Last awarded 2015–16 | First awarded 2009–10 Currently held by 90 annually | |
Awarded for Participating student athlete with highest GPA at each of the 90 NCAA Championship sites. Presented by | ||
The Elite 90 Award or more formally The Elite 90 Academic Recognition Award Program, originally the Elite 88 Award and later the Elite 89 Award, is an award by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recognizing the student athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average who has reached the competition at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 men's and women's championships across its three divisions (Division I, Division II, Division III).
Students are eligible if they have achieved at least a sophomore in academic and athletics standing and if he or she is in at least the second year of competition (in any sport) at his or her current institution. The student athlete must be on the active roster and a member of the designated squad size for the championship site. Grade point averages are determined using a straight grading scale to ensure consistency among institutions. In the event of a tie, completed credits is the official tiebreaker. In sports such as golf and cross country running an individual who qualifies for the individual championship although his or her team is not competing will be eligible for the award. Multi-sport athletes are only allowed to win one award per academic year, even if they would qualify for the award in more than one sport.
The award was established as the Elite 88 Award during the 2009–10 academic year. It became the Elite 89 during the 2011–12 academic year with the creation of the NCAA Men's Division III Volleyball Championship, and changed again to Elite 90 in 2015–16 with the establishment of the NCAA Beach Volleyball Championship. The NCAA owns the trademark to the terms "Elite 89" and "Elite 90".
Two groups of NCAA student-athletes are not eligible for the Elite 90 Award:
NCAA Elite 90 Eligible Sports