NWMA names National Wrestling Journalism Award winners

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - The National Wrestling Media Association, the national professional organization for wrestling journalists, has named the recipients of its Annual Wrestling Journalist Awards. The NWMA has honored the top wrestling journalists in the following categories: Broadcaster of the Year, Print Journalist of the Year, Photographer of the Year, Publicist/SID of the Year, Publication of the Year and Web Page of the Year. Candidates were nominated by the NWMA members.

Print Journalist of the Year - Dick Kelly, Ames Tribune
Kelly received a journalism degree from Iowa State, and has worked as a journalist for 33 years. He was the editor of a twice-weekly newspaper in Boone, Iowa, and also covered sports for the Ames Tribune. The editors there "didn't know much about wrestling and asked me to cover it, and I have been at it ever since," said Kelly. He has been covering the Iowa State Cyclone wrestling team for 20 years for the Tribune, the hometown daily newspaper where Iowa State is located. Kelly has covered Iowa State competitions and written features on Cyclone wrestlers. In addition, he has covered the Iowa state high school wrestling championships for many years. He has done other wrestling coverage when major events are held in the state, such as the U.S. World Team Trials in Ames in 2005 Sioux City in 2006. The highlight of his wrestling career was covering Cael Sanderson when he became a four-time undefeated NCAA champion for Iowa State. He also enjoyed covering Cyclone NCAA champions Joe Heskett, Chris Bono and Nate Gallick, each who struggled before winning the title. The 2009 NCAA Championships in St. Louis will be Kelly's 19th year covering the event, as well as his last working for the Tribune. He will retire from the Ames Tribune right after the NCAA Wrestling Championships are completed this year.

Broadcaster of the Year - Steve Foster, Takedown Radio
Foster turned his passion for wrestling into an opportunity to promote the sport as an announcer for the popular Takedown Radio show (TDR), which airs locally in Iowa and across the nation via the internet. He grew up in Boone, Iowa, where his father started taking him to Iowa State wrestling events when he was still very young. Foster grew up watching the Dan Gable, Ben Peterson, Chris Taylor, Frank Santana and other Cyclone stars. He competed in wrestling for eight years, and has been involved in the sport for 30 years. Following the sport and knowing the rankings and statistics of wrestling became his hobby. When Scott Casber started his Takedown Radio show over a decade ago in Iowa, Foster called in to answer a trivia question. When they met off the air, Casber invited Foster to join him in the studio as part of his show. Since then, Foster has talked wrestling over the airwaves, both in studio and on the road at hundreds of events. He has covered everything from elementary school tournaments through high school and college and up to the Olympic level. College wrestling is where his expertise is strongest. When he started, he did it "by the seat of my pants," but has developed into a relaxed, professional announcer. He will be calling the NCAA Championships live again this year as part of the TDR team. It remains fun for Foster, because he has "the desire to promote the best conditioned, hardest working athletes in the world."

Publicist/SID of the Year - Pat Donghia, Penn State University
Donghia has been involved in promoting wrestling for 20 years, working with three Div. I colleges with strong wrestling programs. After graduating from Allegheny College with a communications arts degrees, Donghia began his sports information career with a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at Edinboro, helping with the wrestling program then coached by Mike DeAnna (1988-90). He then served six years as a sports information director at Lock Haven (1990-96), helping promote their team coached by Carl Poff. While there, he also helped in the promotion of their Olympic hopeful Cary Kolat. Donghia was also one of the tournament directors for the EWL Championships while he worked at Lock Haven. He is now in his 12th year with the Penn State Athletics Communications Department. This is his fourth year working with the wrestling program, coached by Troy Sunderland. Donghia writes all the press releases and materials for the program, travels with the team to away events, and serves as the press liaison for all home meets and tournaments. This year, he managed the media services at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships held at Penn State. In addition to wrestling, Donghia is the primary contact for men's lacrosse. He oversees students who manage communications for the women's golf, men's fencing and women's fencing programs.

