July 10, 2008
QUEENS, N.Y. - The St. John's Athletic Communications unit ranked among the nation's most honored sports information offices last week, as the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) recognized the Red Storm with five citations for excellence in publications at its annual conference. The number of accolades bestowed upon St. John's media guides staked the Athletic Communications staff as one of the Top 20 most-decorated offices among the country's 330 NCAA Division I institutions.
For the second-straight year, the St. John's men's and women's basketball "GameDay" yearbook earned a "Second in the Nation" citation, after being judged "Fourth in the Nation" in 2006. The 2008 yearbook cover merited "Best in the Nation" honors, a first for the St. John's Athletic Communications office.
The men's basketball media guide, celebrating St. John's 100-plus years on the hardwood, earned "Second in the District" honors for CoSIDA District I, which is comprised of all NCAA Division I colleges and universities located in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. For the second year in a row, the women's basketball and women's soccer media guides garnered "Second in the District" mentions as well.
The men's soccer media guide did not earn an all-district certificate, but still finished 13th in the nation in that highly-competitive field.
In other communications-related news, the Red Storm Report's "100 Years of St. John's Basketball" segment detailing head coach Joe Lapchick and the Redmen's back-to-back 1943 and 1944 NIT titles won a bronze Telly Award on June 24. The Red Storm Report weekly television show airs between January and March, and is produced by the St. John's Athletics Department and 2003 graduate Adam Scigliano of Bandwagon Entertainment/Clutch Media and Marketing. The New York City-based Telly Awards honor the best local, regional, and cable television commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions, and work created for the Web. The 29th Annual Telly Awards received more than 13,500 entries from all 50 states and five continents. All 10 of this season's Red Storm Report episodes are available free-of-charge in RedStormSports.com's StormTracker All-Access Video On-Demand player.
In addition, the highly-anticipated "100 Years of St. John's Basketball" coffee table book is now in stock, with all pre-orders to be shipped in the next week. Those interested in purchasing the definitive, "must-have" collector's piece authored and compiled by Jim O'Connell and Paul Montella of the Associated Press can order online in the Publications Store on RedStormSports.com.
