About the Academic All-America® Program, selected by College Sports Communicators
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 44,000+ 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 (CSC), 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. Nominating and voting for Academic All-America® is an exclusive right of College Sports Communicators members.
CSC began the distinguished Academic All-America® program in 1952, and since then, has honored more than 44,000 deserving student-athletes from numerous sports across all divisions with these elite Academic All-America® scholar-athlete honors.
Currently, CSC sponsors Academic All-America® programs for men's soccer, women's soccer, football, volleyball, men's basketball, women's basketball, men's swimming & diving, women's swimming & diving, men's tennis, women's tennis, baseball, softball and men's and women's track and field/cross country. All other championship sports are eligible through the At-Large program.
Stand alone contests for each sport are conducted in all three NCAA divisions and the NAIA. A single At-Large program is available for the College Division.
Sponsorship
Legendary broadcaster Dick Enberg was named the national spokesperson for the program in 1986 and he served in that role until his passing in 2017. Past sponsors of the program have included Google Cloud (2018-19), Capital One (2011-18), ESPN the Magazine (2004-10), Verizon (2000-04), and GTE (1985-2000).
Program expansion by sport
Lester Jordan, then Sports Information Director at SMU, is considered the father of the first team (football), which was released on Saturday, Dec. 6, 1952. Men's Basketball was added in 1963 and Baseball in 1970. The first women's Academic All-America® team — for Women's Basketball — appeared in 1980. In 1982-83, contests were added for Women's Volleyball and Softball, as well as a Men's and Women's At-Large program to include all other championship sports.
Men's and Women's Soccer and Men's and Women's Track & Field/Cross Country were added in 2001-02. In 2022-23, the program expanded to included stand-alone contests for Men's and Women's Swimming & Diving and Tennis. Each expansion has brought about additional opportunities for student-athletes to be recognized.
Academic All-America Team Member of the Year
Starting with the 1987-88 seasons, CSC began selecting an Academic All-America Team Member of the Year in each sport. Through 2010-11, an AAA Team Member of the Year was chosen in the University Division and the College Division. The University Division included all NCAA Division I institutions. Student-athletes from any other non-NCAA Division I institution were eligible for College Division recognition. In 2011-12, this was expanded to recognize an Academic All-America Team Member of the Year for each sport in NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III and the College Division — the College Division consisted of any non-NCAA school. This expansion enabled CSC to double the number of student-athletes honored on an annual basis.
In 2018-19, the NAIA split into its own division. Since 2018-19 until present, the College Division has included Two-Year College, Canadian Institutions and any other institution not affiliated with the NCAA or NAIA.
Overall Academic All-American of the Year
Overall Academic All-American of the Year winners are student-athletes selected for the top honor across all sports. This honor was first selected in 1987-88 and was a combined award for men and women in all divisions through 1994-95. In 1995-96, one selection was made for the University Division (NCAA Division I) and one for the College Division. From 2011-12 through 2017-18, an Overall Academic All-American of the Year was chosen in each of four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, College. In 2018-19, an NAIA Overall AAAOTY was chosen in addition to a College Division AAAOTY. Because of the nature of only two student-athletes being eligible for the honor in the College Division, selections have been made only for NCAA Division I, II, III and NAIA since 2019-20.
Academic All-America Hall of Fame®
The Academic All-America® Hall of Fame was established in 1988 with the first class consisting of Bill Bradley, Pete Dawkins, Pat Haden, Tom McMillen, Donn Moomaw and Merlin Olsen.
The official name of the program is
Academic All-America®, selected by College Sports Communicators.
Academic All-America® is a Federally Registered Trademark
The CSC Executive Board of Directors and Academic All-America Committee leadership remind members that CSC's
Academic All-America® mark is federally registered.
Your help is needed by the Executive Board and AAA Committee to monitor the wrongful use of this registered trademark. If you see any other organizations, including coaching associations, using this registered trademark, immediately contact CSC Associate Executive Director
Will Roleson (
will@cscommunicators.com). We'll have our legal counsel, Collegiate Images, follow up with a letter regarding infringement of our federally registered mark and they will be asked to "cease and desist" from future use of that mark.
Many times during the year we find that our own membership is using "Academic All-America" in releases that they prepare for student-athletes receiving academic achievement awards from other organizations — when in fact those organizations refer to their awards as "All-Academic," "Scholar-Athlete," "Academic All-Star," etc.
We ask that CSC members be cognizant of only using "Academic All-America" in relation to CSC's program. There are NO exceptions.