Selection Process
A formal selection process determines which of the nation's best senior athletes are nominated and chosen to win the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.
The Lowe's Senior CLASS Award Nomination Committee selects 20 or 30 candidates at the beginning of each college season. The National Media Committee narrows this field to 10 finalists per sport five weeks before the NCCA Championship. The names of these 10 athletes appear on the official ballot.
Player Balloting is conducted each year during the final month of the season.
The Selection Committee chooses the winners using a system that combines the ballots of the four voting groups below:
Voting Groups
- National media covering the sport
- NCAA Division I college coaches
- Fan balloting via the SeniorCLASSAward.com web site
- Lowe's Voting Committee
Each season, Dick Enberg announces the men's basketball winner of the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award during CBS television coverage of the Men’s NCAA basketball Final Four® championship.
Selection Criteria
In addition to the first requirement that the candidate be a NCAA Division 1 senior student athlete who has exhausted his/her collegiate eligibility, candidates will be selected based on personal qualities that define a complete student athlete. These areas of excellence are defined under the categories of Classroom, Character and Community, as well as the candidate's performance and team loyalty during Competition.
Classroom: academic achievements, college major and potential career interests (outside of playing their respective sports), GPA, expected graduation date
Character: attributes that define the candidate's personal character; examples of leadership, overcoming obstacles, teamwork, work ethic, integrity, etc.
Community: involvement in community and charity activities (that have utilized the candidate's status as college athlete to make an impact in worthwhile causes)
Competition: achievements during collegiate career and now, as a senior leader, the candidate's role in the success of the team