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Four college student-journalists received a national award for their college men’s volleyball coverage this season.
Off the Block announced Sunday that The Daily Collegian reporter Giana Han, Daily Bruin editor Tanner Walters, The Ball State Daily News reporter Elizabeth Wyman and New University editor Brendan Yu were selected as the 2016 Off the Block Men’s Volleyball Conference Reporters of the Year.
The Off the Block Men’s Volleyball Conference Reporters of the Year is an annual award recognizing the best journalists in college student-media who covered teams in the EIVA, MIVA and MPSF.
Winners were determined on their reporting and storytelling abilities throughout the college men’s volleyball regular season and their live coverage of matches on various media platforms. Off the Block conducted a season-long nationwide analysis of men’s volleyball coverage in college student-media.
The Off the Block Men’s Volleyball Conference Reporters of the Year are selected at the end of each regular season. Among the other men’s volleyball media award presented by Off the Block includes the Best Men’s Volleyball Online Coverage of the Year that is awarded to a college newspaper and the Top Men’s Volleyball Stories of the Week.
This is the sixth consecutive year that individuals from Ball State and Penn State have won conference reporter of the year honors. In addition, this is the fourth time a reporter from UCLA has received the award and it is the first time for a UC Irvine reporter.
Off the Block is a national award winning college men’s volleyball website that launched in 2011.
2016 OFF THE BLOCK CONFERENCE REPORTERS OF THE YEAR
EIVA Reporter of the Year: Giana Han, The Daily Collegian, Penn State University
MIVA Reporter of the Year: Elizabeth Wyman, The Ball State Daily News, Ball State University
Co-MPSF Reporter of the Year: Tanner Walters, Daily Bruin, UCLA
Co-MPSF Reporter of the Year: Brendan Yu, New University, UC Irvine
Conference reporter of the year honorable mentions
Tim Alvarez — The Daily Collegian, Penn State University
Lucas Gouvalis — The Daily Collegian, Penn State University
Phil Share — Daily Bruin, UCLA
Grant Sugimura — Daily Bruin, UCLA
EIVA Reporter of the Year: Giana Han, The Daily Collegian
Han as one of the Penn State men’s volleyball beat reporters for the The Daily Collegian produced more than 20 articles about the team this season. The freshman had four stories make an Off the Block Top College Men’s Volleyball Stories of the Week list, including an in-depth feature about Penn State student trainers and a personality profile of the Nittany Lions’ team captains.
MIVA Reporter of the Year: Elizabeth Wyman, The Ball State Daily News
Wyman served as the Ball State men’s volleyball beat reporter for the The Ball State Daily News and wrote more than 25 articles about the team this year. Among Wyman’s top stories included a personalty profile about coach Joel Walton and a news-feature story examining Ball State’s recruiting pipeline with a volleyball club in Illinois. Both of those stories made an Off the Block Top College Men’s Volleyball Stories of the Week list.
MPSF Reporter of the Year: Tanner Walters, Daily Bruin
Walters, the incoming editor-in-chief for the Daily Bruin, was one of the three UCLA men’s volleyball beat reporters for the Daily Bruin this season. He had a nation-best eight articles make an Off the Block Top College Men’s Volleyball Stories of the Week list during the regular season. Along with the traditional coverage, Walters co-hosted a weekly UCLA men’s volleyball podcast on the Daily Bruin website and provided extensive social media coverage during the Bruins’ matches. Off the block will be nominating Walters for the 2016 AVCA Grant Burger Media Award in the college-journalist division. The Grant Burger Media Award is annually presented to the journalist or media outlet that produced the best volleyball coverage.
MPSF Reporter of the Year: Brendan Yu, New University
Yu along with being the editor-in-chief of New University served as the UC Irvine men’s volleyball beat reporter for the student newspaper. The senior had six articles earn a spot on an Off the Block Top College Men’s Volleyball Stories of the Week list, including a news-feature story about coach David Kniffin’s confidence that his team could make a deep postseason run despite having a losing record. Yu also will receive a nomination for the 2016 AVCA Grant Burger Media Award int he college-journalist division.