Jason Fein (left) of the College of Staten Island and Mark Fratto (right) of St. Johns University have been named as the first recipients of the new Rising Star Award, presented by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).
The awards will be presented during CoSIDAs annual workshop, July 2-5 in Nashville, Tenn.
The Rising Star Award is presented to University Division and a College Division member with 10 years of full-time service or less in the profession for service, dedication, energy and enthusiasm that make the individual a rising star in sports information.
This years Rising Star Awards will be presented as Meritorious Service Awards by the CoSIDA Board. The first official Rising Star Awards will be conferred at the 2007 workshop, pending its addition to the CoSIDA constitution by vote of the membership.
Fratto, the University Division recipient of the Rising Star Award, has been the Director of Athletic Communications at St. Johns since August 2005. Fratto oversees the media relations and publicity efforts for all 17 of St. Johns varsity teams and is the primary contact for Red Storm mens basketball. In addition, Fratto is the athletic departments chief liaison with St. Johns radio broadcast teams and works on the production of the Red Storm Report television show.
Prior to his arrival at St. Johns, Fratto served as assistant media relations director at Maryland from 1999 to 2005. During that time, Fratto was the lead contact for the Terrapins mens basketball program and publicized their run to the 2001 Final Four and the 2002 NCAA championship.
A 1999 graduate of the State University of New York at Geneseo with a degree in mass communication, Fratto also earned a masters degree from Maryland in sports administration. He has served as media coordinator for several NCAA and Atlantic Coast Conference championship events. In addition, Frattio has served as public address announcer for several minor league baseball squads as well as calling a variety of athletic events at Maryland, Army, Geneseo and St. Johns.
Fein, the College Division recipient of the Rising Star Award, has worked at the College of Staten Island since 2000. He was named associate director of athletics/sports information director in 2002 and has served as interim director of athletics since February 2006.
Prior to his arrival at Staten Island, Fein spent three seasons as assistant athletic director/sports information director at Brooklyn College, where he played in instrumental role in bringing back the colleges Division III athletic program after the school had earlier suspended their Division I program. An active member of ECAC-SIDA, Fein is currently the organizations second vice president. Fein is also a member of CoSIDAs Olympic Liaison Committee.
A graduate of Brooklyn College, Fein earned his bachelors degree in athletic training and a masters degree in sport management. Feins additional professional experience includes working media relations for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the 1998 Goodwill Games and the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.
Fein currently lives in Dumont, N.J., with his wife Cecelia and son Zachary.