College Sports Information Directors of America

Shawn Medeiros of Endicott College has been named the 2024-25 D3SIDA Communicator of the Year presented by WePlayed Sports, as announced by the D3SIDA board of directors on September 2, 2025. Medeiros earns the award in its second year after being lauded with Region 3 honors for his outstanding work and accomplishments during the 2024-25 academic year.

"I feel incredibly honored to be recognized with this award by D3SIDA. However, winning this award only illuminates the strength of our whole team, and the support we have all received from our administration in athletics and across campus," said Medeiros. "I'd be hard-pressed not to recognize our staff, including Ryan Daly, Lucas Wlodarczyk, and Michael Clapprood, our semester-long intern Jake Schumer, our SID students, and our photo/video student group, which is co-run by staff photographer David Le. Without all of them and their collective buy-in, this recognition wouldn't be possible."

This new D3 recognition was created by the D3SIDA board to honor NCAA DIvision III sports communicators for outstanding work, navigating difficult decisions, and for outstanding creative content and storytelling. 

Candidates were divided into Region 1, Region 2, Region 3, Region 4, Region 5, Region 6, and conference affiliations. Nominations for these regional and conference awards were solicited from all those working in college athletics, regardless of division. All nominees had to be current members of the College Sports Communicators (CSC) national association. The NCAA Division III membership then voted on the regional awards and the conference award, with the D3 board selecting the national award winners.

Conference Communicator of the Year: Tim Farrell, University Athletic Association

Tim Farrell is earning the honor of D3SIDA Conference Communicator of the Year after another successful year with the University Athletic Association (UAA). He is in his second tenure with the UAA, returning in 2012 after serving as the UAA’s first full-time SID from 1992-2000. In 2025, Farrell led a group of UAA student-athletes to the Black Student-Athlete Summit in Chicago and moderated the first Division III panel in the summit’s history with five student-athletes.

“I am honored to receive the D3SIDA Conference Communicator of the Year award. It is a testament to the student-athletes and school sports communicators I work with daily. I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to share the stories and successes of those associated with the UAA and Division III.”
 
Region 1 Communicator of the Year: Caleb Phillips, Plattsburgh State

Caleb Philips, former Director of Athletic Communications at SUNY Plattsburgh, has been named the D3SIDA Region 1 Communicator of the Year.

The honor is not the first for Philips during the recently completed school year. He was recognized in December as an inaugural member of the Division III Athletic Communications Emerging Elite program.

“I’m truly honored to be named the 2024-25 D3SIDA Region 1 Communicator of the Year,” said Philips. “To be recognized by peers who understand the dedication, creativity, and collaboration that go into our work is incredibly meaningful. As a former Division III student-athlete, this recognition is especially meaningful – I’m proud to help tell the stories of today’s D-III athletes and to support a level of athletics that gave so much to me.”

Philips finished his third year on staff at Plattsburgh State in 2024-25, the last two years serving as the head of the Athletic Communications office. Philips oversaw the publicity efforts for Plattsburgh State’s 18 varsity athletics teams, including the nationally recognized women’s hockey team. Deeply passionate about elevating both institutional reputation and student-athlete experience, he helped to transform the department’s social media presence to provide a positive experience for all members of the PSU community.

Philips left a lasting mark on campus over his three years before moving to a new part of the country this summer. Philips was recently announced as the new Athletic Communications Specialist at Alverno College.
 
Region 2 Communicator of the Year: Sam Atkinson, Gallaudet University

Sam Atkinson, Associate Athletic Director for Communications at Gallaudet University, has been named the 2024-25 D3SIDA Region 2 Communicator of the Year.

"I want to thank D3SIDA and my fellow Division III athletic communication colleagues for this recognition. I also want to thank my Gallaudet Athletic Communication staff for their help over the years to promote Bison athletics.

Atkinson picked up three CSC Fred Stabley St. Writing Awards for the 2024 calendar year, coming in as the runner-up in all three.

"To be the official storyteller of Gallaudet Athletics is quite the honor and it comes with great responsibility. Every chance we have to share Bison student-athlete stories is an opportunity to educate reporters and the public about the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community. I take great pride to make sure our stories are told the proper way.”

Three of Gallaudet’s teams were recognized with Team Academic Awards in the United East (women’s basketball, women’s volleyball and men’s volleyball). Gallaudet also finished tied for 239th in the final Learfield Directors' Cup standings, presented by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of America (NACDA), as the final 2024-25 Division III standings were recently released. The Bison earned 50 points to finish tied for 239th out of 324 schools that received points from making a NCAA tournament or championship appearance.

