ODU Writers Win Nationwide Publishing Contest

June 22, 2017

Old Dominion University Sports Management students took first place - and a $1,000 prize - in the inaugural Front Office Sports (FOS) writing and publishing contest.

The Front Office Sports College Program uses the involvement of students and professors to create a semester long competition between participating universities to crown a FOS College Program Champion. The program started in January and ended April 30.

Using a compilation of different social metrics, each university program is assigned a point total for the content they produced throughout the semester. The university that scores the most points is crowned the FOS College Program Champion and receives prizes, bragging rights and the opportunity to defend their title in the following next semester.

Points are awarded using a variety of social metrics; everything from retweets and shares to likes and quote tweets are awarded points. The quality and quantity of content is also considered.

ODU Sports Management students swept to first place with 3,999 points, finishing ahead of Southern Methodist University at 3,065 points and Cazenovia College at 1,174 points.

Stephen Shapiro, an associate professor of sports management at ODU, said the FOS contest provided an excellent forum for students to enhance their writing skills in a real-world, competitive environment.

"The ODU sport management program was honored to win the inaugural Front Office Sports College Program competition," he said. "This experience will be extremely valuable as our students transition into sport industry careers."