SBP Excellence Awards Announced

May 16, 2014

Montrose High School captured first place in two of five individual categories in the inaugural MHSAA School Broadcast Program Excellence Awards, and with it the “Program of the Year” honor.

The SBP Excellence Awards are underwritten by Herff Jones, which will award certificates and plaques to the ten schools which took individual honors.  Presentations will be scheduled in the coming weeks to the recipient schools.

Montrose took first place in two categories:  Best Multicamera Production for a basketball game against Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary; and Best Produced Commercial/Feature for a public service announcement about texting while driving.  The program also demonstrated during the year a good blend of productions in a variety of sports covered and an overall command of the PlayOn! Sports software used for graphics and inserting commercials during the course of productions.

Other category winners were:  St. Ignace High School for Best Use of PlayOn! graphics in a football game against Hillman; Rogers City High School for the Best Overall Single Camera Production of a Game Using PlayOn! Graphics in a football game against Mio; and Haslett High School for Best Student Play-by-Play in a girls basketball game against DeWitt.

Here is the complete list by categories of the school being honored in this year’s SBP Excellence Awards:

Best Single Camera Production with PlayOn! Graphics

First Place – Rogers City Sarah Meredith, Amber Nowicki – Football game v. Mio

Second Place – Petoskey – Stuart Green, Nick Snider, Josh Kuhlman, Joe LeBlanc – Girls Volleyball match with Ogemaw Heights

Third Place – St. Ignace – Alysse Bentley, Jenny Campbell, Dillian Denman – Football game v. Hillman

Best Multicamera Production

First Place – Montrose – Tyler J. Anderson, Eric Vandefifer, Cabresha Nard, Ashley Abair, Sidney Trantham – Boys Basketball game v. Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary

Second Place – Johannesburg-Lewiston – Girls Basketball game v. Gaylord St. Mary

Third Place – Cedar Springs – Ian Murphy, Alex Tanis, Alex Hughes, Kody Hall, Liz Moore, Alec Lachniet, Jake Detloff – Boys District Basketball game, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern v. Grand Rapids Northview

Best use of PlayOn! Graphics/Software

First Place – St. Ignace – Alysse Bentley, Jenny Campbell, Dillian Denman – Football game v. Hillman

Second Place – Haslett – Delany McFate – Girls basketball game v. DeWitt

hird Place – Petoskey - Stuart Green, Nick Snider, Josh Kuhlman, Joe LeBlanc – Girls Volleyball match with Ogemaw Heights

Best Produced Commercial/Feature

First Place – Montrose – Cabresha Nard, Tyler J. Anderson, Haley Ruiz – Texting/Driving PSA

Second Place – Charlevoix – Ben Boss,  Benny Patkai – Classroom electives offerings promo

Third Place – Rogers City – Morgan Hall, Sarah Meredith – Rogers City Softball Preview

Best Student Play-by-Play Commentary

First Place – Haslett – Andy Stamm, Tyler Mehigh – Girls basketball game v. DeWitt

Second Place – Rockford – Riley O’Keefe, Kevin DeLaFuente, Lucas Henry – Football game v. East Kentwood

Third Place – Escanaba – Jon Perrault, Todd Rose – Boys basketball game v. Gladstone      

The School Broadcast Program, powered by PlayOn! Sports, is a platform which schools can utilize to reach members of their community about activities taking place in their buildings, providing recognition for students while at the same time giving them hands-on opportunities to gain broadcasting experience and providing schools an opportunity to realize additional revenues for their programs. 

Schools interested in becoming a part of the School Broadcast Program should contact John Johnson at the MHSAA Office.

Representative Council Authorizes MHSAA AD Mentorship Program at Winter Meeting 

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

April 3, 2023

The creation of a mentorship network of past athletic administrators to assist those currently in the field was among actions taken by the Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association during its annual Winter Meeting on March 24 in East Lansing.

The “AD Connection Program” was approved for two pilot program years and will enlist six past administrators from across the state to serve as sources of support and input for current athletic directors in charge of programs across the more than 1,500 MHSAA-member high schools and junior high/middle schools. The program is set to begin with the 2023-24 school year and previously was approved by the MHSAA Audit & Finance Committee.

The Council also approved a revamping of the MHSAA’s series of annual awards presented to educational and athletic leaders, based on the work of an awards task force convened to restructure the awards process and rebrand the yearly honors to provide greater understanding of what they celebrate. Current awards include the Women In Sports Leadership Award, Charles E. Forsythe Award (for lifetime achievement), Allen W. Bush Award (for unsung contributions) and the Vern L. Norris Award (for leadership and mentorship in officiating). Additionally, the Council approved the creation of a Champion of Progress Award named for retired assistant director Nate Hampton, who ended his 32-year tenure at the MHSAA after the 2020-21 school year. The Champion of Progress Award will recognize those who provide leadership in the advancement of underrepresented groups in educational athletics.

The Winter Meeting also frequently serves as an opportunity for the Council to discuss items expected to come up for action at its final meeting of the school year, scheduled for May 7-8, and three topics received the majority of conversation.

The Council discussed work undertaken recently by a Football Task Force charged with examining regular-season scheduling issues and various playoff format ideas circulating in the school sports community. The task force was comprised of members of the Council, Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (MIAAA) leadership, Michigan High School Football Coaches Association (MHSFCA) officers and MHSAA staff.

The Council was presented with feedback on CPR and AED requirements and the need for renewed emphasis on local Emergency Action Plans from the MHSAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC). Discussion of CPR requirements at the junior high/middle school level will be among agenda items at the May Council meeting.

MHSAA staff also provided results of the bi-annual survey of leagues and conferences that produced the range of regular-season officiating fees being paid for each sport. The Council discussed the effects, especially budgetary, on schools as they seek to secure local officiating for all levels of all of their sports.

The Representative Council is the legislative body of the MHSAA. All but five members are elected by member schools. Four members are appointed by the Council to facilitate representation of females and minorities, and the 19th position is occupied by the Superintendent of Public Instruction or designee.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.3 million spectators each year.