SVG, NACDA Celebrate Winners of Eighth-Annual College Sports Media Awards

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The Sports Video Group (SVG) and the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) once again joined forces to honor the best in college-sports-video production at the eighth-annual College Sports Media Awards.

More than 400 entries were submitted for consideration in five categories (Live Game Production; Live Studio/Remote-Hosted Programming; Program Series; Special Feature; and Promo, PSA, Tease, or Marketing Campaign) across four divisions (National Networks/Professional, Regional/Local/Conference Digital Networks, Collegiate Athletics, and Collegiate Student).

In a special ceremony hosted by Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt and sponsored by Ross Video, the winners of the 2016 College Sports Media Awards were unveiled tonight at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta as part of SVG’s annual College Sports Summit.

“Everything is getting so good on all levels that it’s exciting for the fans, which is what we’re all doing this for,” said Klatt. “Over 400 entries again this year, and the quality continues to move forward. But what I love most is, you get to see such great video from around the country from all levels that maybe we’d not otherwise be exposed to. … It’s an amazing time in our industry.”

Longhorn Network continues to dominate the field, taking home three awards for a total of 15 all-time wins, the most of any CSMA recipient. ESPN secured its 12th and 13th all-time awards. CBS Sports Network and Turner Sports continue to build momentum at the CSMAs, each notching its fourth all-time honor, and CBS/Turner Sports took home their first joint award for their production of the 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship.

“This represents the hard work, dedication, creativity, innovation, and sacrifice of our whole crew,” said ESPN Features Manager Andrew Gallagher, who accepted for College GameDay. “We love the sport, we love putting on the show, and we thank you for this recognition.”

In the Collegiate Athletics division, St. Cloud State/Husky Productions took home a CSMA — its seventh all-time — for Men’s Ice Hockey production, and University of South Carolina (Gamecock Productions) remains a force in college sports video with its seventh all-time honor for the Gamecock Confidential series.

Texas A&M/12th Man Productions took home its second all-time CSMA in the division (its first came in 2013) for its production of the 2016 Texas A&M Signing Day Show. “I was fortunate enough to be the director on the production,” said Senior Producer Clay Taylor. “Texas A&M is like a family atmosphere: a lot of hard work and a lot of teamwork goes into productions like this from our students, so thank you to them.”

In addition to the continued success of these perennial contenders, the night was marked by several first-time wins in the Regional/Local/Conference Digital Networks, Collegiate Athletics, and College Student divisions. BYUtv and TexAgs (an independent media site covering Texas A&M athletics) took home trophies in the Outstanding Live-Game Production and Outstanding Special Feature categories, respectively.

“We pride ourselves on the quality of our live event production, and this is a testament to that,” said BYUtv Senior Coordinating Producer Mikel Minor. “I thank you very much.”

In fact, three of the four winners in the Outstanding Special Feature category were first-time recipients. In addition to TexAgs, there were Northwestern University in the Collegiate Athletics division and Butler University in the Collegiate Student division.

Other first-time winners were Auburn University (War Eagle Productions), Arizona State University, University of Notre Dame (Fighting Irish Media), Wake Forest University, and University of North Florida (Osprey Network).

“The late president of NFL Films once said the locker room is a laboratory of human emotions, and, without the support of our athletic department, we wouldn’t be able to show the human side of sports,” said University of Notre Dame student Josh Long, who accepted the Outstanding Program Series trophy for the school’s ICON video series. “It’s about the people, not the plays.”

Each of the honorees tonight paid tribute to the time, hard work, and dedication shown by the students in creating their award-winning videos. Recalling how his team completed production on the winning video at 3 a.m. in order to post to Facebook at 8 a.m., University of North Florida Coordinator of Digital Media & Publications Jonathan Harkey reflected, “It speaks volumes to what good students can put together. … I need student work to get through the day, and the fact that they can produce content like that is amazing. It just goes to show, if you give good students the right tools, what they can accomplish.”

College Sports Media Awards winners and finalists are selected by a blue-ribbon panel of industry peers and celebrate the very best in college-sports-video production. For more information on the SVG/NACDA College Sports Media Awards, visit www.svgcollege.com.

2016 SVG/NACDA College Sports Media Awards

Complete List of Winners

OUTSTANDING LIVE GAME PRODUCTION

NATIONAL NETWORKS/PROFESSIONAL

CBS/TBS | 2016 NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship

REGIONAL/LOCAL/CONFERENCE DIGITAL NETWORKS

BYUtv | Men’s Volleyball – Pepperdine vs. BYU

COLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

Auburn University (War Eagle Productions) | Softball – Auburn vs. Florida

COLLEGIATE STUDENT

St. Cloud State University/Husky Productions | Men’s Ice Hockey – St. Cloud State vs. Western Michigan

OUTSTANDING LIVE STUDIO/REMOTE HOSTED PROGRAMMING



NATIONAL NETWORKS/PROFESSIONAL

ESPN | College GameDay (Football)

REGIONAL/LOCAL/CONFERENCE DIGITAL NETWORKS

Longhorn Network | Texas GameDay

COLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

Texas A&M University (12th Man Productions) | 2016 Texas A&M Signing Day Show

COLLEGIATE STUDENT

Arizona State University | Cronkite Sports Live

OUTSTANDING PROGRAM SERIES

NATIONAL NETWORKS/PROFESSIONAL

CBS Sports Network | Men of March

REGIONAL/LOCAL/ CONFERENCE DIGITAL NETWORKS

Longhorn Network | Texas Football: All Access

COLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

University of Notre Dame (Fighting Irish Media) | ICON

COLLEGIATE STUDENT

University of South Carolina (Gamecock Productions) | Gamecock Confidential: Carolina Baseball 2016 – Win Anyway

OUTSTANDING SPECIAL FEATURE

NATIONAL NETWORKS/PROFESSIONAL

ESPN | #CHADTOUGH

REGIONAL/LOCAL/CONFERENCE DIGITAL NETWORKS

TexAgs | On an Island

COLLEGIATE ATHLETICS

Northwestern University | Northwestern Football Equipment

COLLEGIATE STUDENT

Butler University | Butler Basketball: Senior Day 2016

OUTSTANDING PROMOTION, PSA, TEASE, OR MARKETING CAMPAIGN