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.
Council Approves Winter Start, Guidance
October 23, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association confirmed during its meeting Thursday (Oct. 22) that 2020-21 Winter sports will begin on time, and also approved a series of guidelines for those sports that schools must follow as they continue to work toward limiting the spread of COVID-19 while still providing opportunities for athletes to compete.
Most high school sports traditionally begin practice during the first three weeks of November, with competition starting during mid-November and the first weeks of December. The starts of middle school Winter sports seasons are determined by local leagues and conferences; many are slated to begin during the next few weeks.
Sport-specific guidelines for all Winter sports will be posted early next week to their respective sport pages on the MHSAA Website. A number of precautions have been put in place addressing competition limits, numbers of spectators allowed and wearing of face coverings, among a variety of topics. The guidance also specifically addresses equipment and facilities for each sport.
“The Council believes it is safer to begin Winter practices on time, and keep athletes in school programs where safety precautions are always in effect,” MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said. “With the vastly different circumstances faced by schools in different regions all over the state, an on-time start still allows schools to decide when they feel most comfortable beginning activity – and allows all of them to slowly ramp up their frequency of activity and numbers of spectators attending competitions.
“But let’s be clear: Our statewide COVID-19 numbers have to get better. In order for our schools to continue playing sports this winter, and in order for fans to be there to cheer them on, we must continue working to slow down this virus.”
As with Fall sports, scrimmages will not be allowed for Winter sports to limit mixing of communities outside of official competitions. The numbers of teams at regular-season competitions also will be limited, like during Fall, with a maximum of four schools/teams allowed in competitive cheer, gymnastics, swimming & diving and wrestling. Bowling and skiing competitions will be restricted to a maximum of 72 competitors at one event.
There are no school/team limits for basketball and ice hockey, as only two teams are able to play each other at one time and those sports may play only one game per day – with fans leaving after their game is complete. Host sites must strictly enforce spectator capacity limits on a game-by-game basis. The Council approved as part of these guidelines an allowance of two spectators per participant at all contests to begin the regular season. This guideline could be reconsidered by the Council later in the winter season, with a possibility of allowing more spectators later while still staying within possible Emergency Orders from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).
As per MDHHS requirements, face coverings must be worn by athletes practicing and competing in basketball, competitive cheer, ice hockey and wrestling. They are not required for athletes practicing and competing in bowling, gymnastics, skiing and swimming & diving, which all allow for appropriate social distancing – but face coverings are required for those athletes when not involved in active participation.