James E. Sullivan Award
award presented by the American Amateur Athletic Union
The AAU James E. Sullivan Award, presented by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU), is awarded annually to "the most outstanding athlete at the collegiate or Olympic level in the United States".
The award was established in 1930 in honor of the organization's founder and past president, James Edward Sullivan. Based on the qualities of leadership, character, and sportsmanship, the AAU Sullivan Award "goes far beyond athletic accomplishments and honors those who have shown strong moral character". Finalists are selected from public nominations following a review by the AAU Sullivan Award Executive Committee. Approximately 10 semi-finalists are chosen, and the eventual winner is determined by votes from various members of the nationwide news media, former winners and AAU personnel. More recently, a portion of the winner's vote has been determined by the general public. Recipients are eligible for subsequent awards, and in 2023, Caitlin Clark became the first repeat winner. In 1999, 2015, 2019, and 2020, the award was shared between two co-recipients.
The inaugural winner of the award was golfer Bobby Jones, winner of 13 majors between 1923 and 1930. The first female recipient, in 1944, was swimmer Ann Curtis, who won more national AAU championships than any other woman.
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This entry incorporates text from “James E. Sullivan Award” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.