May 7, 2010 9:18:06 AM

ESPN broadcaster Pam Ward has been selected the 2010 recipient of the Jack Wade Award by the College Sports Information Directors of America.

The award is presented annually to a person that makes outstanding contribution in the media to the field of intercollegiate athletics.

Ward will receive the honor July 6 at the CoSIDA annual convention in San Francisco.

On November 22, 2000, Ward became the first woman to serve as play-by-play announcer for a college football game on a national network when she worked the Bowling Green-Toledo contest for ESPN2.

She was elevated the next season to her current role as a full-time college football announcer. She has worked in that capacity since and has come to stand out in the fact that her work is not regarded as a novelty.

Before she added college football to her duties, Ward was a recognizable voice in women's college basketball. She has called women's games regularly since 1992, first for Home Team Sports and now for the ESPN Networks, which includes working the NCAA Women's Final Four.

 Since 2001, she has served as the studio host of WNBA telecasts.

Ward has also hosted NBA Today, NBA 2Night, NHL 2Night, NFL Tonight and The NFL on ESPN Radio.

Before joining ESPN, Ward worked as an anchor/host at WBAL-Radio in Baltimore, hosting the station's Baltimore Ravens' Sunday pregame show and was a fill-in sports anchor on WBAL-TV in Baltimore. She graduated from Maryland with a degree in communications.