The Tom Borrelli Award is presented by the National Lacrosse League

National Lacrosse League

The National Lacrosse League is a men's professional indoor lacrosse league in North America. It currently has nine teams; three in Canada and six in the United States. Unlike other lacrosse leagues which play in the summer, the NLL plays its games in the winter and spring. Each year, the playoff...

 to "the league's most outstanding newspaper writer or columnist". The award is named for Tom Borrelli (1957-2008), a writer for The Buffalo News

The Buffalo News

The Buffalo News is the primary newspaper of the Buffalo – Niagara Falls metropolitan area, and the area's only daily newspaper. It is the only newspaper owned by Berkshire Hathaway.-History:...

 who covered the Buffalo Bandits

Buffalo Bandits

The Buffalo Bandits are a team in the National Lacrosse League . They play at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. The Bandits played in the Major Indoor Lacrosse League from 1992 to 1997, until the MILL turned into the NLL in 1998....

 from the team's inception in 1992 to his death in 2008. He was inducted into the National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame

National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame

The National Lacrosse League Hall of Fame was established on June 16, 2005. The National Lacrosse League has 7 teams in the United States and 3 in Canada...

 in 2007.

The award was created at the end of the 2005 season

2005 NLL season

The 2005 National Lacrosse League season began on January 1, 2005 and concluded with the championship game on May 14. The Toronto Rock won their fifth NLL championship, defeating the Arizona Sting 19-13 in Toronto....

 and, surprisingly, Borrelli was never a recipient. However, Tom Borrelli was the first sportswriter inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame.

In 2009, The Buffalo News began awarding a lacrosse scholarship and trophy named for Tom Borrelli to the top high school lacrosse player in Western New York. The inaugural Tom Borrelli Memorial Award winner was Jeff Tundo, of Orchard Park, who plays collegiately at Ohio State.

Past winners

Season	Winner	Media Outlet
2011 2011 NLL season The 2011 National Lacrosse League season, the 25th in the history of the NLL, began January 8, 2011 and ended with the Championship game, won by the Toronto Rock 8-7.-Team movement:...	Budd Bailey	The Buffalo News The Buffalo News The Buffalo News is the primary newspaper of the Buffalo – Niagara Falls metropolitan area, and the area's only daily newspaper. It is the only newspaper owned by Berkshire Hathaway.-History:...
2010 2010 NLL season The 2010 National Lacrosse League season, the 24th in the history of the NLL, began on January 8, 2010 and ended with the Championship game on May 15.-Team movement:...	Paul Tutka	NLLInsider.com
2009 2009 NLL season -Pre-season:* August 19, 2008: The NLL announced that the Minnesota Swarm would be moving from the East division to the West division, giving the West six teams to the East's seven....	Paul Tutka	NLLInsider.com
2008 2008 NLL season The 2008 National Lacrosse League season, the 22nd in the history of the NLL, began on December 29, 2007 and concluded with the Buffalo Bandits winning the championship game over the Portland LumberJax on May 17, 2008....	Paul Tutka	NLLInsider.com
2007 2007 NLL season The Knighthawks had the overall top seed in the playoffs, but were unable to host the Championship game due to a scheduling conflict at the Blue Cross Arena.-Team Movement:...	Ty Pilson	Calgary Sun Calgary Sun The Calgary Sun is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a division of Sun Media, a Quebecor company.First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running broadsheet newspaper, The Albertan soon after it was acquired by the publishers of the Toronto...
2006 2006 NLL season -All-Star game:The 2006 All-Star Game was held at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario on February 25, 2006. The West Division defeated the East Division 14-13. The MVP of the game was Lewis Ratcliff of the Calgary Roughnecks, who scored 4 goals, including the game winner...	Sal Maiorana	Rochester Democrat and Chronicle Democrat and Chronicle The Democrat and Chronicle is the most widely circulated daily newspaper in the greater Rochester, New York area. Located at 55 Exchange Boulevard in downtown Rochester, the Democrat and Chronicle operates under the ownership of Gannett. The paper's production facility is located in the town of...
2005 2005 NLL season The 2005 National Lacrosse League season began on January 1, 2005 and concluded with the championship game on May 14. The Toronto Rock won their fifth NLL championship, defeating the Arizona Sting 19-13 in Toronto....	Mike Koreen	The Toronto Sun Toronto Sun The Toronto Sun is an English-language daily tabloid newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for its daily Sunshine Girl feature and for what it sees as a populist conservative editorial stance.-History:...