Charlotte, NC – College Sports Communicators and the National Junior College Athletic Association have agreed to a partnership beginning with the 2024-25 academic year to increase support for members from two-year colleges and grow the Academic All-America® program for student-athletes.
"This is an important next step in our work to support two-year college members and student-athletes," said CSC Executive Director Erik Christianson. "We applaud the leadership of the NJCAA for making this investment with CSC and partnering with us on our goals to recognize more student-athletes through our prestigious Academic All-America program."
As part of the agreement, the NJCAA will become an official corporate partner of CSC and a supporting sponsor for the Academic All-America program. The NJCAA national office will also have the opportunity to participate in CSC educational programming throughout the year and at the CSC Unite convention.
"Thanks to improvements made by CSC in recent years, there are currently more two-year college student-athletes being recognized with Academic All-America and Academic All-District status than ever before. Through increased membership and nominations, there is tremendous opportunity to expand the program to recognize many more two-year student-athletes, and add additional teams," Christianson said. "For maximum recognition, it is important that every school nominate their deserving student-athletes."
"Teaming up with College Sports Communicators is a great opportunity to enhance professional development opportunities for NJCAA member colleges," stated Dr. Christopher Parker, NJCAA President & CEO. "In addition, giving more NJCAA student-athletes the ability to be recognized through the Academic All-America program is an honor that will hopefully motivate them in competition and in the classroom. As much as athletics is a great deal of what we do, our association also values the work done in the classroom and strives to help these student-athletes grow academically in order to be better prepared for the world ahead."
There is still time for two-year schools to obtain CSC membership and nominate deserving student-athletes for the 2023-24 academic year. Memberships can be purchased here. To waive late fees, use the promo code 2Y-MEMBER-PROMO for an individual membership or 2Y-ALLIN-PROMO for an All-In group membership. Members receive regular email communication about the latest news, deadlines and links to access CSC programming. Nominations for 2023-24 Academic All-America in the College Division (includes all two-year colleges) will be open June 4-18.
CSC believes in the value and importance of every athletic department having dedicated athletics communications professionals to support their student-athletes, coaches, teams and athletics brand. While that's not the case on every campus, CSC membership is available to any institution to take advantage of our resources and to nominate deserving student-athletes for national recognition through the Academic All-America program.
About College Sports Communicators
College Sports Communicators is the premier membership association for all strategic, creative and digital professionals working in intercollegiate athletics across all levels for colleges, universities and conferences across the U.S. and Canada. CSC provides year-round leadership, community, professional development/education, recognition and advocacy for its more than 4,300 members. Founded in 1957 as the College Sports Information Directors of America, the organization rebranded in 2022 to position itself as a more inclusive organization for communicators in all types of roles and to lead an industry change where strategic and creative professionals are more aligned. CSC's signature work includes the annual CSC Unite convention each June and the administration of the prestigious Academic All-America® program and Hall of Fame. Since 1952, more than 40,000 of the world's most elite student-athletes have been recognized with Academic All-America status in all sports.
About NJCAA
Since 1938, the NJCAA has served as the nation's premier governing body for two-year collegiate athletics, providing student-athletes opportunities to PREPARE, COMPETE, SUCCEED, and ACHIEVE in their academic and athletic disciplines. The NJCAA is the second-largest national intercollegiate athletic organization in the United States with over 500 member schools in 44 states. Each year over 3,400 teams compete in 28 different sports across multiple divisions in the NJCAA and the organization sponsors 53 national championship events and sanctioned bowl games.