The National Soccer Hall of Fame is soliciting nominations for the 2020 Colin Jose Media Award.
Created in 2003 to honor the contributions of members of the media community, the award is presented as part of the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The award is designed to recognize print and electronic media, including reporters, columnists, authors, broadcasters, editors; public/media relations professionals, and others who specialize in communications with respect to soccer in the United States.
Though there will not be a formal Hall of Fame awards ceremony in this calendar year, the 2020 Colin Jose Award recipient will be honored at the anticipated 2021 event at the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Texas.
The award is named after Colin Jose, one of the original historians of the Hall of Fame and the American game. He has written extensively on the evolution of the game in the United States and is responsible for much of the research that forms the basis of American and Canadian soccer history.
1) Nominees should have been involved with the game at multiple levels for an extended period of years (suggested minimum is 25 years).
2) The body of work/coverage of should include the U.S. national teams, including matches outside the United States rather than limited solely to local leagues. In order to separate quality candidates the selection committee would rate, in order, World Cup work/coverage, World Cup qualifying work/coverage, other FIFA competition work/coverage, domestic league (MLS, NASL, etc.) work/coverage and college work/coverage. While it would not be necessary for any award winner to have worked at all of these levels, the checklist will be used to attempt to quantify the level of work across the spectrum of the game.
3) In the case of writers/editors/broadcasters/photographers, the body of work should have appeared in publications/networks/outlets with impact. In assessing a body of work, the selection committee will give precedence (in order) to national publications/broadcasts, local professional league coverage, national college and youth coverage, local college and youth coverage. The work should be the result of original journalism, not simply “press release” journalism, and it should have enjoyed regularity of placement.
4) In the case of candidates whose discipline was public relations/media services or editorial, the same criteria as above should be followed with the obvious concept that the work is different in nature. Nevertheless, the same evaluation “ladder” can be utilized with simple modifications.
5) In cases where there is a potential winner who is retired, or significantly near the end of a career, the award should go to that individual ahead of a comparable candidate who perhaps can be honored at a later date.
The Colin Jose Media Award committee membership includes past winners, a representative from U.S. Soccer, a representative from Major League Soccer, at-large representatives and a Hall of Fame representative.
The Colin Jose Media Award Committee membership includes past winners, a representative from U.S. Soccer, a representative from Major League Soccer, At-Large representatives and a Hall of Fame representative. Additional criteria for the award and a list of previous winners can be found here.
