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2017-18 Academic All-America® Master Schedule
Important Dates
Oct. 15, 2017: Deadline to renew CoSIDA membership dues at regular prices.
Oct. 17-24, 2017: New Academic All-America® portal opens for men's and women's soccer nominations.
Nominating and voting for Academic All-America® is an honor and responsibility reserved for CoSIDA members. |
Before you know it, it will be time for CoSIDA members to start nominating and voting for Academic All-America® for the 2017-18 academic year. Last year we had a record 17,632 nominations in the program with 3,599 student-athletes being honored. All were deserving. The important information below is provided to help you have success with the new system that will be in place beginning with men's and women's soccer on October 17. Don't be the person who waits until the last minute! Get organized now and be stress-free later.
Renew your dues now. Nominating and Voting in the Academic All-America® program is a member-only benefit.
The deadline to renew your 2017-18 CoSIDA membership is October 15, 2017 and nominating for men's/women's soccer begins on Oct. 17. If you don't belong to CoSIDA, your student-athletes can't be recognized. Putting off renewing your dues until the last minute when you're trying to nominate has proven time and time again to be a mistake. You must be a paid member in the new membership portal to be able to access the new awards system. There are no exceptions. Need another reason to take care of your dues now? Beginning Oct. 16, a $30 late fee will be added to each membership.
This is crucial: Update your institution's profile in the new membership portal.
For the new nomination/voting system to work, it is vital that your account custodian fully updates your institutional profile for the system to know where to place your student-athletes for district voting. If your information isn’t completed or is incorrect, your student-athlete’s nomination won’t be correct, which could cost them the opportunity to be recognized. This is something you can and should do immediately. In the example below, CoSIDA University has not filled in its affiliation, or CoSIDA District and will
not have a good experience when the voting ballots come out.
Print and post the master schedule in your office and share it with your staff.
THERE ARE NO EXCEPTIONS TO NOMINATING DEADLINES. Sorry for yelling. But, please print out the schedule. Put the dates on your calendar with a notification. Hang a hard copy on a bulletin board so your staff can see it. Follow CoSIDA.com and @CoSIDAnews on Facebook and Twitter for our many reminders. Have the dates tattooed on your chest. Whatever works for you. The Board of Directors has mandated that no student-athletes can be added after deadlines have passed – no matter how accomplished they are or how passionate the plea.
Get ready for a new look and feel to the nomination and voting processes.
If you somehow find yourself in a place submitting a nomination that looks familiar to you...you are in the wrong place. The Academic All-America® awards portal will have an all-new look and feel. Information you are accustomed to filling out will come directly from our new member portal.
There will be some changes to what you are able to enter. You won’t be allowed to enter GPAs or statistics that don’t meet the minimum requirements. Some percentages will be figured for you. To make the ballot easier to read for voters, we’ve changed the method for entering information for accomplishments and highlights. You’ll get several text boxes with character limits that will make the presentation easier to read on the voting end. No more large copy blocks with tons of numbers. Pick your student-athletes’ most important achievements and enter them. Make the strongest case you can with the most important awards first.
More information will be coming soon as we approach the first nominating period.
Thank your Academic All-America® Core Program Committee members
Mark Beckenbach, chair (Ohio Wesleyan University Sports Information Director, and
Kevin Lanke, vice chair (Rose-Hulman Institute of Technolofy Assistant AD for Sports Information and Communications), lead a strong committee of more than 150 members. They manage the program through the year and do an amazing job behind the scenes to make it run flawlessly. Don’t underestimate their contributions to this program. They are invaluable.