HUDSONVILLE, Mich. -- On July 30, the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) announced the 2023-24 recipients for both the Robin Hartman Writing Award and the Tom Renner Associate SID Award.
Albion College swept the awards this year with Sports Information Director Marissa Smego earning the Hartman Award and Jenna Schienke being selected as the Renner Award recipient.
The accolades honor two long-time public and media relations directors and their service to the MIAA: the late Robin Hartman of Albion College and Tom Renner of Hope College.
Marissa Smego - 2023-24 Robin Hartman Writing Award
Marissa Smego's story titled "#HarperStrong: MLAX Forms Unbreakable Bond with Harper Mathis" was selected as the winning piece for the 2023-24 Robin Hartman Writing Award. The story highlights the relationship between Harper Mathis - a 14-year old from the Ann Arbor area battling brain cancer - and the Briton men's lacrosse program. Mathis and the team have formed a connection over the last few years highlighted by friendship, support, positivity, and pizza. Smego does an exceptional job of giving others a glimpse into the unbreakable bond between the teammate and the Britons.
Following the 2023-24 academic year, Smego wrapped up her fourth year as the Sports Information Director at Albion. This is the third time in four years that Smego has claimed the Hartman Award.
Robin Hartman served as Albion's Sports Information Director from 1987 to 2001 and is remembered as a pioneer in small college Sports Information with the introduction of one of the first athletic websites. He forged the path of using the internet as a source for streaming audio play-by-play. Hartman passed away in 2006.
The Hartman Award honors outstanding writing in a Sports Information capacity, either by a Sports Information Director or assistant.
Jenna Schienke - 2023-24 Tom Renner Award
Macomb, Michigan, native Jenna Schienke graduated from Albion College in May 2024 with a degree in Kinesiology.
Along with serving as a four-year student employee for the Brits, Schienke also held the titles of SAAC President and the 2023 MIAA Senior Sportswoman of the Year in volleyball.
This year, Schienke went above and beyond ensuring that the Albion department ran smoothly, as her responsibilities flourished from year to year. While in season balancing her final year of volleyball, Schienke uploaded all headshots to the Briton athletics website, created game programs and was instrumental in the set up of the press box prior to football game days. Schienke created press box materials such as flip cards, video board slides and credentials. She also was responsible for uploading action shots to student-athlete bios across all sports. Additionally, Schienke was the primary contact for Albion's online ticketing page, creating tickets for all home events and uploading pass codes for Albion friends and family.
Following the season, Schienke continued to regularly update the gobrits.com website, updating student-athlete bios for all sports. She scheduled all of the live streams and created the corresponding graphics for the games, while adding the links to both Albion's and the MIAA's website. Schienke also added the schedules on gobrits.com and miaa.org for lacrosse, baseball, softball and tennis. Schienke was a prime caller for basketball in the winter time, and was able to input some games from time to time. She would run the live stream scoreboard for wrestling, demonstrating her ability to learn new sports in the moment. Schienke was also key in facilitating media days.
Schienke shined the brightest during lacrosse season, where she input every single men's and women's game. Her ability to flawlessly and confidently stat a game – in a sport most people struggle to understand – and run a press box allowed Smego to be across the way at baseball or softball. Schienke would set up the press box, input the game, start the live stream (and troubleshoot when necessary) and take care of any and all issues that may have arisen during the contest. She would write men's lacrosse recaps from time to time, demonstrating her ability to analyze box scores and show off her writing.
In efforts with the Sports Information office and SAAC, Schienke was responsible for the student-athlete awards ceremony, The Best of the Britons, where she planned the event, promoted it on social media, created the powerpoint presentation, coordinated with coaches and handled the entire nomination process. Schienke was also key in the Hall of Fame ceremony, creating both the cocktail hour and ceremony presentations.
Schienke is the first Albion student assistant that has claimed the Renner Award since the accolade was formed in 2008.
Tom Renner served as Hope's Sports Information Director for 47 years before stepping down from his position in 2013. For 41 years, Renner was also the MIAA publicist (1967-2008) and still serves as the league's historian.
The Renner Award recognizes outstanding efforts by a student assistant in MIAA member schools' Sports Information departments.