Sandy Rosenbush

Congratulations to Sandy Bailey Rosenbush, AWSM’s 2012 Mary Garber Pioneer Award winner.

“I’m overwhelmed by this honor,” Rosenbush said. “AWSM has been such an important force in helping to diversify the sports media, and in showing that women belong not just in this industry but also in leadership roles in it.

“In truth, we still have a long way to go. But thanks in no small part to AWSM, we are well on our way, and growing stronger every day.”

Rosenbush has been an editor and writer for some of the world’s most prominent news outlets — The Washington Post, the International Herald Tribune, the New York Times, Sports Illustrated and currently ESPN, where she has been an event news editor since 2008.

But her passion for teaching has not only made Rosenbush unique among past winners, but has enriched the lives of other journalists along with those just starting out in the profession.

“It is a pleasure to award Sandy this honor,” said Amy Moritz, AWSM president. “In every step of her career she has been a pioneer, helping to set an example that so many women have admired and strived to emulate. Sandy has not just done her job well, however. She has actively worked to create more opportunities for women and minorities in the sports media industry and to train them to shine in their roles.”

While serving as the first woman president of the Associated Press Sports Editors, in 1993 she and Leon Carter, then-chair of the National Association of Black Journalists Sports Task Force, founded the Sports Journalism Institute, designed to add to the ranks of women and minorities in the industry.

With financial backing from the Freedom Forum at its inception, SJI continues to partner with APSE and NABJ, along with AWSM and the Asian American Journalists Association. In June, SJI will welcome its 20th class to journalism “boot camp” at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.

“The award is well-deserved,” said Carter, executive editor of ESPN-New York and SJI co-director. “Sandy is a terrific leader and role model. She has devoted countless hours to the Sports Journalism Institute over the past 20 years to help improve diversity numbers in sports departments. SJI is still alive today because of her.  She participates on every level of SJI — planning, scheduling, teaching, fund-raising, etc.  Many women and African Americans owe a lot to her, including me.  We are all better for the work she has done. “

Just a couple years removed from editing the student newspaper at her alma mater, the University of South Florida, Rosenbush was hired by the Washington Post’s George Solomon to work on the sports copy desk.

In her 10-year tenure there, Rosenbush advanced to deputy sports editor, working on a staff that included prominent writers Christine Brennan (2004 Pioneer winner), Sally Jenkins and Jane Leavy. She then left for the Paris-based International Herald Tribune, writing and editing sports for two years before being hired as the deputy sports editor at the New York Times.

In 1993, Rosenbush moved to Sports Illustrated as a senior editor. Over a 13-year career, she rose to assistant managing editor, making her mark as the Olympics editor and the editor in charge of SI Presents, producing special and commemorative publications. Rosenbush was also the startup editor for the groundbreaking and now-defunct SI for Women.

Rosenbush left Sports Illustrated in 2006 to become a New York City Teaching Fellow, teaching fulltime for two years in the city’s public school system, before returning to sports at ESPN, where she works with event crews covering mostly college football, basketball and pro tennis.

Rosenbush, who has lived in Brooklyn for nearly 20 years, is married to Rich Rosenbush, editor of the Daily Racing Form. They have three children, Katy, Kyle and Emma.

The Mary Garber Pioneer Award, AWSM’s highest honor, recognizes those who have paved the way and serve as role models for women in sports media. The award has been given annually since 1999 to those who have distinguished themselves in the field while reflecting and advancing the values and mission of AWSM.

It was renamed the Mary Garber Pioneer Award in 2006 to honor one of the industry’s original pioneers. Rosenbush will be honored during the Mary Garber Pioneer Award winner lunch at AWSM’s national convention. The 2012 Convention, held in conjunction with APSE, will be held from June 20-23 in Chicago.

Past Mary Garber Pioneer Award winners:

• 1999: Lesley Visser
• 2000: Claire Smith
• 2001: Michele Himmelberg
• 2002: Tracy Dodds
• 2003: Melissa Ludtke
• 2004: Christine Brennan
• 2005: Cathy Henkel
• 2006: Kristin Huckshorn
• 2007: Julie Ward
• 2008: Mary Schmitt Boyer
• 2009: Linda Robertson
• 2010: Julie Cart
• 2011: Rosa Gatti

For Members of the Association for Women in Sports Media

Deadline: Nov. 20, 2011

The Association for Women in Sports Media wants to help ensure its mid-career members have
the skills and knowledge to adapt to the challenging and evolving media landscape and meet their
career goals. Through funding from an Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation grant,
AWSM will provide mid-career training grants of up to $1,500 to deserving AWSM members.

