(HALIFAX, N.S.) - Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce that Gail MacDougall, sports editor of The Casket newspaper (Antigonish, N.S.) is the 2011-12 recipient of the AUS Media Award and is the Atlantic conference's nominee for the CIS Fred Sgambati Media Award.

The Fred Sgambati Media Award is presented annually to a member of the news media who has made a major contribution to the development and growth of Canadian university sport. Each of the four Regional Associations may submit one nominee for consideration. The 2010-11 recipient of the CIS Fred Sgambati Media Award was Monty Mosher, the Atlantic conference nominee from The Chronicle Herald in Halifax.

This year's award will be presented in conjunction with the 2012 CIS Annual General Meeting in Ottawa, Ont., Wednesday, June 20th.

“We are proud to recognize Gail with this award,” says Phil Currie, Executive Director of Atlantic University Sport. “Her commitment to covering StFX’s student-athletes throughout the season and during AUS and CIS championships is a tremendous benefit to the Antigonish community, StFX University and Atlantic University Sport. She is a regular on the sidelines at virtually every StFX home event and can usually be seen at many of the AUS championships that StFX is participating in. Gail’s efforts in covering AUS and CIS events have not gone unnoticed and we are proud to recognize her outstanding career with the 2012 AUS Media Award and submit her as the AUS nominee for the CIS Fred Sgambati Media Award.”

MacDougall, currently the sports editor for the local Antigonish weekly newspaper ‘The Casket’, has been working as a sports reporter for the past 34 years. She consistently provides excellent coverage of each and every StFX team in great detail from pre-season, in-season and through to the conclusion of playoffs, whether teams are playing at home or on the road.

“Gail covers the X-Men and X-Women teams, athletes and coaches in a manner that is professional, respectable and completely enjoyable for the local fans to read about,” says Krista McKenna, StFX’s Varsity Athletics & Sports Information Coordinator. “She has been a constant fixture on the StFX sidelines for the past 30+ years. She is on the football, rugby, soccer and cross country sidelines in all types of weather, reporting the game action, taking pictures and staying for post-game interviews – same goes with the hockey arena and on the courts for basketball and volleyball. She rarely misses a game, only when her commitment as the local high school girls basketball head coach takes her out of town.”

Gail tries to attend and cover games in other AUS venues as well and often travels out of town to cover the StFX teams in AUS playoff games and at CIS championships as much as possible. Aside from her extensive coverage of StFX Athletics, Gail is also responsible for the entire Antigonish community sporting coverage, from school yard sports to minor sports.

Additionally, she has managed to rack up close to 800 career coaching wins behind the helm of the local Dr. J. H. Gillis Regional Royals high school girls basketball team, a volunteer position she has held for 32 years.  

“I’ve truly enjoyed covering AUS and StFX events over the past three decades – it’s given me the opportunity to meet many great coaches and people,” says MacDougall. “The athletes are some of the best in the country in their various disciplines and have consistently proven to be among the top performers in the country.”

Gail was also recently honored as the 2012 recipient of the StFX Athletics ‘X-Ceptional Award’ which recognizes an individual who goes above and beyond their responsibilities and contributes in a positive manner to StFX Athletics.

Notes: Fred Sgambati was a well respected reporter/broadcaster who was a great supporter of university athletics in Canada. A former University of Toronto athlete and university football official, Fred Sgambati was the radio voice of the College Bowl (now the Vanier Cup) for its first thirteen years...Past Atlantic conference nominees to have received the CIS Fred Sgambati Media Award include Monty Mosher, Halifax Chronicle Herald (2011); Scott Mathews, Atlantic Television Network (1985); Wally Sears, Sackville Tribune Post (1980) and Hugh Townsend, Halifax Chronicle Herald (1974)

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