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The 2018 CoSIDA Special Awards will be announced throughout the week of Feb. 26-March 2, with nearly 50 recipients selected for recognition.
2018 Special Awards Announcement Schedule
The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) continues its weeklong announcement of its 2018 Special Awards Tuesday by recognizing six outstanding members for top university division and college division honors, presented for distinguished contributions to the profession.
Alan Cannon, Texas A&M Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations, will receive the Arch Ward Award, while
Chris Mitchell, Assistant Athletics Director for Communications at Washington University in St. Louis, will be recognized with the Warren Berg Award. Both awards are presented annually to a CoSIDA member who has made outstanding contributions to the field of college sports information, and who by his or her activities, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession. The Berg Award is exclusively a college division honor.
Kent Lowe, LSU senior associate communications director and North Alabama associate sports information director
Shane Herrmann are recipients of the CoSIDA Achievement Award for university and college divisions, respectively, while Syracuse assistant director of athletic communications
Olivia Coiro and
Evan O’Kelly, Montana State Billings director of communications, earn the Rising Star Awards for university and college divisions, respectively.
The CoSIDA Achievement Awards are presented to associate or assistant media relations directors with 10 or more years of athletic communications service who has made outstanding contributions to athletic media relations and provide exceptional service to their institution or conference office. The Rising Star awards honor those with 10 years of service or less whose work at their institution and service, dedication, energy and enthusiasm to the profession make that individual a "rising star" in sports information.
All 2018 Special Award winners will be honored at CoSIDA’s annual convention which takes place June 27-30 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
Here’s a closer look at these CoSIDA Special Award recipients.
Alan Cannon (Arch Ward Award): Aggies’ 12th Man
Cannon is in his 38th year with the Texas A&M athletic department and his 28th as the school’s sports information director. He is currently the associate athletics director for media relations responsible for all 20 men’s and women’s sports, while focusing on football.
Cannon was selected by his CoSIDA peers to serve in the officer rotation of CoSIDA and was the organization’s president in 2002-03. He was selected to the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2014.
He has served in numerous national roles and has been honored by other organizations as well. Cannon is a past president of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and was the 1999 winner of the prestigious Wilbur Snypp Award presented by that organization. Also in 1999, Cannon also was honored by the All-American Football Foundation with the Scoop Hudgens Lifetime Sports Information Director Award.
It has been Cannon’s honor to work with the winningest baseball coach in Texas A&M’s history, the winningest basketball coach in school history as well as the winningest coach in Southwest Conference (SWC) history.
Past Arch Ward Award recipients
Chris Mitchell (Warren Berg Award): A Top Leader in the College Division
Warren Berg Award winner Mitchell is in his 17th year in the sports information office at Washington University, and in his second year as the assistant director of athletics for communications. He served as the media coordinator for the 2007 NCAA Division III Men’s Tennis Championships, and the 2010 and 2011 NCAA Division III Women's Volleyball Championship.
Mitchell has been a member of the CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee since 2009, and is in his third year as chair of that innovative committee. He is also the D3SIDA Board Region 4 representative and is a voting member for the CoSIDA Academic All-America Teams.
Mitchell also served as the local organizing chair for the 2012 CoSIDA Convention in St. Louis.
After spending two seasons as a voting member on the
D3soccer.com Top-25 Poll and All-America selection committee, he currently is in his third year on the USBWA Division III Player of the Week Awards Committee and first year on the D3hoops.com Women's Basketball Top-25 Poll.
Past Warren Berg Award recipients
Lowe and Hermann (Achievement Awards): Two of the Nation’s Best Long-Time Assistants
Lowe and Herrmann will be presented with their respective Achievement Awards for their long-time service as athletic media relations associate or assistant directors.
A member of the LSU sports information staff since August 1988, Lowe is in his 29th year of service for the Tigers. Lowe was appointed senior associate SID in August 2000. He serves as the primary media contact for the LSU men’s basketball team and women’s golf team.
For the past 23 years, Lowe has written an award-winning bowling column for The (Baton Rouge) Advocate. Lowe came to LSU from Louisiana Downs where he served as publicity director for the Bossier City, La., racetrack.
A member of CoSIDA’s prestigious Academic All-American committee, Lowe is also a past president and current treasurer of the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. The Shreveport native is heavily involved with the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame and for the past 13 years has produced the regionally-televised induction ceremonies.
Herrmann is in his 14th year at North Alabama, serving as assistant sports information director. He is the primary contact for the Lions' volleyball, softball, men's and women's basketball and men's and women's tennis programs.
While at UNA, Herrmann has helped host multiple Gulf South Conference and NCAA Tournaments. He was the official scorer at the 2006 NCAA Division II Elite Eight Volleyball Championships in Pensacola, and Fla. He has worked statistics and media relations at several Alabama High School Athletic Association events, including the state softball, volleyball, soccer and basketball tournaments.
Herrmann has been recognized numerous years by the CoSIDA for helping produce several award-winning publications.
Past Achievement Award recipients
Coiro and O’Kelly (Rising Stars): Rising Stars are Future Leaders
Coiro currently is in her first year as an assistant athletic communication director at Syracuse University and works with the women’s basketball, field hockey, and men’s and women’s rowing teams. She previously worked at Lynn University, North Carolina Greensboro and East Carolina.
While at Lynn, she served as the media contact for the Fighting Knights' women's golf team during its back-to-back national championship seasons. Coiro served as the media contact for multiple NCAA tournaments including the 2016 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, the 2016 South Region baseball tournament and three-consecutive NCAA men's and women's tennis regionals.
She is an active member of the CoSIDA, serving as the chair of the new Young Professionals Committee. Coiro also is a member of the New Media Committee and is on the WoSIDA steering committee. Outside of CoSIDA, Coiro is also a member of the Association of Women in Sports Media (AWSM) and the College Athletics Fan Engagement and Digital Content Association. Coiro is a co-founder of SparklesandSports.com, a blog for women in the sports industry.
O'Kelly is in his fourth year as the director of communications and sports information for MSUB Athletics. He is responsible for the media coverage of MSUB's 15 varsity sports. Chair of MSUB’s Hall of Fame and Distinction Selection Committee, he also serves as the department’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee advisor.
O’Kelly oversaw media coverage at the 2016 NCAA Division II West Region Cross Country Championships and 2014-15 NCAA Division II West Region Championships. During the spring of 2017, O’Kelly was the play-by-play broadcaster for the GNAC Baseball Championships in Portland. He has also served as the D2CCA Men’s Basketball West Region awards coordinator for the past two years.
In 2016-17, O’Kelly was recognized as the CoSIDA Fred S. Stabley Writing Contest winner for District 7 for both the Season Preview/Recap of the Year and Story with Video of the Year categories.
Past Rising Star Award recipients