BATON ROUGE — The LSU Sports Information Office received 10 awards, including four first place awards in the annual Louisiana Sports Writers Association contest results announced Friday at the conclusion of the group’s annual convention in New Orleans.
LSU Assistant AD/Sports Information Director Michael Bonnette won first place in Division I Media Guide (for Bowl Championship Eligible Schools) for his 2007 football guide. Among the judge’s comment on the winning entry: “The best combination of useful media information and historical perspective.”
Bonnette also had a second place in “Best Fact Sheet” for his pre-game media information sheet prior to the LSU-Tennessee Southeastern Championship game.
Associate SID Bill Franques won Division III Media Guide (Baseball, Softball, Women’s Basketball) for his 2008 Baseball Guide. The judge said: “The Final Year at Alex Box and the history of the program really are emphasized, but the good writing and information on bios and the coaches makes this a winner.”
Former LSU Associate SID Brian Miller took second for his women’s basketball guide and Association SID Melissa Foley was in a tie for third with her LSU softball guide.
Foley’s 2007 Volleyball guide was the winner in the open Olympic Sports category that was swept by LSU guides as Alex Restrepo’s men’s tennis guide was second and Jake Terry’s women’s tennis guide was third. Of the three, the judge said of Foley’s guide: “I ranked the volleyball slightly ahead of the rest because I thought the season outlook was a little more creative and the player pages caught my eye.”
LSU’s other first came in Best Release from Restrepo, who starts an internship with the New England Patriots this week, for his feature titled: “Full Throttle: Glenn Dorsey Never Slows Down. The judge called it a “first-rate feature on the LSU lineman … The story gave me a good sense of Dorsey the player, as well as ? and more importantly ? the person.”
LSU also received a second place in Division I media guide from Senior Associate SID Kent Lowe for his 2007-08 men’s basketball guide. Lowe just completed a two-year term as the president of the LSWA and will return to his former position as treasurer for the next two years under new president Garland Foreman of the Bunkie Record. Bonnette was also reelected for another two year term as the Vice-President for SIDs in the state of Louisiana.