Welcome to the Awards Portal for College Sports Communicators
Visit this page for links to nominate for the following CSC Awards and Honors: Academic All-District/All-America Awards; CSC Special Awards, Fred Stabley Sr. Writing Contest and Creative & Digital Design Contest.
You’ll find eligibility criteria and timelines linked from this site plus contact information as well. You do not have to register on this site. Your log-in for your CSC profile will get you here. Your current CSC membership will allow you to submit nominations for the various awards programs.
Nomination and Submission Information and Deadlines
Deadlines for the Academic All-District/All-America program will be found on the 2024-25 AAA CALENDAR.
For more information on the CSC Special Awards, click here.
For more information on the Fred S. Stabley Sr. Writing Contest, click here
More information on the Creative & Digital Design Contest here.
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!
2024-25 CSC Creative & Digital Design Contest Information
Each year, CSC recognizes outstanding work by the membership in the area of creative and digital design.
Contests for 2024-25 have been revamped with new awards being offered. See below for all the details. These contests are open EXCLUSIVELY for current CSC members. Direct any questions to the contest coordinator or CSC Committee Chair Patrick Murphy (pmurphy@mines.edu) or Vice Chair Malloreigh Yingling (mvy5326@psu.edu). Additional questions can be directed to CSC staff liaison Beau White (beau@cscommunicators.com). Descriptions for each contest can be found here.
In an effort to ensure all entries are processed on time, we STRONGLY encourage participants to submit their works ahead of time and not wait until the last minute, as it may result in a failure of the submission portal.
Contest Types
This year, there are 17 categories available for CSC members to submit their work with each category split into two divisions, University (Division I) and College (Division II, Division III, NAIA, two-year colleges, Canadian Institutions and high school). As the Creative & Digital Design Contest continues to evolve, and we strive to encourage participation by as many members as possible and in order to best celebrate the most outstanding submissions, this year’s contest will include new contests, see the continued evolution of existing contests and implement limits on the number of entries allowed per contest.
New to the contest this year is Video Portfolio of the Year. Short Form Videos/Reels, Video of the Year and Signing Day Package all return for a second year, while changes have been made to the Non-Game Day Graphics contest. Due to such a high participation level in this Non-Game Day Graphics contest, and in order to recognize the works of more contest participants, the following contests have been created:
- Individual Awards, Milestone & Record Graphics Entries to this contest will reflect awards, milestones and/or records that take place during the academic year.
- Major Awards & Championship Graphics Entries to this contest will be for celebrating individual and/or team major awards and/or championships at the conference and/or national level.
- Special Projects Entries to this contest will feature any content created throughout the year that doesn’t necessarily fit into any other contest categories
Due to a sustained low rate of participation, the Online Magazine & Special Event Program contest has been discontinued.
**YOU MAY ONLY ENTER A 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 BEING INCLUDED IN ENTRIES FOR PORTFOLIO OR OTHER "OF THE YEAR" CONTESTS**
Any entries submitted that do not follow the guidelines outlined in the contest will be disqualified. Should any questions arise, please contact the contest coordinator.
Divisions: Separate contests will be 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.
Contest Entry
The 2024-25 contests will be conducted via online submission. Email submissions ARE NOT accepted. 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. 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. Any entries submitted to the wrong contest WILL NOT be recognized.**If you have staff members that ARE NOT members of CSC or student workers that are not CSC members, you may add them to your school’s account if you are the custodian of an All-In Membership so that they may submit their own entries under their name. Individuals. For membership questions, please contact Beau White at beau@cscommunicators.com.**
Contest Results
As was introduced with the 2023-24 edition of the contest, “Portfolio” contest finalists will be announced in late April/early May and invited to the 2025 CSC Unite Convention in Orlando June 8-11, 2025. Winners of those contests will be announced on site during the Special Awards Luncheon. A full list of contest winners and top places will be announced on June 11, 2025 on the final day of convention.In addition to recognizing the top overall places for each contest category as listed below, top finishers from each of the College Division categories will be recognized as well, based on the number of entries per level of the division (i.e., the best works from Division II, Division III, the NAIA, Canadian institutions, two-year colleges and other institutions will also be recognized even if they do not place in the overall contest results).
Contest Entry Limitations
The spirit of the Creative and Digital Design Contest is to recognize the best works each year from across the CSC membership. New in 2024-25, ALL GENERAL CONTESTS will implement application limits on the number of submissions by an individual per contest (portfolio contests already have a limit of one submission per participant).Implementing these limits will require members to submit only their best work and ensure that volunteer judges have adequate time to thoroughly review each entry. These limits will also allow judges to award places more deserving participants.
By asking contest participants to self-screen what content they are submitting, we are elevating the level of works submitted and enhancing the overall experience of the contest. Participants are encouraged to submit different pieces of work for consideration rather than different variations of similar designs.
Please note that contest leadership will listen to feedback from the membership and contest participants and evaluate the continued usage of this policy on an annual basis.
Contest Rules
Places will be awarded in each contest. The breakdown is as follows:1-3 entries one place
4-8 entries two places
9-14 entries three places
15-21 entries four places
22-28 entries five places
29-40 entries eight places
41-59 entries 10 places
60-79 entries 15 places
80+ entries 20 places
Should any contest results include a tie, the tie will be recognized in the final results and the corresponding place in the results will be awarded to the number of individuals represented in the tie.
In addition to recognizing the top overall places for each contest category as listed above, top finishers from each of the College Division categories will be recognized as well, based on the number of entries per level of the division (i.e., the best works from Division II, Division III, the NAIA, Canadian institutions, two-year colleges and other institutions will also be recognized even if they do not place in the overall contest results).
- An entry must be submitted according to the division in which that sport actually competes. For instance, if a school is NCAA-I in ice hockey and NCAA-II in all other sports, it must enter its ice hockey in the university division and its other publications in the college division.
- Best Cover will be awarded in all publications contests such as media guides and game programs
- The CSC member at the school entering an item into the contest, or the name on the certificate must be a dues-paying CSC member to win an award.
**If you have staff members that ARE NOT members of CSC or student workers that are not CSC members, you may add them to your school’s account if you are the custodian of an All-In Membership so that they may submit their own entries under their name. For membership questions, please contact Beau White at beau@cscommunicators.com.** - All entries produced or designed solely by advertising agencies, graphic design houses or other companies outside of the athletic department will be disqualified. The CSC member must have control over the design and content.
- Any entry submitted in the wrong division or category, submitted late or formatted incorrectly WILL BE disqualified.
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.
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