SRU athletic communication leads DII in national honors
June 21, 2017
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University Athletic Communication Office was recognized with 10 national publication honors by the College Sports Information Directors of America when the organization's annual publication contest awards were announced June 16. Those awards bring the office's total for national honors to 14 for the 2016-17 academic year.
The 10 national awards include eight for game programs, one for game notes and one for a digital infographic that was used on social media. The 10 total honors are the second most awarded to any office in the country at the NCAA Division II, Division III, NAIA or junior college levels for 2016-17 and were the most among all Division II schools.
Included in the honors were seven first place, or "Best in the Nation" recognitions, five of which were for game programs. The Rock took home top honors for basketball program covers, football program covers, special event programs, single sport programs and single sport covers. SRU was also voted to have the top football game notes in the nation and the top individual athlete infographic, which featured baseball pitcher Alex Pantuso.
SRU was also recognized for having the second best football program, the second best basketball program and the second best single sport program in the nation.
SRU Director Of Athletic Communication Jon Holtz was responsible for all of the game program covers, the game notes and the infographic. Assistant Director of Athletic Communication Tyler McIntosh was responsible for the design and content of the single sport and basketball programs while graduate assistant Madeline Williams and student-intern Ben Matos contributed content to all of the programs.
"I have to thank Tyler for all of his efforts in keeping our office out front of the pack at this level," said Holtz. "He is truly only an assistant in title but we run the office as if we have two directors. His tireless dedication to our office and the success of our student-workers is what drives the operation and allows us to focus our efforts on producing award-winning content. I also want to thank Madeline, who just finished her two-year assistantship with us, along with Ben and all of our student-workers as we simply cannot operate without the efforts of so many people. We also want to thank Mike Schnelle for his photography and creativity and Dan Snyder and our printing services crew on campus for always getting our programs printed on time."
The CoSIDA honors bring the yearly total to 14 for the Athletic Communication Office after being honored previously by the Higher Ed Marketing Awards, the Collegiate Advertising Awards and the CUPRAP awards. The office has now garnered a total of 32 national awards since the beginning of the 2014-15 academic year after transitioning from the former title of sports information.
The Athletic Communication Office is responsible for all communications regarding SRU athletics, including but not limited to all content on the official athletics website, www.rockathletics.com, all game programs, game notes and other preview information and recaps for events, all live video broadcasting and all official athletics social media accounts.
2016-17 CoSIDA Publication and Digital Design Awards:
-Football game program cover: Best in the Nation (Holtz).
-Fall sports game notes (football): Best in the Nation (Holtz).
-Single sport game program cover (volleyball): Best in the Nation (Holtz).
-Single sport game programs (volleyball): Best in the Nation (Holtz, McIntosh, Williams).
-Special events cover (football military appreciation): Best in the Nation (Holtz).
-Infographic, athlete feature (Pantuso infographic): Best in the Nation (Holtz).
-Basketball game program cover: Best in the Nation (Holtz).
-Football game programs: Second in the Nation (Holtz).
-Single sport game program (softball): Second in the Nation (McIntosh, Williams, Holtz, Matos).
-Basketball game program: Second in the Nation (McIntosh, Holtz).
MEDIA CONTACT: Jon Holtz | 724.738.4925 | jonathan.holtz@sru.edu