nicole auerbach

Congratulations to Nicole Auerbach for winning the Big Ten Conference's William R. Reed Award for student journalism excellence. I know I've enjoyed reading Nicole's writing over the past few years and look forward to her continued success. It's nice to know that Michigan continues to churn out accomplished sports journalists [Don't say it, it's too easy].

B1G press release here.

May 31, 2011

Park Ridge, Ill. – University of Michigan graduate Nicole Auerbach has been named this year’s recipient of the Big Ten Conference William R. Reed Memorial Award. The award is named in honor of former Big Ten Commissioner William R. Reed who served the conference for more than 20 years.

The conference annually honors the former commissioner by presenting this award to a student journalist from one of the Big Ten campuses who, through his or her writing during the previous academic term, best exemplifies the spirit, ideals and dedication to the Big Ten and intercollegiate athletics, which marked the life of William R. Reed.

A 2011 graduate majoring in public policy, Auerbach was a senior sports editor for the Michigan Daily, also serving as the publication’s football beat reporter. She held numerous newspaper internships during her collegiate career, including The Trentonian, Cape Cod Times, and USA Today, and also served as a freelance reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Her work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, SI.com and ESPN.com. This summer, Auerbach will intern at the Boston Globe, where most of her coverage will center on the Boston Red Sox. She has won numerous honors for writing prowess, including both the Ray O’Hara Sportswriting Award and the Morris-Wasserstein Award in 2009 and 2010. She held a 3.7 grade-point average during her tenure at Michigan and was a member of the pre-public policy professional fraternity Gamma Rho Phi. Auerbach graduates with aspirations of becoming a national college sportswriter, primarily covering football and basketball.

The Michigan Daily's Nicole Auerbach gets a very nice article on Brock Mealer published at SI.com. 

You've read much of this before, but there are some nice new bits:

Three years ago, it would have been hard to imagine Brock dressed in maize and blue. He grew up a diehard Buckeye fan, and is currently in the middle of graduate school at Ohio State. Brock's newfound loyalty even includes a few anti-Buckeye jokes. "I wanted to go to Michigan but with out-of-state costs, it wasn't going to happen," Brock said. "I figured if I could get two degrees from Ohio State, it might be close to Elliott's undergrad degree (at Michigan)."

......

The Mealer family will be in the stands on Saturday, as well as some of Brock's friends from Ohio State. Brock said he can't quite imagine what it's going to feel like, walking with two canes in front of 110,000 people. He said he'll look down, so he doesn't see all the people.

His mother will be nervous, just like any mom would be. But the image of Brock taking step after step won't be unfamiliar. It will be an emotional day, difficult to go through without her husband. "I see Brock walking in my sleep," Shelly said. "That's always been the dream."

"When he does lead us out, it's going to be tearful but it's going to be happy," Elliott said. "It's going to be awesome. It's an amazing thing, and it'll make me speechless -- like he always does."

Very nicely done, Nicole.  Congratulations on having your work appear at SI.com.