The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

s team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

for positions in various sports—who in turn are given the honorific "Academic All-American". Since 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-American recognition on male and female athletes in Divisions I, II, and

III III or iii may refer to: Companies * Information International, Inc., a computer technology company * Innovative Interfaces, Inc., a library-software company * 3i, formerly Investors in Industry, a British investment company Other uses * ...

of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) as well as athletes in the NAIA, other U.S. four-year schools, two-year colleges, and Canadian universities, covering all championship sports. The award honors student-athletes who have performed well academically while regularly competing for their institution. It is sponsored by and presented as the Google Cloud Academic All-America® Award, having been previously sponsored by Capital One (2011–18), '' ESPN The Magazine'' (2004–2010),

Verizon Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas ...

(2000–04) and GTE (1985–2000), and is administered by the

College Sports Information Directors of America College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) is an organization that focuses on professional development and support for sports information directors at all levels. It offers awards, scholarships, and grants in support of SIDs and pros ...

(CoSIDA). The award was known as the CoSIDA Academic All-America until 1985. The phrases "Academic All-America" and "Academic All-American" are protected

trademark A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from ot ...

s of CoSIDA. Prior to 2011, there were two sets of teams chosen: One for Division I and one for all other Divisions, NAIA, two-year colleges and Canadian schools. In 2011, the program was expanded to include four sets of honorary teams: one for each of NCAA Divisions I, II and III as well as a "College Division" for NAIA, four-year U.S. schools that are not NCAA or NAIA members, two-year colleges and Canadian schools. The College Division was further split after the 2017–18 school year with the creation of a separate NAIA division. In each program, regional Academic All-District selections are made with the first-team All-District selections being eligible for Academic All-America team selections.

Details

Domain

Currently, CoSIDA is responsible for the annual selection of 816 Academic All-Americans in men's

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, football,

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and

track & field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

/ cross country and women's basketball, soccer,

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Sum ...

, and track & field/cross country, as well as at-large teams for both men and women in Division I, II and III, NAIA, and CoSIDA's College Division in all NCAA championship sports. Currently, the sports that CoSIDA recognizes as eligible for at-large Academic All-American recognition are men's and women's

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

, swimming and diving,

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

, and

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with th ...

; men's

and

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat s ...

; women's beach volleyball,

bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

, and rowing; and the coeducational sports of

fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...

, rifle, and

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ( ...

. Athletes in each sport are selected by their respective governing bodies (e.g. U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association for

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

, American Volleyball Coaches Association for

and

United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association The United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association is an association of member institutions and organizations with college lacrosse programs at all levels of competition, including the three NCAA divisions and non-NCAA schools, at both the vars ...

for

) On May 7, 2018, Google Cloud was announced as the title sponsor of the Academic All-America program. Capital One had become the previous named sponsor of the program on January 31, 2011. CoSIDA has registered a

for the name, "Academic All-America" which it uses for its student-athlete recognition program. The Academic All-America program administered by CoSIDA is not related to such programs administered or sponsored by coaches' organizations. As a result,

cease and desist order A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not disc ...

s have been granted to protect the trademark at times. Various sports that have similar programs have had to use names such as All-Academic to recognize scholar athletes. Prior to the relationship with Capital One, the Academic All-American Award has had other named corporate sponsors such as ESPN, Verizon and Verizon's corporate predecessor GTE who were sponsors from 1985 until the mid-2000s. In 1981, the

sponsored the program. From 1985 until the 1999–2000 academic year the honorees were called GTE All-Americans, but during the 2000–01 academic year they became known as Verizon All-Americans when Verizon acquired GTE. Verizon continued to be the named sponsor through the 2003–04 academic year when they did not renew their rights. ''ESPN the Magazine'' became the sponsor during the 2004–05 academic year and remained sponsor until September 2010. Fall 2010 teams, continued to bear the ESPN sponsorship name. Capital one took over the sponsorship in January 2011.

Process

Initially, team selections were composed of both a University Division, made up of Division I participants, and a College Division, made up of Division II, Division III, NAIA, and

2-year college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

s. First, second and third team selections are made for both divisions in most Academic All-America programs. However, the football programs only select a first and second team. The football University Division includes both Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision. In 2011, the program was expanded to incorporate four sets of teams: Division I, Division II, Division III and a College Division that included all U.S. four-year institutions outside the NCAA, two-year colleges and Canadian schools. After the 2018 award cycle, the NAIA was spun off from the College Division, with the College Division now consisting of two-year schools, plus four-year schools in the U.S. and Canada that are not members of the NCAA or NAIA. Nominations must be made on the CoSIDA website by a current dues-paying member with a CoSIDA-issued user name and password for the academic year at issue. Formerly, nominations were made by pen and ink and then with

typewritten A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical machine for typing characters. Typically, a typewriter has an array of keys, and each one causes a different single character to be produced on paper by striking an inked ribbon selectivel ...

nominations. The CoSIDA members nominate student-athletes only from the academic institution that they are affiliated with. The nominees must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution. Nominees must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s games at the position listed on the nomination form (where applicable). In baseball and softball, pitchers must have at least 10.0 innings pitched. Nominees are ineligible until the completion of one full calendar year at his/her current institution and attainment of sophomore athletic eligibility. Transfers,

graduate student Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and s ...

s and two-year college graduates must have completed one full calendar year at the nominating institution to be eligible. Graduate school nominees must have a cumulative GPA of 3.30 or better both as an undergraduate and in graduate school. Except for at-large program, there are no limits in the number of athletes an institution may nominate. In the at-large program, nominations are limited to three per school per gender (a total of three men's at-large candidates and three women's at-large candidates). If an institution participates in both the college and the university divisions, it may nominate a total of three men and three women between the two divisions. In each program, All-District selections are elected by the CoSIDA membership with the resulting first-team All-District selections advancing to the national ballot for Academic All-America team selections. The national ballot is cast by members of the Academic All-America Committee and the CoSIDA Board of Directors. Each program also recognizes a single athlete for both the University and College Divisions who are referred to as Academic All-America of the Year. In addition, there is an annual selection by the

and its Academic All-America sponsor of the individual athlete selected as the most outstanding Academic All-America of the approximately 1640 annual selections. Since the start of the 2018–19 school year, one winner has been chosen for each of five divisions: Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA, and the College Division. From 2012 to 2018, the non-NCAA division was known as the College Division, and included NAIA members, two-year institutions, U.S. four-year schools that were not NCAA or NAIA members, and Canadian schools. Between 1996 and 2011 one winner each was chosen from both the College and University Divisions' 816 annual selections. Between 1988 and 1995 one winner was chosen per year.

Team Member of the Year

:''See:

List of Academic All-America Team Members of the Year List of Academic All-America Team Members of the Year is a list of the annual selection by the College Sports Information Directors of America and its Academic All-America sponsor of the individual athlete selected as the most outstanding of the a ...

'' During the 1987–88 academic year, CoSIDA began selecting one student as the most outstanding team member of the year. In 1996, CoSIDA began selecting two outstanding team members yearly, one each from the College division and the University division. In 2011–12, when the program was expanded to include four sets of teams (Division I, Division II, Division III and a College Division), four winners were chosen, one from each division. Starting in 2018–19, a dedicated NAIA team was added.

References

External links

All-Sport archive 2002–presentCoSIDA Academic All-America All-Time List (.pdf)CoSIDA Academic All-America performers: School overall totals and by Division/listings by sport/misc. categories (.pdf)
{{Academic All-America College sports in the United States College sports trophies and awards in the United States Aca Awards established in 1952