Freeland, Mich. -- The MIAA has announced the winners of two awards honoring outstanding sports information efforts during the 2015-16 season by its member schools – the Robin Hartman Writing Award and the Tom Renner Associate SID Award.
Kurt Miller, assistant sports information director at Kalamazoo College, has been named the recipient of the Robin Hartman Award, while Brad Vannatter, a student assistant in Alma College’s sports information office, has been chosen to receive the Tom Renner Award.
The awards honor two former sports information directors who dedicated many years serving to the MIAA – the late Robin Hartman of Albion College and Tom Renner of Hope College.
Hartman served as Albion’s sports information director from 1987 to 2001 and is remembered as a pioneer in small college sports information with introducing one of the first athletic websites. He forged the path of using the internet as a source for streaming audio play-by-play. He passed away in 2006.
Renner served as Hope’s sports information director for 47 years before stepping down from his position in 2013. For 41 years he was the MIAA publicist (1967-2008) and still serves as the conference historian.
The Hartman Award honors outstanding writing in a sports information capacity, either by a sports information director or assistant, while the Renner Award honors outstanding efforts by student assistants in sports information offices at MIAA schools.
Kurt Miller, who joined Kalamazoo College in July 2015, is being honored with the Hartman Award for his story on Kalamazoo College women's swimmer Colleen Orwin entitled: "Orwin's Icy Road to Success." The story chronicles Orwin's comeback from a broken wrist her freshman year to qualifying for the NCAA III Championships as a sophomore.
Familiar with the MIAA, Miller graduated from Albion College in 2014 with a degree in mass media communication studies and economics. During his time at Albion he worked in the sports information department as a student assistant and also served as the sports editor for the Albion Pleiad. He was a member of the Albion men's soccer team, served as a captain for two years and was named team's most valuable player following his senior season.
After finishing his undergraduate work in the spring of 2014, Miller went on to serve as a graduate assistant for sports information and marketing at Minot State University in the 2014-15 academic year while also earning his master's degree in business management.
He currently resides in Kalamazoo.
COLLEEN ORWIN ICY ROAD TO SUCCESS STORY: http://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/wswimdive/2015-16/releases/20160126hcnczr
Brad Vannatter, a versatile member of the Alma College sports information staff, has been selected as the recipient of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s Tom Renner Award. The award, named in honor of longtime MIAA Publicist and Hope College sports information director Tom Renner, is presented annually to a student assistant at an MIAA member college sports information office for outstanding service.
In addition to providing an orientation to new sports information director Paul Thomas, Vannatter was placed in charge of sports information functions at most of the Scots’ home soccer events and swimming & diving meets and he was the primary statistician at home lacrosse contests.
In addition, he assisted in the research of school records and in providing content for the website. According to Thomas, “Brad was single-handedly responsible for compiling over 60 years of basketball statistics as we scrambled to research the accolades accomplished by this year’s men’s basketball team.”
Originally from Tecumseh, Vannatter plans to work in sports at the collegiate or professional level.
“I chose Alma for the same reason as many of the students here; to continue my athletic career,” Vannatter, who planned to quarterback the Scots’ football team, said. “However, after my freshman year I decided to turn my focus to the sports information department and never looked back. I was extremely fortunate to learn and develop under Mike Hanson, Paul Thomas, Rob Christe and Grace Wheeler. I am truly honored to receive the Tom Renner award, and thank all the amazing people who have helped me along the way.”
