The Eastern Athletic Communications Association (EAST-COMM) Executive Board today announced its 2024 award winners.  A total of five individuals were recognized and will be honored at the 2024 EAST-COMM Awards Banquet on the evening of Thursday, June 27 during the organization's annual workshop in Ellicott City, Md. at the Turf Valley Resort. For more information and to register for the workshop, click here.
 
Courtney Wengryn from Adelphi University is this year's recipient of the Bill Esposito Memorial Award.  The 2024 recipient of the Bob Kenworthy Award is Jamie Chagnon of Tufts University.
 
Tom Emberley of Farmingdale State College and Greg Royce of Goucher College are this year's winners of the Irving T. Marsh Award.  BL Elfring, the long-time sports information director at Southern Maine, is this year's Pete Nevins Award for Distinguished Achievement winner.
 
The 2024 EAST-COMM Monahan and Wallace Media Award winner is Ed Lee from the Baltimore Sun.
 
2024 Bill Esposito Memorial Award - Courtney Wengryn (Adelphi University)
 
The Bill Esposito Memorial Award is presented each year to a graduating senior that worked in athletic communications and plans to pursue a career in athletics.
 
Wengryn is a Marketing major at Adelphi University and is a three-year member of the softball team.  She started working in the Athletic Communication's office her first year at Adelphi.  Wengryn has taken on a number responsibilities and has helped enhance Adelphi's external efforts.  She has helped launch a short feature segment on Adelphi's Instagram, titled 'The Panter Pulse', that draws 5,000 views weekly. 
 
As a student-athlete, Wengryn boasts a 3.78 cumulative grade-point average while also being heavily involved in SAAC.  She has helped to drive SAAC's efforts in heightening awareness for the importance of mental health.  To date, SAAC has helped raise over $2,000 with the sale of branded t-shirts inscribed with the words, "Mental Health Matters" and "More Than an Athlete".
 
2024 Bob Kenworthy Award Winner – Jamie Chagnon (Tufts University)
 
Named in honor of long-time Gettysburg College sports information director Bob Kenworthy, the Kenworthy Award is presented to an exceptional person who through their actions shows the same respect for the profession, SID's, the media and community as Bob Kenworthy did during his long and successful career.
 
Chagnon is in his first year as the Director of Athletic Communications at Tufts University.  With over 15 years of experience in the field, Chagnon joined the Jumbos after serving in a similar role at Susquehanna University. 
 
With great enthusiasm for athletic communications, Chagnon's contributions to the profession includes leadership roles within College Sports Communicators (CSC) national organization.  He has served as a CSC Academic All-American District Committee Coordinator, a CSC Membership Recognition Committee Member and a CSC Scholarship Committee member.  While at Susquehanna, Chagnon was elected as the Division III Sports Information Directors of America (D3SIDA) Regional Representative.
 
Chagnon is a 2010 graduate of Lynchburg College and graduated with a sports management degree and was a member of the baseball team.
 
2024 Irving T. Marsh Award Winner - Tom Emberley (Farmingdale State College)
 
Emberley is in his second year as the Director of Athletic Communications at Farmingdale State College.  Emberley, who has served as an adjunct assistant professor in FSC's sport management department since 2016, began in a full-time capacity after a nearly seven-year stint as Associate Commissioner of the Skyline Conference.
 
Emberley, who is highly respected in the athletic communications realm, previously worked at SUNY Old Westbury as Assistant Athletic Director for Compliance and Operations from 2013-15, in addition to on-campus positions at Yeshiva University, Queens College, LIU-C.W. Post, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, La Salle University and the U.S. Naval Academy. Emberley's professional career also included assistant commissioner positions at both the City University of New York Athletic Conference, and the NCAA Division II East Coast Conference.
 
Emberley is the treasurer of EAST-COMM and the president of the Half Hollow Hills SEPTA. He has served the NCAA as a site representative at numerous championship rounds, as well as on working groups both for the Division II Eligibility Center (2010) and in advance of the 2016 Division III portion of the annual Regional Rules Seminar.
 
