Tag: Taylor Maggiore

Sports media student Tylar Norman wins first award from Taylor Maggiore Fund

Posted on by Dayne Young

Tylar Norman, a senior graduating in May 2021, will receive the first $1,000 award from the Taylor Maggiore Fund at the University of Georgia. Available to students enrolled in the sports media undergraduate certificate program, the fund helps promote the advancement of women in the sports media industry.

Norman takes photos while covering Morgan County athletics.

A panel of alumni and faculty members selected Norman for her work with organizations on and off-campus and her passion for encouraging women in sports media, especially women of color.

“I hope to one day start my own mentorship organization for women in the sports media field,” she wrote in her application, “to ensure that we are all uplifting each other and increasing the inclusion of women in this field.”

The current president of UGA’s chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists, Norman has worked as a communications intern with the Atlanta Dream and in media relations for the U.S. Olympic Trials.

“The Grady Sports Media program has been the steppingstone to the real-world experience that I’ve had,” Norman said.

After graduation, she plans to look for opportunities that lead to her goal of one day becoming a social media producer in the NBA.

Norman, a journalism major with minors in Spanish and sport management, has assisted in the production of Grady Newsource as a technical manager. She also runs her own freelance photography business.

Taylor Maggiore (AB ’19) addresses the undergraduate commencement ceremony at the University of Georgia on December 13, 2019. Maggiore has created the Taylor Maggiore Scholarship in the Grady Sports Media undergraduate certificate program. (Photo: Dorothy Kozlowski (ABJ ’10)/UGA Marketing & Communications)

“Through all the experiences she has sought and excelled at during her college years, Tylar already is making her mark in sports media,” said Vicki Michaelis, John Huland Carmical Chair in Sports Journalism & Society. “I have no doubt she is and will be a role model for others who want to work in this industry. We’re thrilled for Tylar, and we’re so grateful to Taylor for paying it forward in this way.”

Taylor Maggiore, who graduated in December 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a sports media certificate, began work last January as a stage manager for ESPN in Bristol, Conn. She established the fund within months of graduating to help students “with living accommodations during an internship, books, business casual and professional wardrobe, interview, equipment, or anything else that is needed.”

To read more about the Taylor Maggiore Fund, check out this story.

2019 alumna creates scholarship for Grady Sports Media

Posted on by Sarah Freeman

Not long after the University of Georgia paused instruction to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Grady Sports Media undergraduate certificate program got an unexpected bit of good news.

Alumna Taylor Maggiore, who had just graduated in December, wanted to create a scholarship to further the advancement of women in the tumultuous professional world of sports media.

“The certificate gave me the tools and skills to land my dream job,” wrote Maggiore in an e-mail to Vicki Michaelis, director of the program. “I think the least I could do is help another woman in our field by easing some financial burdens that come with it.”

Maggiore started in January as a stage manager for ESPN in Bristol, Conn. Thanks to her generosity and an employee matching donation from ESPN, the first Taylor Maggiore Scholar will be announced in Fall 2020.

“Taylor’s passion and talent for sports broadcasting energized all of us while she was a Grady Sports student. I’m thrilled and so grateful she’s reaching back to give our current and future students a helping hand and infusion of that energy,” said Michaelis, the John Huland Carmical Professor of Sports Journalism and Society in the Grady College.

Maggiore (far left) worked with four other Grady alumnae last spring at ESPN. Others included Ann Drinkard (ABJ ’16), Caroline McLeod (AB ’19) and Sarah Buck (AB ’18).

Maggiore got involved with Grady Sports as a first-year student producing high school football games and worked a variety of events for Daktronics and the SEC Network during her time on campus. She mentored Cedar Shoals High School students through the UGA-Grady High School Sports Broadcast Program, an initiative aimed at supporting the recruitment of underrepresented, underserved and first-generation students to UGA. She also was a UGA orientation leader and was named a Cox Institute Levin Leader by the Department of Journalism. She was the student speaker for the undergraduate commencement ceremony in December 2019.

“We know that as Bulldogs, we will be productive and educated members of society,” Maggiore said in her speech in Stegeman Coliseum. “We will shatter glass ceilings and be kind to one another. We will give others opportunities because we’re all sitting here today because someone took a chance on us.”

Grady Sports Media will continue raising funds to sustain the scholarship and Maggiore’s legacy in the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. If you are interested in contributing to the fund, please contact Welch Suggs, associate director of Grady Sports Media, at wsuggs@uga.edu or 706-363-0752.