10/30/2024
Award-Winning New York Times Writer of 25+ years Looking for New Editorial Opportunities
I worked with Mike when we helped launch Rivals.com and he is incredibly talented and great to work with...
Not surprisingly a victim of layoffs, Mike is seeking to write for a new publication and is really a "steal" to capture... he's won many awards, has written for the LA Times and a host of other publications... can't recommend my friend highly enough....
His resume below... thank you very much FB!!
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-seely-334b59132/
Mike Seely
10018 44th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98146
206-420-9524, [email protected]
Work Samples: https://muckrack.com/mike-seely-3/articles
Skill synopsis & objective. I'm a seasoned writer, expert editor, and communicator at large with a broad variety of topical interests--an intellectual parachute artist, if you will. Simply put, I'm looking to put my skills to use for brave, virtuous businesses and organizations who try their darnedest to put a little good out into the world and stick it to bad actors, no matter the odds.
Contributing Writer (1997-Present): New York Times, L.A. Times, Seattle Times, University of Washington Magazine, VICE, The Guardian, Grantland, ESPN, Rolling Stone, No Depression, L.A. Weekly, America’s Best Racing.
For the New York Times, I’ve painted portraits of "walktail" culture & panic-buying camper vans during a pandemic, Washington state's foremost wine-producing region, the emerging "pet aquamation" industry, the cult of the Lincoln Town Car, how Lake of the Ozarks compares to its namesake Netflix hit, Las Vegas' most un-Vegas neighborhood, the surging popularity of the outdoor-education industry, and Vegas in the aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, for which I won a Society of American Travel Writers Award. And my story about Boeing's MAX 8 crisis made the front page of the national section.
I've also contributed numerous stories to the L.A. Times, and for L.A. Weekly, paeans to America’s classiest dive bar, Chez Jay and the late, great Hollywood Park. Also, I've penned pieces on the greatest intramural bike race in America for Grantland and the great Austin (TX) singer-songwriter James McMurtry for No Depression., as well as an exploration of Whidbey Island’s peculiar telephone booths and the DVD’s waning days for the Seattle Times’ Sunday magazine.
Associate Editor, Better Collective, 1/21-Present. Have written a minimum of five stories per week and edited at least three stories per day for the world’s leading legal gambling affiliate. (Main Sports Handle and US Bets author portal pages with clickable clips are here and here.) Subject matter has included, but not been limited to, responsible and problem gambling, horse racing, basketball, and gambling history, as well as complex industry, technological, legal, and legislative issues that pertain to the explosion of regulated sports betting and gambling at large in America. Also responsible for a good portion of social media for three sites, as well as homepage updating.
Copywriter, William Grant & Sons, 9/21-5/23. Conceived and created advertorial articles for one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious liquor companies, engineering full-page and double-truck placement in Seattle Metropolitan magazine. Worked with distillery representatives and bar managers to tell entertaining and enlightening stories about such popular brands as Hendrick’s gin, Milagro tequila, and Tullamore Dew whiskey.
Editorial Director, ReelWorld Productions & Prep Plus LLC (Futuri Media), 2/13-9/20. Responsible for creating content, charting editorial direction for and editing a 24-hour wire service which reaches over 300 commercial FM radio clients worldwide on a subscription basis. Responsible for a staff of five spread out over disparate locations in the United States and England. I was in charge of the same service for ReelWorld Productions prior to Prep Plus LLC's October, 2019, sale to Futuri Media; all told, our product's subscriber base grew seven-fold since its inception, while content became much more comprehensive, frequent, colorful and dynamic.
