Texas A&M Wins Swimming World Magazine Media Guide of the Year Award

PHOENIX, Arizona, April 20. IN the second of a three-part series of awards acknowledging the promotional work done by swimming publicists throughout the world, Swimming World Magazine is proud to announce that Texas A&M University's women's swimming and diving guide has been named this year's Media Guide of the Year.

The 2008-09 Texas A&M Women's Swimming and Diving Guide is an official publication of the Texas A&M Athletics Department, and was written, compiled, designed and edited by 2009 Swimming World SID of the Year Chris Harrell.

The cover and graphics included in the guide were created by Texas A&M publications specialist Cyndi Mousner, while additional assistance was provided by Tia Buchanan.

The guide, printed by The Insite Group, included photographs by Glen Johnson of Johnson Studio of Professional Photography, Patric Schnieder and Michael Zwierzykowski.

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.

Texas A&M emerged at the top of the guides this year due to its balance throughout the structure of the grading scale. While other guides have begun to include progressions and chronologies of school records, Texas A&M's treatment along with the balance of the rest of the attributes of its guide put it over the top.

Beyond Texas A&M's inclusion as a Superior guide, Texas's men's and women's guides also earned recognition as Superior guides, while Florida's combined publication also reached the summit this year.

Texas' media guides are primarily the responsibility of 2008 Swimming World SID of the Year Travis Feldhaus, while Kelly Reynolds led the way for the Florida guide.

Four guides earned Outstanding status. Arizona's combined guide, Tennessee's women's guide and both of Notre Dame's men's and women's guides were chosen for their strong efforts to promote their programs.

An Excellent rating went to four books. Clemson, Navy and Pacific each produced strong combined-program publications, while Iowa State put together a good guide for its women's team.

Special recognition goes to Gettysburg College, which produced a great pocket pamphlet for its program. In today's economy, if a program is going to have to cut costs, it helps to do it in a way that can still be used to promote a program. Congratulations to Braden Snyder and Corey Jewart at Gettysburg for a quality, efficient use of funds.

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

2009 WINNERS

MEDIA GUIDE OF THE YEAR: Texas A&M (Women), Chris Harrell

SUPERIOR GUIDES: Florida (Combined), Kelly Reynolds; Texas (Men), Travis Feldhaus, Scott McConnell; Texas (Women), Travis Feldhaus; Texas A&M (Women), Chris Harrell

OUTSTANDING GUIDES: Arizona (Combined); Blake Grimsley, Richard Paige; Notre Dame (Men), Alan George, Sean Carroll, Avery Scott; Notre Dame (Women), Alan George, Packy Brewster, Sean Carroll; Tennessee (Women), Zach Stipe, Debby Jennings, Eric Trainer, Brian Davis, Cameron Harries, Kelly Hayes, Marcus Dittmer

EXCELLENT GUIDES: Clemson (Combined), Jeff Kallin, Tim Bourret, Sam Blackman; Iowa State (Women), Matt Shoultz, Adam Claudy; Navy (Combined), Justin Kischefsky, Kelli Sheesley; Pacific (Combined), Blake Timm

2008 WINNERS
2008 Announcement

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), Chris Harrell

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

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

Cover, 2008 Texas AM Media Guide

Cover, 2009 Texas Women's Media Guide

Cover, 2009 Florida Media Guide

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