South Bend Tribune's Hansen named Indiana's best

South Bend Tribune and NDInsider.com sports writer and assistant sports editor Eric Hansen has been named the Indiana Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association.

Hansen, who recently was honored with a first place for best coverage of a sporting event by the Hoosier State Press Association, is the lead Notre Dame football beat writer for the Tribune and NDInsider.com.

Hansen has won numerous state and national writing awards, and has more than 22,000 Twitter followers. He also has written two books on Notre Dame football — Stadium Stories: Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Colorful Tales of the Blue and Gold (2004) and Notre Dame Fighting Irish: Where Have You Gone?

The Cleveland native and a graduate of Ohio State University has covered college sports since 1983.

He will be honored during NSMA Awards Weekend in late June in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Thomas Boswell, Woody Durham, Bryant Gumbel and Dick Weiss will be inducted into the National Sports Media Association Hall of Fame that weekend.