Academic All-American is a title reserved for college student-athletes who perform at an elite level in their chosen sport and in the classroom. The all-time list of 40,000+ Academic All-Americans includes major sports stars and some of the world’s most accomplished individuals in medicine, business, science and the arts. Established in 1952 and selected by College Sports Communicators, Academic All-America is the longest running and premier award for athletic and academic success across championship college sports at all NCAA levels, the NAIA, two-year colleges and Canadian institutions. Teams are announced year round and amplified by CSC member colleges, universities, and conferences on a wide local, regional, national, and even international scope. 

Nomination criteria

Voting and awards distribution information

Program logos can be downloaded here.

For questions about program criteria or the nomination portal, email AAA@cscommunicators.com.

Click here to learn more about the Academic All-America program.

Click here to learn more about the Academic All-America Hall of Fame program.

CSC Special Awards

Each year, we solicit nominations for the College Sports Communicators Special Awards program as we honor those in the membership and outside the membership with recognition for distinguished service, work and achievement. Our Special Awards are presented annually at luncheons during our annual conventions. Nominations for 2024-25 Special Awards are currently open and the deadline to submit a nominee is Monday, Dec. 2, 2024 at 11:59 PM Eastern.

Nominations are open to CURRENT dues-paying members ONLY. Those nominated must be current dues-paying CSC members (for the membership awards ONLY); this does not apply if you are nominating someone in the Hall of Fame Veterans (retired/deceased/left profession), Keth Jackson Eternal Flame Award, Jake Wade Award (media award) categories.

Refer to the information here which outlines all of our awards and the criteria for each award.

SELF-NOMINATIONS are welcome for the 25-Year Awards and the Lifetime Achievement Awards. Please review the criteria and make sure you are recognized!

Full-Time Definition

For the purposes of the Special Awards program, full-time employment is defined as:

• Someone who is considered a full-time employee by the institutions, conferences or organizations where employed over career
• This may include post-graduate internships and post-graduate assistantships
• Must have maintained membership in College Sports Communicators for the majority of their career

The Stabley Writing Contest will open for submissions on Wednesday, December 11, 2024 and will close on Friday, January 31, 2025. 

All submissions for the 2024-25 contest must have original publication dates between January 1, 2024 through December 31, 2024.

Current dues-paying (2024-25) CSC members ONLY may submit entries. Please note: You can only submit entries for yourself if you are a 2024-25 CSC member. You CANNOT submit entries for anyone else (this includes other CSC current members and any non-members). .

Each CSC member may only enter ONE SUBMISSION PER CATEGORY. If you submit more than one submission per category, all your submissions will be deleted from that category. The categories are: Athlete Profile (current); Coach/Administrator Profile (current); Event Coverage (current); General Feature/Blog; Historical Feature; Season Recap/Preview; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Social Justice work; Undergraduate Student Writing Category.

Student members may submit writings on any of the topics listed 1-7; a student is limited to ONE ENTRY per category, with the potential to submit 7 total entries (ex: student can submit only one season recap/preview; can submit only one athlete feature, etc).

Click here to learn more about the Fred Stabley Writing Contest!

Creative & Digital Design Contest

Contests are ONLY open to current 2024-25 dues-paying College Sports Communicators members. Members MAY NOT submit entries on behalf of non-CSC members.

Contest Types

There are xx categories, with each category split into University and College division entries for a total of xx contests. Descriptions for each contest are available HERE. Contest Divisions: Separate contests are judged in all categories in two divisions — University and College. The University division is all NCAA Division I schools. The college division includes all NCAA Division II and Division III schools, NAIA schools, Canadian institutions, two-year colleges and high schools.

**YOU MAY ONLY ENTER ONE PIECE OF CONTENT IN ONE CONTEST. DO NOT ENTER THE SAME THING IN MULTIPLE CONTESTS. THE ONLY EXCEPTIONS TO THIS ARE ENTRIES FOR GENERAL CONTESTS CAN ALSO BE INCLUDED IN ENTRIES FOR PORTFOLIO CONTESTS**

Contest Entry Requirements

Please make sure you type the name of your school and your name EXACTLY how you want it on the certificate and ensure you have chosen the correct contest when submitting your entry.

Contest Deadlines

TBA

National Recruiting Compliance Guidelines

Those who enter the Creative and Digital Design Contest are required to understand how the publications fit within their national governing body compliance and recruiting guidelines. Each publication MUST be compliant under the rules of the governing organization of the school that is entering the contest.

Process

1. LOG IN with your CSC profile information.

2. CREATE an online nomination by going to the MY DASHBOARD link (link is upper right on this page).

3. SAVE AS DRAFT: During the nomination windows, you can save your nomination as a DRAFT until all required information is complete and attachments are uploaded. As each section is completed, you will see a  appear in the category tab when the nomination is saved. At any time, you can download and print your nomination by clicking on the icon in the Nomination Summary section.

4. SUBMIT AS FINAL: On completion, save your Nomination as FINAL. Download and print a copy of your nomination for your records by clicking on the icon in the Nomination Summary section in the right column. Note: If an update is required prior to the Call for Nominations period, you can make the update and resave as FINAL.

If you require assistance or additional information, please email AAA@cscommunicators.com.