Photographer of the Year - Larry Slater, Gilbert, Ariz.
Slater, an attorney by trade, became an avid volunteer wrestling photographer in the early 2000s. Slater began shooting wrestling competitions and functions for USA Wrestling and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and has become a fixture in the sport. He posts his photos on a website, and makes them available to the wrestling community. He currently has 19,000 wrestling photos posted for the public to enjoy. Slater photographed the last three World Wrestling Championships for USA Wrestling (2005 in Budapest, Hungary, 2006 in Guangzhou, China and 2007 in Baku, Azerbaijan) and was a credentialed photographer at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Other major events have included the U.S. Nationals, the Dave Schultz Memorial and the Sunkist Kids Internation. He has covered three NCAA Div. I Nationals as well as Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational within college wrestling. His photos have appeared in Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine, in addition to wrestling magazines USA Wrestler, WIN Magazine and Wrestling USA as well as a number of daily newspapers. His wrestling images have appeared in magazines in Bulgaria and Canada. He has been the photographer for the Hall of Fame Honors Weekend for three years, and has shot the reunions of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Team and the 1988 Arizona State NCAA championship team. He also shot the official team shots for the 2008 U.S. Olympic judo team. Slater was a wrestler in high school, winning a 1974 Connecticut state freestyle title as a competitor.

Website of the Year - BuckeyeWrestling.com
Last winter, a group of wrestling journalists in Ohio came together to launch BuckeyeWrestling.com, a new website covering wrestling in this wrestling-rich state. Kevin Schlosser is the lead writer and photographer for the website. Schlosser, who has done extensive wrestling coverage for other media outlets, wanted to develop a central location for Ohio wrestling news and features. The webmaster is Scott Lazur. Bob Tuneberg serves as a photographer, and April Kruczkowski, an Ohio State intern, has handled numerous editorial duties. The site does extensive college wrestling coverage, including Div. I Ohio State, Kent State, Cleveland State and Ohio Univ. There is also Big Ten wrestling coverage, as well as national college coverage. BuckeyeWrestling.com has done some high school coverage, with plans to expand next season. There are articles, audio interviews and photos included in the content. BuckeyeWrestling.com this season did features on 46 returning All-Americans, 42 coaches, and over 120 college wrestlers. The website has reported from 12 states this year. Onsite reports have included the All-Star Classic, Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, Midlands, National Duals, Big Ten, NCAA Tournaments, plus the complete Ohio State dual meet schedule. Last spring, the website also provided coverage from University Nationals, U.S. Nationals and U.S. Olympic Team Trials. There are plans for expanding staff and coverage for next season.

Publication of the Year - Pennsylvania Wrestling NewsMagazine
Longtime wrestling coach Joe Baranik founded the Pennsylvania Wrestling NewsMagazine (PWN) 14 years ago, to provide "more coverage and different coverage" of wrestling in Pennsylvania, one of the nation's hotbeds for the sport. The publication started as a folded newsletter, then evolved into a 16-page, black and white magazine format. As the publication developed, color was added and eventually the magazine was printed on coated stock. All levels of wrestling in Pennsylvania are covered, from youth through high school and college wrestling. The state has 34 different college wrestling programs, and PWN covers it all. Baranik serves as a columnist for the magazine, and also focuses on Div. I wrestling. Arlin Roth serves as the publication's editor, and works with many other contributors to put together each issue. PWN is published six times a year from November through April. The state is broken up into regions, and numerous knowledgeable contributors report about wrestling in their area. "Everybody has their own thing that they do," said Baranik. In addition, Roth serves as the webmaster for the publication's website, which posts additional information on a more timely basis about Keystone state wrestling.

The National Wrestling Media Association (NWMA) is the national professional organizations for journalists who cover the sport of amateur wrestling. This includes reporters, editors, publishers, webmasters, photographers, broadcasters, sports information directors and other media professionals who share an interest and involvement in the sport. Dues is $20, which can be sent to the National Wrestling Media Association, 2016 Bittersweet Drive, St. Anne, IL 60964