Author, Seattle’s Best Dive Bars: Drinking and Diving in the Emerald City (pub. 4/09). Researched, wrote, and aggressively promoted a176-page book, published by NYC-based Ig Publishing, about dive bars in the city of Seattle, with a jacket-quote endorsement from the novelist Tom Robbins. Made the local bestseller list, topping Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma, if only for a week. (http://www.amazon.com/Seattles-Best-Dive-Bars-Drinking/dp/0981504019 )
Seattle Weekly, Editor-In-Chief (12/10-2/13), Managing Editor (8/06-12/10), Staff Writer (2/06-8/06). During tenure as both staff writer and editor, helped spearhead a shift in focus from predictably leftist political commentary advocacy and dry civic features to street-level reporting and vivid, engaging, in-depth feature stories on a range of topics. Chief accomplishments as a writer include an award-winning profile of the world-renowned bartender Murray Stenson, a successful vendetta (with an assist from the novelist Tom Robbins) to save a historic bar frequented by Pulitzer winners, an unprecedented look at the insular world of Seattle's African-American political machine, a rum-drenched dive into the hard-core culture of Puget Sound yacht racing, a feature-length profile of Seattle's mysterious King of Las Vegas revues, a sociological dissertation on the curiously long shelf life of Cosby sweaters, a spoof on the mayor's smooth jazz obsession that the deputy mayor (Tim Ceis) dubbed "the War of the Worlds of municipal politics," an in-depth look at the life of the country’s most influential meteorological mind (Cliff Mass), and a bi-weekly food column, Bottomfeeder, covering Seattle's culinary underbelly.
As an editor, the paper was routinely awarded the regional Society of Professional Journalists’ general excellence award for best alternative weekly in the five-state northwest region. I was responsible for managing a staff of 15, editing and planning for all components of the paper, including lengthy (3,000-9,000-word) features, and managed and edited the paper’s former food blog, Voracious, with an expectation of 40 posts and 40,000 page views per week.
Awards: International Association of Culinary Professionals' Bert Greene Awards.
-1st Place, Writing About Beverages, "Murray Stenson's Accidental Tourists"
https://www.seattleweekly.com/food/murray-stensons-accidental-tourists/
2011 Mark Kaufman Media Award, Washington State Thoroughbred Owners & Breeders Association. Annual award which honors one journalist in the state for "enthusiastically profiling and promoting racing in Washington while skillfully portraying the power of the thoroughbred and the unique qualities of the people involved."
http://www.altweeklies.com/aan/seattle-weekly-editor-wins-thoroughbred-writing-award/Article?oid=5928411
National Association of Black Journalists 2008 Salute to Excellence Awards
- 1st Place, Newspaper/Sports, "The Salvage Artist”
https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/joe-pace-is-using-papier-mache-robots-and-a-three-rimmed-backboard-to-get-his-life-back-on-track/
Society of Professional Journalists Region 10/Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition 2010
- 1st Place, General Excellence (Staff Award)
Society of Professional Journalists Region 10/Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition 2010
- 2nd Place, Sports Reporting, "Free In the Key”
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2010-02-10/news/free-in-the-key/
Society of Professional Journalists Region 10/Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition 2009
- 3rd Place, Personalities, "The Leon Hendrix Experience”
https://www.houstonpress.com/news/leon-hendrix-is-a-voodoo-child-6568243
Society of Professional Journalists Region 10/Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition 2008
- 2nd Place, Arts, "The Lunatic Is on the Drums”
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2008-04-16/news/the-lunatic-is-on-the-drums/
Society of Professional Journalists Region 10/Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition 2007
- 2nd Place, Personalities, "The Salvage Artist”
https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/joe-pace-is-using-papier-mache-robots-and-a-three-rimmed-backboard-to-get-his-life-back-on-track/
Best American Sports Writing 2007
- Honorable Mention, “The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea”
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2006-05-03/news/the-middle-aged-man-and-the-sea/
Society of Professional Journalists Region 10/Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition 2006
- 1st Place, Sports, “The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea”
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2006-05-03/news/the-middle-aged-man-and-the-sea/
- 1st Place, Humor, “Greg Nickels’ Quiet Storm”
http://www.seattleweekly.com/2006-11-01/news/greg-nickels-quiet-storm/
- 2nd Place, Minorities, “Bright Man’s Burden”
https://www.seattleweekly.com/news/bright-mans-burden/
Daily Racing Form, Fairmount Park correspondent (6/04-2/06). Wrote weekly stakes previews and short profiles of thoroughbreds and the people who love them at the charmingly shabby Fairmount Park in Collinsville, Illinois.
