TOWSON, Md. - The Landmark Conference is celebrating Officials’ Appreciation Week along with all other Division III conferences throughout the 2023-2024 academic year. This year marks the second year of this initiative adopted by the Division III Commissioners Association (DIIICA) to recognize and thank conference officials across all sports.

Officials’ Appreciation Week will be celebrated during the fall, winter and spring sport seasons. To kick off the year, the fall celebration will take place from October 2nd-October 9th followed by January 22nd-January 28th for winter and April 1st-April 7th for spring. 

The commitment of Landmark Conference officials and referees to safe, fair and competitive contests is a critical part of the student-athlete experience.

As part of the celebration, The Landmark Conference will recognize officials at Landmark games throughout the week. In addition, the Conference will recognize its basketball officials and Supervisors of officials in attendance at Palestra Gameday on January 14th, 2023. 

“The Landmark Conference is proud to participate with the rest of Division III to highlight and thank our officials across all Landmark sports,” stated Commissioner Katie Boldvich. “Our officials and Supervisors are key to the success of our league’s 23 sports as they help to ensure fair play and great sportsmanship for all of our participants.”

Officials’ Appreciation Week is one of numerous initiatives that are being implemented as part of the Division III Commissioners Association (DIIICA) Strategic Plan for Collegiate Officiating that was created as a result of the DIIICA’s Strategic Analysis of the State of Collegiate Officiating. 

“I am extremely grateful for the work of many on the DIIICA Strategic Plan for Collegiate Officiating. We find ourselves in a national shortage for officials across nearly all of our sports,” explained Boldvich. “These Appreciation weeks are a small part of a much broader vision from the Association to retain qualified officials to work within our Division while also attracting new individuals. I look forward to watching more pieces of the Strategic Plan develop over the next several months.”

In conjunction with the NCAA and the National Association of Sports Officials (NASO), there is an urgent need for sports officials, if interested please visit the NCAA’s Say Yes to Officiating platform to learn more.