Writer, Broadcaster Of The Year Announced

AL.com recently reported that its high school sports reporter Ben Thomas was named the Alabama Sportswriter of the Year for 2020 by the National Sports Media Association (NSMA). The media company’s only full-time sportswriter dedicated entirely to high school sports across the state, he covered such recent stories as former NFL star Philip Rivers being named head coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, how high school sports was shut down due to the pandemic and then returned, and championship games. Thomas has worked for AL.com and the Mobile Press-Register for the last 12 years. Earlier in his 31-year sports-writing career, he worked at the Gadsden Times, Marietta Daily Journal and Montgomery Advertiser.
Additionally, AL.com reported on University of South Alabama play-by-play radio broadcaster J.D. Byars being named NSMA Alabama Broadcaster of the Year for the second straight year. Byars has been the primary radio voice of the Jaguars since 2014 and is now the first back-to-back winner of the broadcaster award since 2012. The former North Alabama University football player called games for his alma mater for 16 years before moving to Mobile.