University of Oklahoma Athletics
Sooner Staff Wins Writing Awards
October 30, 2009 | Athletics
Oct. 30, 2009
NORMAN, Okla. --Two employees of the OU Athletics Department have been recognized for excellence in writing by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
Two stories by Debbie Copp, Director of Publications, were judged best in the district in the annual Fred Stabley, Sr. Writing Contest. Copp's story "What A Game!" tied for first place in the event coverage category. Her story "Celebrating Academic Excellence" finished first in the general feature category.
More than 300 stories were entered in the contest with entries judged first at the district level, with district winners advancing to a national competition.
Student assistant Jennifer Van Tuyl's story on Jonathan Horton, "An Olympic Hero and Sooner Legend," tied for second place in the district in the athlete profile category.
OU's entries in the competition were created originally for the 2008 Sooner football gameday program. This marks the third consecutive year that OU entries have earned awards in the contest. Copp has earned awards in each of the three years while the CoSIDA award is the first for Van Tuyl.
It also marks the second writing award for Van Tuyl in the last few months. Earlier, she received a first place award in public relations writing in the The Zenith Awards, a student public relations competition that is in its 11th year. More than 100 college students from Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas submitted works to this year's competition and the works were judged by PR faculty and professionals across the United States.
