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Ill.); OutSports.com; Washington Blade (Washington, D.C.); Pantagraph (Bloomington, Ill.); The Leader (Walnut, Ill.); The Index (Wenona, Ill.); Illinois Basketball 2003 Postseason Media Guide; The Daily Register (Harrisburg, Ill.); Lake Forrester (Lake Forrest, Ill.); and Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, Ill.).

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