BOONE, N.C. — App State's award-winning strategic communications staff added more honors this spring, as
Bret Strelow was recognized for two stories in the Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest that's conducted by the College Sports Communicators organization.
Strelow's story on
App State Wrestling overcoming adversity and tough obstacles during a title-winning season in 2024-25 placed first in the season recap/preview category for District 3, an area that covers the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. His recap of
App State Football's dramatic home win against Oregon State in 2025 finished second in the event coverage category, behind a University of Florida story about the Gators' run to the Final Four in men's basketball.
Last year, Strelow had second-place stories in the Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest for event coverage
(about the atmosphere inside a packed Holmes Center for App State Basketball's home win against James Madison) and coach/administrator profiles (
on the official introduction of football coach Dowell Loggains).
Prior to joining App State's strategic communications staff in 2017, Strelow worked in sports media as a newspaper writer and reporter for 20 years. The Associated Press Sports Editors organization recognized him with national writing awards in five different categories during his newspaper career: for column writing, feature writing, beat writing, explanatory writing and special projects.
During the 2022-23 season, Strelow was named a Division I Wrestling SID of the Year finalist. In 2019 and 2020, the Football Writers Association of America recognized an App State football communications department led by
Joey Jones and Strelow with Super 11 Awards, which are designed to identify and reward the sports information departments and programs that exemplified excellent media relations.
