Penn State Wins Swimming World Magazine Media Guide of the Year Award

PHOENIX, Arizona. April 18. IN the final of a three-part series of awards honoring the work of swimming publicists around the world, Swimming World Magazine is proud to announce that Penn State University's combined men's and women's media guide has claimed this year's Media Guide of the Year contest.

The 2007-08 Penn State Swimming and Diving media guide was a publication of the Penn State Athletic Communications office. Matt Beltz was responsible for compilation, writing and layout and design work of the guide. Jeff Nelson served as Executive Editor, while Brian Siegrist and theprinters.com provided Design and Cover Art work.

Photos were provided by Campus Photography, Mark Selders, Amber Walser, Rob McConaughy and Dave Cochrane, while printing was provided by Jostens.

Each submitted guide was judged on a 100-point scale derived from the following point values: 30 points for record section, 30 points for history section, 15 points for athlete bios, 15 points for coach bios and 10 points for the overall look and design of the publication.

Those publications that gave proper attention to the history of their programs as well as maintained a deep and accurate record book shot up the charts during judging. Many programs around the nation have chosen to cut back on the historical archive portion of media guides in an effort to make them more of a recruiting publication. These actions devalue not only the historical importance of each publication, but also deny the great history of those that came before the current crop of swimmers. These changes were also reflected in this year's judging.

After analyzing each submission, Swimming World Magazine separated each group of guides into Superior, Outstanding and Excellent groupings. Instead of instituting a "top-five" or "top-10" requirement, we felt that every guide entered into the contest that does it right should be honored.

Penn State surfaced as the most well rounded and deep publication of those submitted. Overall, five media guides earned Superior distinction. We were especially impressed by Penn State's inclusion of school record progressions.

The other Superior guides came from Florida (combined), which already won the Media Guide Cover of the Year contest, Tennessee (Women) and both of the men's and women's guides from Texas.

Meghan Gannon was the primary person in charge of the Florida guide, while Travis Feldhaus, the new Swimming World SID of the Year, produced both guides for Texas. Casey Self, an honorable mention SID of the Year, came up with the Tennessee women's guide.

Three books earned Outstanding status, with all three being combined program guides. LSU, Navy and Wisconsin each earned a spot on the list. Both Navy and Wisconsin moved up from Excellent rankings last year, while LSU was a new entrant this year. Navy's effort stood out as Justin Kischefsky took on the daunting task of creating a strong combined program guide, when both of his men's and women's guides were top notch last year.

An Excellent ranking went to six publications. Steve Marovich, a consistent winner in the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) Media Guide of the Year publication contests at the Division III level, has one of the most packed pamphlet sized guides we have ever seen. Both his men's and women's guides earned the Excellent rating. Michigan's men's and women's guides also garnered such distinction, while Iowa State and Kansas both had their guides so honored.

For those coaches or media relations contacts wanting their guides to be considered for next year's awards, please mail a copy of your guides to:

Swimming World Magazine
Attn: Jason Marsteller
2744 East Glenrosa
Phoenix, AZ 85016

MEDIA GUIDE OF THE YEAR
Penn State (Combined), Matt Beltz, Jeff Nelson

SUPERIOR GUIDES
Florida (Combined), Meghan Gannon, Fred Demarest, Jaime Handy, John Hines, Cory Walton
Penn State (Combined), Matt Beltz, Jeff Nelson
Tennessee (Women), Casey Self, Debby Jennings, Eric Trainer, Brian Davis, Cameron Harris, Kelly Hayes, Courtney Tysinger
Texas (Men), Travis Feldhaus, Scott McConnell, Thomas Dick, Mary Elliott, Steve Willgren
Texas (Women), Travis Feldhaus, Barb Kowal, Mary Elliott, Steve Willgren

OUTSTANDING GUIDES
LSU (Combined), Bill Martin, Ashley Durand, Jason Feirman
Navy (Combined), Justin Kischefsky, Kelli Sheesley
Wisconsin (Combined), KatieJo Kuhens

EXCELLENT GUIDES
Carthage (Men), Steve Marovich
Carthage (Women), Steve Marovich
Iowa State (Women), Matt Shoultz, Trevor Mickelson
Kansas (Women), Kelly Reynolds
Michigan (Men), Jeremiah Hergott, Barb Cossman, Leah Howard
Michigan (Women), Ryan Sosin, Barb Cossman, Lauren Bogema

2007 WINNERS
2007 Announcement
MEDIA GUIDE OF THE YEAR: Auburn (Combined), Carol White

SUPERIOR GUIDES: Auburn (Combined), Carol White; Texas A&M (Women's), Chris Harrell

OUTSTANDING GUIDES: Notre Dame (Men's), Sean Carroll; Notre Dame (Women's), Joe Prisco, Perry Shoemaker, Kate Harrington

EXCELLENT GUIDES: Wisconsin (Combined), Brian Lee, Mitchell Pinta; Navy (Men's), Justin Kischefsky, Kelly Sheesley; Navy (Women's), Justin Kischefsky, Kelly Sheesley

Florida Media Guide Cover 2008

Tennessee Women Media Guide Cover 2008

Texas Men Media Guide Cover 2008

Texas Women Media Guide Cover 2008

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