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25-Year Award

Presented to College Sports Communicators members who have completed 25 years in the athletics communications profession. Vetted and voted on by the Special Awards Committee.

John Sudsbury – Allstate Sugar Bowl Senior Director of Communications

For 17 years, John Sudsbury has spearheaded the communications and media relations efforts at the Allstate Sugar Bowl, working on a full-time staff of 13 at the bowl’s headquarters (Caesars Superdome) in New Orleans. A long-time member of CSC, Sudbury was elected to a three-year term as an at-large representative on CSC’s Executive Board of Directors and served on the board from 2018-21.

In addition to his many duties surrounding the annual Allstate Sugar Bowl, Sudbury works with the Manning family to coordinate the Manning Award, an annual award given to the top college football quarterback in the USA. The Allstate Sugar Bowl presents the award to honor the accomplishments of Archie, Peyton, and Eli Manning

Prior to his time at the Sugar Bowl, Sudbury served at five different institutions in athletic media relations roles. He was at the University of California (May 2006-October 2008) as associate director of media relations prior to moving across the country to join the Sugar Bowl staff.

Before his Cal role, Sudbury served at Tulane University (2000-06) as associate director of media relations, at both the University of Hartford and Adelphi University as director of sports information, with each stop for almost two years; and in a media relations role at the University of New Hampshire for four years.

John Sudsbury on his career...

Many years ago, I was a college student with no clue what I wanted to do. I came across a marketing internship with the University of New Hampshire athletic department and figured that might be fun and interesting. Here I am now, 33 years later, still working in the same field. It’s often hard to believe.

His advice to fellow sports communicators…

I’ve had the opportunity to work at many different levels of athletics (D2, I-AA, I-AAA, FBS non-power institutions, FBS power institutions) and now for many years with a college football bowl game. No matter what your specific job duties are, the most important thing is to work with good people. There’s a reason my longest stay has been at the Sugar Bowl – we have an outstanding boss overseeing our staff and we have a group of people who work together to get the job done while remembering to enjoy themselves.

Working in collegiate athletics can bring a lot of challenges, but I’ve always tried hard to pause, take some deep breaths, and look around and realize that I’m “working” at a football game, or an awards banquet, or the Final Four, or some other event that brings great joy to a lot of people. That’s pretty cool.

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