For your application to be considered, you must supply all of the following:
* A completed two-part application form.
* A resume including your professional experience, formal education, professional development
seminars or workshops, or other relevant training experiences.

Applicants must also be current members of AWSM with up-to-date dues and fees.
If you are unsure of your status, contact Alisha Hord at ahord@sportingnews.com.

All materials must be received by Nov. 20, 2011.
Email: colleen.mcdaniel@pilotonline.com
Ground mail: Colleen McDaniel, sports editor, The Virginian-Pilot, 150 W. Brambleton Ave.,
Norfolk, VA 23510

Questions:
Colleen.McDaniel@pilotonline.com
Applicants will be notified by Jan. 1, 2012.

Here’s the application form: Midcareer2011

The Association for Women in Sports Media is pleased to announce the establishment of the Leah Siegel Scholarship in honor of the Emmy-winning ESPN television producer, who passed away in July 2010 at age 43.

Sports journalism played a large part in Leah’s life. Her parents, Myra MacPherson and Morrie Siegel, were journalists in Washington D.C., and as a teenager, Leah worked with her father in the press box at RFK Stadium, cementing her life-long love of the Redskins, a passion that continued even after she moved to Dallas to work as an NFL producer for ESPN in 1996. She was once moved from the Cowboys coveted 50 yard line down to the end zone because her cell phone ring made the Cowboys nervous.
It played “Hail to the Redskins.” She combined her professional life as a traveling producer and that of a mother after the birth of her daughter, Teagan, in 2004, and son, Wyatt, in 2006.

Leah’s wit and wisdom carried her through the final two rough years of her life as she battled breast cancer, discovered in August 2008 when she gave birth to her third child, Oliver. Ever the journalist, Leah chronicled her battle with the disease through an online Caring Bridge Journal, and her writing inspired so many strangers that the blog received an astounding 60,000 visits.

Although Leah died so young, she had an immense impact on her many colleagues, friends and family, and was truly an inspiration for all young women, and especially for those seeking careers in
sports journalism.

“Leah played such an important role for women both in sports journalism and in life that it is a privilege for AWSM to be part of honoring her memory,” said AWSM President Amy Moritz. “She was, and still is, an inspirational role model — as a mother, as a woman battling breast cancer and as a journalist. This scholarship will help her family continue Leah’s legacy, passing down her wit and wisdom to the next generation of women in sports media.”

The Leah Siegel Scholarship will help pay academic expenses for one of the AWSM’s summer interns working in sports media starting in the summer of 2012.

Sadly, sports reporters, particularly women, continue to face personal attacks from a narrow constituency of readers. While readers can disagree over conclusions or points of view, personally attacking the writer does not further the conversation. The comments can come privately, via email or voicemail, or publicly, through comment sections, Tweets and blog posts.

AWSM has always firmly believed that personal attacks have no place in the conversation. We support women who work in sports media and face those kinds of nasty, pointless comments.

This latest incident provides an opportunity for media organizations to review their policies regarding such comments. Does your website monitor the comment section? How does the website handle inappropriate comments? AWSM urges media companies to be vigilant about policing comments for personal attacks, which degrade the integrity of the other conversations worth having.

AWSM is proud of have placed more than 100 young women in paid internships at employers such as Sports Illustrated, ESPN, MLB.com and a variety of the nation’s top daily newspapers. AWSM also provides internship opportunities for students interested in careers in sports media relations.

We hope to be able to place as many as a dozen deserving applicants into internships for the summer of 2012. The top applicant in each of the writing, broadcast, editing and media relations categories will receive a $1,000 scholarship and a paid trip to the 2012 convention in Chicago. All other students selected for an AWSM internship will receive a $500 scholarship.

Applications for the summer of 2012 program must be submitted through our online application system. The application deadline is Monday, Oct. 31, 2011. Winners will be notified by mid-December.

Eligibility:

• Applicants must be full-time female students seeking an undergraduate or graduate degree during the 2011-12 academic year.
• Previous winners are not eligible.
• Membership in AWSM is not required. However, applicants can join AWSM for just $15 in addition to their $20 application fee.

Selection process:

• AWSM board members and appropriate media professionals will serve as judges and select internship finalists.
• Applicants may be contacted by phone for an interview.
• All intern placements are final decisions, made jointly by AWSM and the employer.
• Interns are expected to serve a full term with the employer.
• Interns will receive half of their scholarship money at the start of the internship and the remaining half upon completion of the internship.

For more information, please contact Lindsay.jones@awsmonline.org

Interested? Apply here!