2024 Irving T. Marsh Award Winner - Greg Royce (Goucher College)
 
Royce is the Director of Athletic Communications at Goucher College and has served in that role since September, 2021.  This past February, Royce was promoted to Assistant Athletic Director for Communications and Operations.
 
With over 20 years of athletic communications experience, Royce joined the Gophers after six years as an Associate Athletic Director of Athletic Communications at Stevenson University where he oversaw the university's 28 NCAA Division III varsity programs.
 
An active member of College Sports Communicators (formerly CoSIDA) and EAST-COMM (formerly ECAC-SIDA), Royce served as EAST-COMM President in 2021-22 as well as co-chair of the 2022 EAST-COMM workshop in Ellicott City, Maryland.  He is currently serving as the co-chair of the 2024 EAST-COMM workshop. Royce is also a member of the CSC Stabley Writing Contest Committee and has presented at numerous CoSIDA and EAST-COMM workshops. Royce is the current chair of the Landmark Conference athletic communications committee.
 
In addition to his work at Goucher, Royce is a member of the NFL's Game Statistics Information Service (GSIS) gameday crew for the Baltimore Ravens and has served as a statistician for the Athletes Unlimited women's professional lacrosse league the past two summers.  He also serves as an official scorer for the Atlantic League's Spire City Ghost Hounds and the Frederick Keys of the MLB Draft League.
 
2024 Pete Nevins Award for Distinguished Achievement – BL Elfring (University of Southern Maine)
 
The Pete Nevins Award is a prestigious honor that is not voted on by the executive board each year, but rather is voted on by the former winners of the Nevins Award. It is awarded only in years that the former winners deem a worthy candidate has been nominated.  It was established in honor of longtime East Stroudsburg sports information director Pete Nevins.
 
Elfring spent 27 years as the Sports Information Director at the University of Southern Maine and retired from the profession in 2021.  Elfring joined the Huskies' athletic staff in August of 1995.  During that time, he had seen the Southern Maine baseball team capture two Division III National Championships, the women's basketball team win more than a dozen Little East Conference titles and earn four trips to the Division III Final Four. 
 
During his time at Southern Maine, Elfring leant his abilities to the Little East serving as the LEC's publicist from 1997 through 1998, and was a member of the LEC's Hall of Fame Selection Committee.  Additionally, Elfring served a three-year term on the CoSIDA (now CSC) Legislative Committee (1989-1992), and was the Coordinator for the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Region One Player and Pitcher of the Year Selection Committee for eight years (2005-2013).
 
Elfring earned numerous awards for his publications and his achievements within the profession during his iconic career. As a member of ECAC-SIDA (now EAST-COMM), Elfring was recognized in 2002 as the Irving T. Marsh Award recipient.  In 2013, Elfring was the recipient of the National Association of Division III Athletic Administrators (NADIIIAA) Transitional Athletic Administrator Award in recognition of his as Southern Maine's NCAA Director of Compliance. Elfring was inducted into the CoSIDA Hall of Fame in 2018 for his long-time service and commitment to the profession.  In 2021, Elfring was honored with the CSC Lifetime Achievement Award. 
 
Monahan and Wallace Media Award – Ed Lee (Baltimore Sun)
 
The Monahan and Wallace Media Award is bestowed upon an individual or organization in either print or electronic media "for outstanding coverage of eastern intercollegiate athletics." The award is named after longtime sportswriters Bob Monahan of the Boston Globe and Bill Wallace of the New York Times, both former winners of the award.
 
Lee has been a Sports Writer at the Baltimore Sun since 1995.  He has provided extensive coverage of all colleges and universities in the state of Maryland throughout his time at the Baltimore Sun. Lee has served as the lead lacrosse writer for more than 15 years, while also providing coverage of student-athletes and teams at all levels.  On top of game coverage, Lee has also produced a number of feature stories, including Johns Hopkins Field Hockey, Towson University Swimming and Maryland Wrestling to name a few.