Lauren Dellipoali, DAPER’s communications, promotions, and marketing assistant, has been named the Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Sports Information Director of the Year for a second straight season. Dellipoali earned the honor again for the 2023 season after becoming the second MIT award recipient and second female award winner in 2022.

The Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) has given the award since 2008, and this is the sixth honor bestowed exclusively to NWPC institutions following the division of the CWPA men’s teams into the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) and Northeast Water Polo Conference during summer 2016.

“Since joining DAPER, Lauren has quickly become an extremely valuable department member,” said MIT water polo head coach Austin Ringheim. “She has brought a wealth of knowledge from her previous roles and has elevated the visibility of our programs in the Water Polo community. Lauren has fully immersed herself in our program and has had a major impact on our recent successes. Our staff, athletes, and families have greatly benefited from her presence, and we are all extremely grateful for her continued dedication and support of the MIT water polo program.”

Now in her third season with the Engineers, Dellipoali is the primary contact for 10 of MIT’s 33 intercollegiate programs and is the secondary contact for football and men’s basketball. As the water polo contact, she covers each of the program’s home games and produces video features, pre-championship coverage, postgame recaps and social media content for each competition. Most recently, Dellipoali traveled with the team to Rock Island, Ill., for the 2023 USA Water Polo Division III National Championship as the Engineers defeated Augustana 11-9 in the tournament’s third-place game.

“Lauren goes above and beyond in every aspect of her job,” said sophomore Luke Apostolides (Greenwich, Conn.). “She brings a unique energy to the pool deck and on our team trips that cannot be replicated by anyone else, and she pushes us to perform at our highest level, athletically, academically, and, more importantly, regarding our character. She is a critical part of the program and adds value to every person on the team.”

Dellipoali previously worked as an athletic communications assistant at Johns Hopkins University from 2017-2019, where she was the primary contact for nine varsity teams.

She began her collegiate athletics career at Wesleyan University (Conn.), where she served as the athletic communications intern from 2015-2017 and assisted with publicizing the department’s 29 varsity programs. Before Wesleyan, she served in two roles at ESPN from 2013-2015 as a highlights intern for NBC Sports for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

A 2012 graduate of Syracuse University (N.Y.), Dellipoali earned her Bachelor of Science in television, radio, and film. She also earned her Bachelor of Arts in psychology with a minor in management studies.

Selected by the CWPA Director of Communications, the SID of the Year award is presented to individuals who “have achieved notable excellence in the field of water polo communications during the past academic year.”