The N4A Wilma Rudolph Student-Athlete Achievement Award is intended to honor student-athletes who have overcome great personal, academic, and/or emotional odds to achieve academic success while participating in intercollegiate athletics. These individuals may not be the best athletes or students, and therefore may not have been recognized by other organizations or awards.

Nonetheless, they have persevered and made significant personal strides toward success. These are the students who benefit most from academic advisement and student-athlete development programs and represent practitioners' motivation and sense of satisfaction. A sampling of obstacles which award honorees have overcome may include, but are not limited to, poor academic performance, family crisis, medical and/or emotional/mental trauma.

CRITERIA

1. The nominee must have completed three (3) semesters or four (4) quarters at the nominating institution and passed 36 semester or 48 quarter hours.  The nominee must be athletically eligible for the current academic year.
2. The nominee must be in good academic standing - able to continue at the institution.
3. 3. The nominee must be either:
   • A recognized letterwinner; or
   • An active member of their institution's varsity athletics program during the academic year under consideration.
4. Each institution may nominate a maximum of one (1) female and one (1) male student-athlete.
5. Nominations must be submitted by an athletics academic advisor/counselor, student-athlete development professional, or other athletics administrator directly involved in supporting student-athlete success at the nominee's current institution. Nominators are encouraged to collaborate with professionals from any previous institution attended by the student-athlete when doing so would provide additional context regarding the nominee's achievements and personal journey.

The following criteria are intended to guide the nomination and selection process while recognizing the diverse educational and athletic pathways of student-athletes. Professional judgment may be exercised when evaluating nominees whose circumstances do not align precisely with every criterion, particularly in cases involving transfers, varying institutional policies, or other unique experiences that exemplify the spirit of the award.

NOMINATION REQUIREMENTS

Each nomination must include the following and will be required fields for submitting this form:

1. A personal essay by the nominee which communicates his/her lifetime experiences, addressing his/her purpose, productivity and progress in relation to the individual growth in one or more areas. The committee is interested in ways that the university's athletic, academic, and social experiences have contributed to the nominee's goals and achievements.  This essay should be a depiction of the nominee's story.
2. One (1) letter of nomination from the nominee's athletic academic counselor/advisor.
3. A headshot photo of the nominee (in JPEG format).
4. Release form

SELECTION

The N4A Honors and Awards Working Group will select five (5) recipients to be honored at the N4A National Convention.

In order to be considered, ALL of the following fields must be completed prior to submission. Specific questions about the award or the nomination process may be directed Stephon Fuqua at sfuqua@illinois.edu.

All nominations must be received by end of day Monday, March 1.

NOMINEE INFORMATION

COUNSELOR/ADVISOR INFORMATION

In submitting this nomination and initialing below,  I understand that my institution will also be required to produce and send a short video (no more than 5 minutes in length) about our nominee and his/her story.