Michael Signora, the NFL’s senior vice president of football and international communications, has been selected as the 2022 Horrigan Award winner by the Professional Football Writers of America.
Signora, lauded for his professional dealings with the media who cover the league, is the 50th Horrigan Award winner and the second person to receive the award twice; he was also the 2013 honoree. The late Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney Sr. won the award in 1975 and 1984.
The Horrigan Award is given to the league or club official for his or her qualities and professional style in helping the pro football writers do their job. This year, the PFWA honored the Horrigan family — father Jack and son Joe — for their contributions in assisting writers over the decades in several roles by renaming the original Jack Horrigan Award (1973-2021) to the Horrigan Award.
Jack Horrigan was a sportswriter for UPI and the Buffalo Evening News, public relations director for the American Football League (1963-66) and vice president of public relations for the Buffalo Bills (1966-73). Joe Horrigan is in his 43rd year with the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Signora has been with the NFL since 1996. He is responsible for organizing and implementing media policy for all writers and other media, leads media operations at NFL events, and he also oversees the league’s international media operations.
“During the past two pandemic-impacted seasons, Mike worked tirelessly behind the scenes on media access policies that would comply with the league’s COVID-19 rules. It was a pretty thankless job, as we in the media always wanted more access, of course, but Mike’s even-keeled demeanor helped us collaboratively work through these unique challenges,” said PFWA president Lindsay Jones of The Athletic.
“We also appreciate Mike’s responsiveness to football operations matters and the work he and the league’s communications staff, especially Brian McCarthy, who was also a finalist for this award, did in providing answers to questions from the media year-round and at all hours of the day.”
Other 2022 nominees for the Horrigan Award were McCarthy, Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert, Los Angeles Rams chief operating officer Kevin Demoff, and Rams general manager Les Snead.
___
More AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://apnews.com/hub/pro-32 and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