Atkinson is currently serving a four-year term (2021-25) on the NCAA Division III women's volleyball national committee. Atkinson is also heavily involved on the national level with College Sports Communicators (formerly known as College Sports Information Directors of America. Atkinson was appointed to the CSC Board of Directors in June 2015 for a three-year term. After two years on the board he was elected as CSC's Third Vice President in June 2017. He became the organization's President in 2020-21 becoming only the second Division III member to become President in the 65-year history of CSC/CoSIDA.

"I've always seeked out leadership opportunities during my career. It is a chance to push myself out of my comfort zone, learn from others, contribute, earn peoples' trust and most importantly be a leader. My time on these boards, committees and making it into the NCAA Pathway program wasn't about me but it has always been for all athletic communicators, especially those in smaller shops. I always wanted to show that athletic communicators are more than people who can write stories, keep statistics and do social media. We all have a lot to offer, we have great insight into collegiate athletics and game operations, and most importantly we can lead.”

Atkinson is set to begin his 16th season at Gallaudet for the 2025-26 year.
 
Region 3 Communicator of the Year: Shawn Medeiros, Endicott College

Shawn Medeiros, has been named the 2024–25 D3SIDA Region 3 Communicator of the Year.

"It's truly an honor to be recognized by my peers for this award," said Medeiros. "However, I feel that this is ultimately a team award. I'd be hard-pressed not to recognize our staff, including Ryan Daly and Lucas Wlodarczyk, our semester-long intern Jake Schumer, and our photo/video student group, which is co-run by staff photographer David Le. The cohesion we have as a group allows us to tell the stories of Endicott student-athletes in unique ways, and I'm forever grateful for the team-first approach we have in our office."

Medeiros will enter his 11th academic year as Endicott’s Sports Information Director in 2025–26. Since joining the Gulls, he has significantly increased student-athlete publicity in academics, community service, internships, and study abroad experiences. He accomplished this through the “Endicott Experience” campaign in collaboration with the College's Admission Office, Career Center and Internship Office, positioning Endicott Athletics as a leader in communications across NCAA Division III.

Under his leadership, Endicott’s social media presence has seen remarkable growth. Over seven-plus years, he has expanded audience metrics across all platforms: Facebook (1,419 to 5,300, +274%), Instagram (2,539 to 10,100, +298%), and Twitter (2,319 to 6,957, +200%). These efforts helped push ecgulls.com past 2.5 million page views during the 2021–22 academic year.

Medeiros’ work has earned numerous industry honors. Most notably, he received the 2022 Eastern Athletic Communications Association’s (EAST-COMM) Irving T. Marsh Award, the association’s highest honor. In 2021, Endicott’s Athletic Communications Department, in collaboration with Admissions and Audio Visual Services, received CoSIDA’s inaugural ChangeMaker Innovation Award. He was also recognized with the 2019 CoSIDA Rising Star Award (College Division), the 2018 CoSIDA Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest first-place honor for District I for his blog entry “The Rivalry You Need To Know About” on Endicott vs. Nichols men’s basketball, and the 2017 NCAA Division III Cross Country Excellence in Communications Award from the USTFCCCA.

Beyond his work at Endicott, Medeiros has held athletic communications roles at Stonehill College and Wheaton College, while also gaining experience in broadcasting as the Director of Media Relations and Broadcasting for the Keene Swamp Bats. He has served as a statistician at several NCAA Division I institutions including Boston College, Boston University, and Providence College as well as for the Cape Cod Baseball League and Major League Lacrosse. Medeiros also has a background in print media, working as a sports correspondent for The Boston Globe from 2007–09, along with contributions to several other news outlets.

A respected leader in the profession, Medeiros recently completed a term as President of D3SIDA, becoming the youngest president in the organization’s history. He also serves as Chair of the College Sports Communicators Mentorship Program and participated in the organization's rebranding group, which has re-named the organization to College Sports Communicators. In addition, he is a member of the College Division Management Advisory Committee, the Endicott Athletics Hall of Fame Committee, and the editorial board for Endicott’s Soundings Magazine. He previously served a three-year term as Commonwealth Coast Conference SID Co-Chair (2016–19), was a PR Club Bell Ringer Awards judge, and currently serves as Assistant Commissioner of the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference.
 
Region 4 Communicators of the Year: Alan Babbitt & Mackenzie McMahon, Hope College

Alan Babbitt and Mackenzie McMahon of Hope College were named the D3SIDA Region 4 Communicators of the Year award. Babbitt serves as Hope’s sports information director and McMahon is the sports information coordinator.

Together, Babbitt and McMahon covered Hope’s 11 championship teams in 2024-25 — eight conference champions and three conference tournament champions through content, multimedia and statistics to highlight their teams and student-athletes, including a notable NCAA semifinal run by the volleyball program and the football team’s historic 11-win season.

