Posted: May 20, 2024
CHARLOTTE, N.C.- Florida SouthWestern Sports Information Director Roy Allen was recently honored by the NJCAA at it's National Convention in Charlotte as he was named the 2024 NJCAA National Sports Information Director of the Year.
The NJCAA Sports Information Director of the Year is awarded to a sports information director who best exemplifies the overall purpose of promoting and leading their institution, athletic department, and student-athletes through sports information.
Created in the spring of 2020, the NJCAA Sports Information Director of the Year is part of the NJCAA Annual Awards that honor three distinct categories across the association - Athletic Director of the Year, Sports Information Director of the Year, and Athletic Trainer of the Year. These awards represent individuals who strive to create the optimal student-athlete experience on their campus while also performing duties that go far beyond the institutional level.
Allen is wrapping up his 6th year as the Sports Information Director for the Bucs. At Florida SouthWestern, Allen is responsible for media relations as well as maintaining FSWBucs.com, the Bucs social media pages, statistics and record keeping, and other additional services for the Bucs athletic department. With Allen's digital strategy this year, the Bucs social media pages were seen by over 500,000 unique users last year with the Bucs overall follower count on those platforms rising by over 20%.
Throughout his career at Florida SouthWestern, Allen has promoted more student-athletes to CoSIDA Academic All-American honors than any other school in the country while also highlighting 31 NJCAA All-Americans, and 5 NJCAA National Players of the Year. On top of individual honors, FSW teams have won five NJCAA National Championships in Allen's time with the Bucs. He was named the 2022 2YSIDA National Sports Information Director of the Year along with being recognized in 2020-2021 with the most 2YSIDA design awards of any sports information director in the country. Allen has earned the top spot for his game notes and poster schedule and earned runner up for his gameday graphics.
Allen is an active member of the College Sports Communicators and has served on the publication awards committee for four years. He was the first President of 2YSIDA in 2014 and was re-elected in 2022 for a three-year term. Allen also serves as chair of the FCSAA Sports Information Committee, is on the CSC Advisory Committee, and the FCSAA Player of the Week Committee.
"It is an honor for me to not only represent Florida SouthWestern, but also all of the amazing Sports Information Directors out there at the NJCAA level" Allen said. "To be chosen for this award is very humbling. I would like to thank the NJCAA for creating this award five years ago to recognize the many talented SIDs we have in our organization and also for giving me the honor of representing that group. I would also like to thank all of the student-athletes and coaches I have had over the years who have made my job of promoting them and my teams very easy."
Allen was given the award at the NJCAA Convention in Charlotte in April.