The Northwestern State sports information office collected a total of six awards in the annual Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s sports information/communications contest with the winners being announced Sunday afternoon at the conclusion of the LSWA’s annual conference.
Assistant athletic director for media relations Jason Pugh took home three second-place awards while assistant sports information director Brad Welborn collected a pair of third-place awards. Northwestern State Director of Photography Chris Reich nabbed a second-place honor.
Pugh was honored for a pair of feature stories from the 2022-23 athletic calendar. His story about Demon wide receiver Jaheim Walters’ battles with mental health en route to a productive season was the runner-up in the best football release/feature category.
Pugh also took home the runner-up spot in the best baseball/men’s basketball release/feature category for his story about Demon relief pitcher Kyle Froehlich playing his career in memory of his late brother, who died when Froehlich was a child.
Pugh’s third award came in the game notes category for NSU’s baseball notes package for the April 28-30 weekend series against Nicholls.
Welborn’s game story on the Lady Demons’ “dad strength” series-clinching win against HCU on April 1 earned him an award in the best women’s basketball/softball feature/release category. He matched that finish in the Olympic sports release/feature category for his recap of the NSU volleyball team’s Southland Conference Tournament quarterfinal victory in November.
Reich nabbed his second career LSWA award for his postgame photo following Northwestern State’s men’s basketball home finale in which several players, fans and staff members were gathered around 7-foot-3 Demon center Jordan Wilmore, who held a phone aloft allowing them to watch the closing seconds of the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi-Texas A&M-Commerce game that decided whether the Demons would share the Southland Conference regular-season title.
