April 14, 2020... WELLAND- The Niagara College Knights will be celebrating their year of success in the 2019-2020 season with the 51st edition of the Knights Athletic Awards on Thursday, April 16th. In what would traditionally be an evening of celebrating the accomplishments from the year at a banquet hall, Athletics and Recreation has teamed up with the Broadcast, Television, Radio and Film (BRTF) program at College to bring the celebration live to the comfort of your living room.
The awards show will air at 10:00 A.M. on Thursday, live streaming from Niagara College's Facebook page. Winners will also be shared through the Knights social media accounts, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
BRTF has always been a vital partner for Athletics- this year being no exception. On top of the high quality game-day broadcasts produced, BRTF Program Coordinator Peter "Dutch" VandenBerg and his students were instrumental in bringing Athletics and Recreation's visions together on numerous high profile projects this year.
"We have always enjoyed collaborating with Dutch VandenBerg and the BRTF crew to present our regular season games and other various projects such as our new Knights logo launch," said Associate Director of Athletics, Michele O'Keefe. "to work on this virtual athletic banquet with them has been tremendous – to be able to deliver an event to celebrate our varsity teams, athletes, coaches, staff as well as our recreation activities is a wonderful gift and is a demonstration of our NC DNA."
O'Keefe knows the value of a partnership, spending time this year building relationships with various departments across the Niagara College campus.
"The highlight of working apart has been re-imagining Knights Athletics & Recreation," said O'Keefe. "It is natural for people who work in sport to enjoy working in partnership. And in the 2019-20 season we worked with many programs at Niagara College – BRTF, SAC, Student Services, the Book Store, the NC Learning Enterprise, to name but a few. To be able to build the profile of NC Athletics & Recreation is only possible when we work with our creative and willing colleagues."
VandenBerg echoes O'Keefe's thoughts. "BRTF spends a lot of time working with the Knights throughout the season and we believe it's important to recognize the accomplishments of our athletes and coaches,"said Vandenberg
"Moving this banquet online made sense since we have the technology, the talent and the time – it's a win win. I am very proud to have a great group of students working on this - showcasing their talents. More than ever we need to embrace a sense of community and rally together to celebrate – even if it's from our own homes."
Niagara will be presenting over 70 individual awards Thursday morning including;
- 30 OCAA All Academic Honours
- 5 CCAA Academic All-Canadians
- 2 Fourth-Year Recognition Awards
- 8 Team Scholastic Honour Awards
- 8 Team Leadership Awards
- 8 Rookie of the Year Awards
As well as the 10 most prestigious awards that includes the Knights Male and Female Athletes of the Year for 2019-2020.
