Courtesy Atlantic University Sport

May 5, 2011 (HALIFAX, N.S.) - Atlantic University Sport is pleased to announce that Monty Mosher of The Chronicle Herald is the 2010-11 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.

This year's award will be presented in conjunction with the 2011 CIS Annual General Meeting in Victoria, B.C., Wednesday, June 8th.

"We are proud to recognize Monty with this award," says Phil Currie, Executive Director of Atlantic University Sport. "His reporting has added tremendous profile to university athletics in the region and has elevated interest in university sport to an exceptional level. He has been a regular presence on the sidelines at virtually every AUS football game over the years. His efforts in covering Atlantic University Sport and CIS events have not gone unnoticed and we are pleased to submit him as the AUS nominee for the 2010-11 CIS Fred Sgambati Media Award."

Mosher has been a sports reporter for 26 years and has dedicated a significant portion of his career to covering university sport in Atlantic Canada. He began covering university football in 1993 and university basketball in 1996 and has reported on a number of Canadian university, college, high-school and local level sports for the Halifax Herald, Eastern Canada's largest daily newspaper.

Monty is best known as the Herald's AUS/CIS football beat reporter and is well respected by the coaches, athletic directors and student-athletes for his work. He has also been the AUS/CIS basketball beat reporter every year since 1996, with the exception of a five-year span when Chad Lucas covered basketball for the Herald.

On top of his outstanding work with regular season university events, he has covered countless AUS championships as well as many CIS championships, including the CIS Final 8, the Atlantic Bowl, the Mitchell Bowl, the Uteck Bowl and several Vanier Cup events.

A voting member of the CIS football top 10 ranking committee, Monty has consistently provided fans with some of the most in-depth coverage of university sport available in the country.

In addition to breaking major stories on a regular basis, Monty often goes above and beyond what the readers see at the games by writing human interest stories on our student-athletes and coaches, providing insight into what takes place in the conference, in our communities and on our member campuses.

This year was no different, and Monty has been nominated for a 2011 Atlantic Journalism Award (AJA) for a recent piece he wrote called "Lost Boy Has Found Home", recounting the story of 7-foot-2 StFX men's basketball player Riiny Ngot's path to StFX and university sport.

It is an inspiring story of how Ngot survived civil war, carried his sister 1,500 km while dodging predators, swam a crocodile-infested river and saw or heard more people die horrific deaths than he can count.

The groundswell of interest this story created across the province led Ngot to many public speaking appearances at high-schools, churches and community centres. Many took up a collection to help Riiny in his dream to return to Africa to see his parents, a dream that became reality for Ngot this past year.

This marks the fourth time Mosher has been nominated for an AJA in sports writing, an honour he won twice, in 2002 and 2004.

"I am very pleased to be considered and it's thoughtful for Atlantic University Sport to forward my name," said Mosher. "I consider my university coverage among the most important reporting I do and I have nothing but respect for Canadian university athletes."

Mosher grew up in Wolfville, Nova Scotia and played baseball for the Kentville Wildcats in 1985, the year they won the national championship. He also played Canada Games baseball for Nova Scotia in 1981.

He attended Acadia University and graduated with an arts and education degree prior to enrolling in the journalism program at the University of King's College in Halifax. After completing the bachelor of journalism program at King's, he was a summer sports intern at the Calgary Herald before accepting his first job in sports from the Halifax Herald as the beat reporter for the AHL's Halifax Citadels.

Monty lives in Halifax and has two children, Sam, 21, and Kate, 19.

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 Scott Mathews, Atlantic Television Network (1985), Wally Sears, Sackville Tribune Post (1980) and Hugh Townsend, Halifax Chronicle Herald (1974)