Inaugural Hartford HealthCare Connecticut Courage Award Presented by CoSIDA Honors College Student-Athletes Showing Courage in the Face of Adversity

HARTFORD, Conn., Nov. 14, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA), in association with The Associated Press (AP) and Hartford HealthCare, Connecticut's most comprehensive healthcare network, will present the inaugural Hartford HealthCare Connecticut Courage Award to 12 student-athletes, male and female, at Connecticut colleges and universities of all levels who have demonstrated courage in the face of adversity.

Each month between November and April, two inspiring student-athletes, one male and one female, who have demonstrated courage in the face of adversity—such as overcoming injury, illness or other challenges—will be recognized as Hartford HealthCare Connecticut Courage Award Finalists. A panel of writers, editors and sports information directors from CoSIDA, AP and College Hoops Illustrated as well as the program's Ambassador, former WNBA and UConn basketball standout Rebecca Lobo, will select the honorees.

Sports information directors at all colleges and universities in Connecticut can nominate deserving male and female intercollegiate student-athletes through March 30, 2020, at HartfordHealthCareCourageAward.com.

In May, one male and one female student-athlete will be chosen from the 12 finalists as Hartford HealthCare Courage Award Winners. Hartford HealthCare will donate $15,000 to the general scholarship funds for the 12 student-athletes selected as finalists, with $2,500 being awarded in the names of each of the two winners and $10,000 on behalf of the other 10 finalists.

"Hartford HealthCare is excited to be the official sponsor of the Courage Awards and to recognize Connecticut student-athletes who, despite setbacks in their young careers, have overcome these challenges to continue to perform their best as both scholars and athletes," says Jeffrey A. Flaks, president and chief executive officer of Hartford HealthCare. "Our organization's purpose is to help people live their healthiest lives, and these meaningful and courageous stories of recovery will be an inspiration to all."

Ms. Lobo will attend award ceremonies with several of the honorees and help raise awareness for their inspiring stories of courage. In 1995, she led the University of Connecticut to its first National Championship and was named NCAA Women's Basketball Player of the Year. A member of the CoSIDA Academic All-America Hall of Fame, she has served on the Board of Directors for Hartford Hospital, where she was born. Ms. Lobo currently works as a television analyst, author and motivational speaker and lives in Connecticut with her husband and their four children.

About Hartford HealthCare: With 30,000 colleagues and total operating revenue of $4.3 billion, Hartford HealthCare has cultivated a strong, unified culture of accountability and innovation. Its care-delivery system, with more than 360 locations serving 185 towns and cities, includes two tertiary-level teaching hospitals, an acute-care community teaching hospital, an acute-care hospital and trauma center, three community hospitals, the state's most extensive behavioral health network, a large multispecialty physician group, a clinical care organization, a regional home care system, an array of senior care services, and a large physical therapy and rehabilitation network. Hartford HealthCare's unique, system-wide Institute Model offers a single, high standard of care in crucial specialties at hospital and ambulatory sites across Connecticut. The institutes include: Cancer, Heart and Vascular, Ayer Neuroscience, Orthopedics and Tallwood Urology. Visit Hartford HealthCare at www.hartfordhealthcare.org.

About CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America): CoSIDA was founded in 1957 and is a 3,000+ member national organization comprised of the sports public relations, media relations and communications/information professionals throughout all levels of collegiate athletics in the United States and Canada.

SOURCE College Sports Information Directors of America