Riverfront Times, Staff Writer, (7/02-2/06). For St. Louis’ largest weekly newspaper, produced a multitude of 900-7,300 word features on topics including: an elderly thoroughbred owner with a one-track mind, hard-partying, heavy-polluting Southern Illinois fiefdoms, crack motels, all-night pizzerias that deliver condoms and wine, spelling bee champions caught in the throes of puberty, thoroughbred owners who get better with age, the underground vintage clothing industry, East St. Louis’ prodigal-son mayor, psychological warfare in Iraq, dirt track car racing, racist right-wing radio personalities, illegal police drug checkpoints, Pabst Blue Ribbon’s heartland revival, the clandestine world of NFL security, the uneasy link between baseball and the pro-life movement, spoofs about a dunking 12-year-old female basketball prodigy and Tony La Russa’s mad Manhattan science project, the 10 most hated men in rock (besides Sting), Jack “The Ripper” Clark’s minor league sojourn, the Hansbrough brothers’ high school hoop ascent, sci-fi convention debauchery, Sammy Hagar, and Lionel Richie.
Awards: Unity Awards in Media, Lincoln University of Missouri
Winner, Reporting of Politics, "The Resurrection of Carl Officer”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/the-resurrection-of-carl-officer-2459473
National Association of Black Journalists 2006 Salute to Excellence Awards
1st Place, Newspaper/Sports, "Alley Cat”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/alley-cat-2482860
Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists, 2006 Awards
1st Place, Sports, "Alley Cat”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/alley-cat-2482860
- 1st Place, News, "Strobe Light Special”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/strobe-light-special-2459047
Greater St. Louis Association of Black Journalists, 2005 Awards
- 1st Place, Sports, “Prince Joe's Lament”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/prince-joes-lament-2460735
Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards:
Finalist, Multicultural, “Breakfast of Champions”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/breakfast-of-champions-2465250
Western Publications Association 2005 Maggie Awards
Finalist, Best Interview or Profile, Consumer, “Tallboys”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/tallboys-2461723
Finalist, Best Fiction, Trade & Consumer, “Tony La Russa’s Manhattan Project”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/tony-la-russas-manhattan-project-2463007
National Association of Black Journalists 2004 Salute to Excellence Awards.
- First Place, Best Business Story, “Black Velvet Rope”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/black-velvet-rope-2465149
- Second Place, Daily News, “Happy Kwanzaa, Earl!”
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/happy-kwanzaa-earl-2463995
2003 Missouri Press Association Better Newspaper Contest.
(http://www.mopress.com/livepages/95.shtml)
First Place, Best Sports Story, News or Feature. “Feed The Beast,” https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/feed-the-beast-2467251
The Salvation Army, Community Relations Manager (1/01-7/02). Responsible for three-state division for a centuries-old human services nonprofit consistently ranked #1 on the Chronicle of Philanthropy's list of top charitable organizations. Duties included: media relations, special event planning, advertising management and copywriting, website management & development, public policy, and all print materials. Managed a staff of three.
Maria Cantwell for U.S. Senate, Deputy Press Secretary/ Speechwriter (6/00-11/00). Served as co-chief media relations strategist in a thrilling (2,000-vote margin) upset of three-term incumbent Slade Gorton that swung control of the U.S.Senate to the Democratic Party. Wrote the bulk of speeches, press releases and policy briefs for the candidate, as well as disseminating opposition research to key journalists.
Rivals.com, Editorial Consultant (12/99-6/00). Served as strategic, marketing and technical consultant for over 60 sports affinity websites, covering NCAA sports, extreme sports and hunting. Led weekly content and marketing meetings with respective editorial staffs of all sites. Wrote and published supeshoops.net, the affiliate website of the Seattle Supersonics.
Mothers Against Violence in America, Public Affairs Manager (7/96-12/99). Handled media relations, copywriting, website development, strategic planning and public policy operations for a leading national youth violence prevention organization.
Served as lead media liaison for individuals such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, Arun Gandhi, and Lonise Bias (Len’s mom) during annual conference and benefit luncheon. Coordinated lobbying operations at federal and state level on prominent gun safety and video game violence initiatives; and served as primary media liaison for broad legislative coalition backing safe firearm storage legislation.
Education. Bachelor of Communications, University of Washington (Seattle), 1996.
References & Editing Samples Available Upon Request
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