List of Women's Basketball Academic All-America Team Members of the Year
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The Women's Basketball Academic All-America Team Member of the Year is the annual most outstanding singular female college basketball athlete of the set of basketball athletes selected for the Academic All-America Teams in a given year. This is a list of the annual selection by College Sports Communicators (known before 2022–23 as the College Sports Information Directors of America, or CoSIDA) and its Academic All-America sponsor of the individual athlete selected as the most outstanding of the annual Women's Basketball Academic All-America selections. From 1996 through 2011, one winner each was chosen from both the College and University Divisions for all twelve Academic All-America teams, including football. The Academic All-America program recognizes combined athletic and academic excellence of the nation's top student-athletes. The University Division team included eligible participants from National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I member schools, while the College Division team included scholar-athletes from all of the following: NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), Canadian universities and colleges and two-year schools.
Awarded for | The yearly outstanding women's college basketball Academic All-America team member |
---|---|
Country | United States & Canada |
Presented by | College Sports Communicators |
History | |
Most recent | Caitlin Clark, Iowa Samantha Pirosko, Gannon Natalie Bruns, NYU Grace Beyer, UHSP |
Next award announcement | April 2025 |
Website | academicallamerica.com |
Beginning in 2012, CoSIDA revamped its award structure. The University Division was renamed "Division I". Since then, NCAA Divisions II and III have had their own separate All-Americans. The College Division consisted only of non-NCAA institutions through the 2017–18 school year, after which it was effectively replaced by an NAIA division restricted to members of that governing body.[1][lower-alpha 1]
Currently, each team selects Academic All-District honorees in eight geographic districts across the United States and Canada.[2] The districts are as follows: – District 1 (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT), District 2 (DC, DE, KY, MD, NJ, PA, WV), District 3 (NC, TN, VA), District 4 (AL, FL, GA, PR, SC), District 5 (IL, IN, MI, OH), District 6 (AR, IA, LA, MN, MO, MS, MT, ND, SD, WI, WY), – District 7 (CO, ID, KS, NE, NM, NV, OK, TX), District 8 (AK, AZ, CA, HI, OR, UT, WA, Canada).[3] First team All-District honorees make the All-America team ballots. Currently, all twelve Academic All-American teams (Men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's track & field, men's baseball, women's softball, men's American football, women's volleyball and men's and women's at-large teams) have one Academic All-American of the Year for each division. One of these twelve sport-by-sport Academic All-American of the year is selected as the Academic All-America Team Members of the Year for each division.[4] The most recent women's basketball player to have earned the all-sports honor is 2023 Division I recipient Caitlin Clark of Iowa.[5]