New York, NY(March 22, 2012)—The Time Inc. Sports Group announced today that Sports Illustrated Senior Writer Peter King, who was named the 2012 National Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, has extended his contract.

King will continue to write several columns a week on SI.com, including his iconic Monday Morning Quarterback, as well as produce video and contribute significantly to the magazine. In addition, King will be expanding his role, becoming the editor of an NFL-centric spinoff website that Sports Illustrated will launch in late summer.

“Our readers will be thrilled to have Peter with us for a long time,” said Paul Fichtenbaum, Time Inc. Sports Group Editor. “He’s the most prominent reporter on the most important beat in sports, and his ability to excel across the changing media landscape is a model for our organization. We’re excited to continue working with Peter and increasing his role with our new digital initiative, which will take a deeper dive into all things NFL.”

Joining King on the SI masthead are new Senior Writer Greg Bedard, formerly the national NFL columnist at The Boston Globe; new Senior Editor at SI.com Neil Janowitz, who was an editor at Fast Company; New Director of Photography Bradley Smith, who comes from The New York TImes; and Staff Writer Jenny Vrentas, who was covering the New York Giants for the Newark Star-Ledger.

These additions represent the latest steps in the evolution of the Time Inc. Sports Group editorial team, which underwent a complete multiplatform integration just a few months ago. Fichtenbaum, who oversaw the staff integration, previously named Chris Stone the Managing Editor of Sports Illustrated magazine, Matt Bean the Managing Editor of SI.com and Chris Hercik the Group Creative Director.

“With Greg, Neil, Brad and Jenny we’ve added supremely talented journalists who understand how to create and package stories that live across the print, digital, video and mobile landscape,” said Fichtenbaum. “We are delighted to add their voices and expertise to the franchise.”

King joined Sports Illustrated in 1989 after spending nearly a decade as an award-winning newspaper journalist. He is America’s premier pro football writer and his “Monday Morning Quarterback” column has become a must-read for fans and league insiders alike. King’s over one million Twitter followers rely on him for timely news and notes on the NFL. King also serves as a reporter for NBC’s Football Night in America studio show and he has won several awards throughout his distinguished career, including the 2012 National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association National Sportswriter of the Year (he also won that honor in 2010) and four Associated Press Sports Editors Awards for excellence in sports journalism.

Bedard joins Sports Illustrated as an NFL writer from the Boston Globe, where he served as the lead NFL writer since 2009. He previously produced award-winning work covering the Green Bay Packers for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Miami Dolphins for the Palm Beach Post. Bedard, who began on the NFL beat in 1999 and has worked six Super Bowls, has been honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors (three times in the past two years), Pro Football Writers Association and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Janowitz will serve as a senior editor at SI.com, and he will oversee the recently launched ExtraMustard.com, SwimDaily.com, and other new SI brand extensions. Janowitz joins SI from Fast Company, where he worked as a senior editor of the magazine’s “Next” section, which looks at original concepts in technology and business. Prior to Fast Company, Janowitz spent six years as an editor and writer with ESPN the Magazine. He is also a co-founder of the sports-comedy production group 12 Angry Mascots, which staged a long-running live talk show and produced Web shorts for ESPN.com and Comedy Central’s Atom.com. “Neil brings tremendous creative energy to the team in a number of important areas, and his experience in developing video franchises featuring sports figures and celebrities will help us translate the brand to the growing web video space,” said Bean.

Smith joins Sports Illustrated as the new Director of Photography after spending the past 12 years as the Senior Staff Photo Editor for The New York Times. There he helped create an innovative, cutting-edge workflow that integrated a direct feed between the print edition and all of the Times’s digital offshoots, including the website and iPad. Previously Smith served two stints at SI, first as associate photo editor of the magazine and then separately as the Director of Photography for SI for Kids and for SI for Women. In between, from 1993 through 1994, Smith worked as the Photo Editor for the White House under President Bill Clinton, becoming the youngest person at the time to serve in that capacity.

Vrentas joins Sports Illustrated as a staff writer after spending the last five years at The Star Ledger, where she served as the New York Giants beat reporter since September 2012. Previously, Vrentas spent two years as the New York Jets beat writer and was a freelance contributor to “Loudmouths” and “Jets Nation” on SportsNet New York. She has also made frequent appearances on the NFL Network and MSG Network. Vrentas started her career at The Star-Ledger in 2007 as an intern after earning her master’s from The Journalism School at Columbia University and winning the Association for Women in Sports Media Scholarship and Internship.

About Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is a multimedia sports brand that takes the consumer into the heart and soul of sports. The Sports Illustrated franchise is anchored by the weekly magazine—the most respected voice in sports journalism, reaching a weekly audience of nearly 22 million adults—and http://www.SI.com, the magazine’s 24/7 sports news website that delivers more than 300 original stories to its users each week. The franchise also includes Sports Illustrated Kids (www.sikids.com), a monthly magazine targeted to kids age 8 and up; GOLF Magazine and http://www.Golf.com; http://www.FanNation.com, a social networking and sports-news aggregation platform; SI Presents, the magazine’s specialty publishing division; as well as SI Books, SI Pictures, SI Productions, SI Digital and SI Events. Founded in 1954, Sports Illustrated is a division of Time Inc., the world’s leading magazine publishing company and a subsidiary of Time Warner.

CONTACT:
Scott Novak
Time Inc.
212.522.2687
scott_novak@timeinc.com

Brian Poliakoff
Time Inc.
212.522.5542
brian.poliakoff@timeinc.com