Kubatko shares Maryland Sportswriter of the Year honors

Roch Kubatko, whose around-the-clock coverage of the Orioles has appeared on MASNsports.com since August 2008, was today named a co-winner of the Maryland Sportswriter of the Year award by the Salisbury, N.C.-based National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.

It's the second time Kubatko has been recognized as Maryland Sportswriter of the Year, having previously won the award in 2004 when he was on the Orioles beat for The Baltimore Sun. This year, he shares the award with Sun columnist Peter Schmuck.

Kubatko joined MASNsports.com after spending 21 years at The Sun from 1987-2008. He moved from covering small colleges to the Orioles beat in 1997, but had previously been part of the newspaper's coverage of Cal Ripken Jr.'s 2,310th and 2,313st games in 1995 and the Orioles' playoff run in 1996.

His "School of Roch" blog on MASNsports.com has become a must-read destination for Orioles fans in search of all the latest news on their favorite team. Kubatko routinely posts his first blog entry of the day as early as 5 a.m., just so his faithful readers can catch up on any important Orioles news before they begin their workdays.

Kubatko also appears regularly on the "O's Xtra" pregame show, "Wall to Wall Baseball" and "The Mid-Atlantic Sports Report" on MASN. He has contributed to MLB Network programming and has been a sought-after guest on both local and national radio shows, and co-hosts with MASN's Jim Hunter the "Hot Stove Baseball" show on 105.7 The Fan.

Brett Hollander of WBAL Radio and WBAL-TV was named Maryland's Sportscaster of the Year.

Kubatko, Schmuck and Hollander will be honored at the 57th annual NSSA awards weekend, which will be held from June 18-20 in Salisbury, N.C.