Babbitt, who just finished his 12th year at Hope, continues to give back to the profession through his involvement with the College Sports Communicators (CSC) Academic All-America Program, D3SIDA and the CSC’s Goodwill and Wellness Committee. McMahon, who recently completed her fourth year at Hope, serves on CSC Creative and Digital Design Contest Committee and earned recognition in nine different categories during the 2024-25 contest.

“Mackenzie and I are humbled to be honored by our talented and hard-working peers,” Babbitt said. “We are inspired every day by our amazing Hope College student-athletes and coaches, and how they live out the Hope Athletics’ mission of competitive excellence, academic success and transformational experiences. We are grateful for the support we receive on campus from colleagues in our Public Affairs and Marketing Department, Athletic Department, other offices at Hope, and our student-workers; we couldn’t do what we do without all of them. We are proud to represent the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, too. We have some outstanding athletic communicators in our league who make us better.”
 
Region 5 Communicator of the Year: Nicholas Osterloo, North Central College

Nicholas Osterloo completed his fourth year as a full-time staff member at North Central College in 2024-25, culminating with a promotion to the Director of Athletic Communications position in April. Osterloo served as the Assistant Sports Information Director at North Central from 2021-25, and he served as a graduate assistant for the Cardinals’ sports information office from 2019-21.

“I am extremely grateful to have received this award,” said Osterloo. It’s a testament to the incredible support system I have at North Central, within the CCIW, at home and throughout my life. Being recognized by colleagues across the region is a tremendous honor, especially knowing the hard work and dedication across Division III.” He concludes, “I could not have achieved this alone, and I’m excited to share this recognition with those who have helped me along the way. Thank you to my peers who nominated and voted for this award, and to D3SIDA for highlighting the work being done across the division.”

Nicholas was named to the CSC 30 Under 30 list in December of 2024. He was the sport contact for North Central’s NCAA Tournament participant baseball, women’s tennis and men’s tennis teams in 2025. He was the NLS inputter for the Division III Champion North Central football team during the 2024 regular season. Overall, Nicholas was the main person in the Athletics Communications Office for North Central throughout the 2024-25 school year, and in March he added additional responsibilities with the departure of the previous SID. North Central finished 25th overall in the Learfield Director’s Cup Division III standings as Osterloo balanced a shorthanded office at various times in 2024-25.

In addition to his work at North Central, Osterloo is a National Coordinator for the CSC Academic All-America Committee, joining the organization’s highest profile committee in 2022. In 2024-25 he joined the NCWBA Hitter, Pitcher, and Rookie of the Week selection committee.

Nicholas is a trusted colleague. Since his time as a graduate assistant at North Central, he has frequently helped nearby athletics communications offices, working at a variety of events when they were shorthanded and needed extra help. He does a terrific job at North Central, works hard on behalf of the local, regional and national Division III SID community and has become a respected leader among his peers.
 
Region 6 Communicators of the Year: Danielle Percival, Joseph Garwood, & Davis Barlow (Piedmont)

The Piedmont University Athletic Communications staff of Danielle Percival, Joseph Garwood, and Davis Barlow have been named the 2024-2025 D3SIDA Region 6 Communicators of the Year.

“It’s an absolute honor to be recognized by our peers for the work we have done at Piedmont. While our staff is no longer intact, this is a true testament to the team-first attitude the three of us shared and the power of working together toward common goals. We capitalized on the moments that matter and I’m proud of the work we accomplished,” said 2020 CSC Rising Star Award winner and former Assistant Athletic Director Danielle Percival.

The Piedmont athletic communications staff earns the award for their exceptional storytelling and community engagement, highlighted by a powerful and emotional moment shared across their social media platforms. The Piedmont athletic communications staff documented women’s tennis student-athlete Anna Lassiter ringing the bell in front of her Piedmont family after completing her leukemia treatments. It was a moment that resonated with fans, generating over 3,000 likes, a post reach of 40,000 accounts, and a remarkable 73,000 views.

The heartfelt moment was eventually featured in an NCAA article published on April 18 titled “No One Fights Cancer Alone: Anna Lassiter Battles Leukemia with Support from Piedmont Women’s Tennis Family.”

"This award is a true honor and is a testament to how well the three of us worked together in accomplishing the goal of sharing the stories of Piedmont student-athletes,” said Piedmont Director of Athletic Communications Joseph Garwood.

This spring the trio have gone separate ways. After 11 years at the University, Percival has moved on and is now the assistant commissioner for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference while Davis Barlow currently serves as an assistant at Life University. Garwood remains at Piedmont as the director of athletic communications.
   

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The D3SIDA Board would like to thank each individual who took time to nominate and vote for the inaugural year of awards. If you have feedback about the awards process, please email D3SIDA President Katie Gonzales at kgonzal1@iwu.edu