June 29, 2009

The 2008-09 athletic year at Louisiana Tech was filled with success stories on and off the playing fields as numerous squads and student-athletes captured team and individual titles.

It was also a banner year for the LA Tech Media Relations Department as it captured three awards at the 2008-09 Louisiana Sports Writers Contest which featured a newspaper division and a sports information division.

LA Tech's department won a first, a second and a third place award and the total of three awards placed it second in the state behind only LSU.

Associate Athletic Director Malcolm Butler won first place in the Best Release category for the past year on his story about Lady Techster forward Shanavia Dowdell battling anemia during the season.

"This was a smooth, excellent read on a Lady Techster power forward who was diagnosed with as anemic, thanks to the sharp eyes of her coach Teresa Weatherspoon," remarked the judges which were made up of writers and editors from a number of national publications including the New York Times, Dallas Morning News, and Detroit Free Press.

In addition to Butler's first place award, the department was recognized as the Lady Techster basketball media guide won second place in the Division III Media Guide category as the LSU women's basketball media guide produced by Bill Martin captured the top honors.

The LA Tech football media guide won a third place award in the Division I Media Guide category as LSU's men's basketball and LSU's football media guides finished first and second.

"This is a tribute to the hard work of everyone in this department," Butler said. "It is truly a team effort and I am very proud of my assistants and the work that we produce."

The Tech Media Relations Department is comprised of assistants Kyle Roberts, John Sella and Ryan Jones and publications coordinator Jean Moore.

In the newspaper categories, local Tech beat writers Jimmy Watson and Buddy Davis won numerous awards as Watson finished second in the individual sweepstakes for Class I while Davis finished in third in Class II.