The 2008 NCAA Woman of the Year Award nomination process is now open.

One of the NCAA’s prestigious honors, the award recognizes outstanding senior student-athletes who have distinguished themselves in academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership.

For the third year since the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics moved from the state-winner format to a conference-based selection process, schools are invited to nominate deserving candidates to their conference offices not later than May 16 or the conference’s designated deadline.

In a continuing effort to emphasize diversity, conferences are allowed to recognize two nominees if at least one of them is a person of color.

From the conference honorees, the Woman of the Year Selection Committee will choose the top 10 honorees from each division. From that pool of 30, nine finalists (three each from Divisions I, II and III) will be chosen. The 2008 NCAA Woman of the Year will be selected by the NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics from among the nine finalists and announced October 19 at a dinner in Indianapolis.

Last year, 374 individuals were nominated by their schools and 128 were nominated by their conferences. Former Arizona swimmer Whitney Myers was named as the 2007 NCAA Woman of the Year.

For more information or to view video from previous ceremonies, visit the Woman of the Year web page. To view award qualifications and access the online nomination form, go to Woman of the Year Process.