The National Association of Division III Athletics Administrators is presenting its community-service awards this year to student-athletes across the nation.

The awards include recognition for student-athletes who brought Christmas cheer annually to families enduring hardships in Pennsylvania, fanned out in groups of varying sizes in Wisconsin on an array of service projects and organized a race/walk in Massachusetts for the benefit of seriously ill children.

The student-athletes’ schools – York (Pennsylvania), Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Amherst – each will receive a $1,000 contribution to their general scholarship funds and a commemorative trophy as recipients of the NADIIIAA/Jostens Community Service Awards for projects during the 2008-09 academic year.

The awards will be presented by NADIIIAA during January at the NCAA Convention in Atlanta. Fourteen other institutions also earned recognition in the program, which has honored Division III athletics programs’ community-service efforts annually since 2002.

Ongoing project or activity

York is a category winner for the second consecutive year, recognized this year for an ongoing project or activity after being honored last year for an array of projects or activities.

Its student-athletes were honored this year for the Christmas with the Community project that began in 2000. Student-athletes from 20 York sports annually host an event for local families in cooperation with ACCESS York, a program dedicated to the elimination of domestic violence.

Each York team raises funds to purchase gifts for members of an adopted family, typically collecting $300 to $500 per family, then seek food donations and prizes for the event itself, where student-athletes decorate a campus facility, join the families in games and treat children to a visit from Santa among other activities.

“The event has definitely grown in the last five years that I have been here,” said Allison Kunkel, York assistant athletic trainer and student-athlete advisory committee advisor, following last year’s event. “We will continue to try to make improvements and make it a great event every year for both the families and the student-athletes.”

Array of projects or activities

Wisconsin-Eau Claire won for the second time in the NADIIIAA program’s history in the category of an array of projects or activities. Blugold student-athletes also claimed the top award in that category in 2002.

That array of projects during 2008-09 ranged from participation by more than 200 student-athletes in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference’s annual fall food drive (in which they collected more than 2,000 pounds of items for a local food bank) to smaller groups representing specific teams in programs ranging from pledge runs for various charities to activities benefitting local school children.

Overall, approximately 535 student-athletes from 22 teams participated in the activities.

One-time project or activity

This year’s third category winner is Amherst for a one-time project or activity. The award is the first for the school.

Approximately 150 student-athletes from eight teams at the college hosted a “Friends of Jaclyn Race/Walk” The inaugural event also involved varsity teams from five other nearby universities and colleges and raised $6,500 in donations and entry fees, all donated to the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation for pediatric brain tumor patients.

In addition to hosting the event, four Amherst teams have adopted children through Friends of Jaclyn.

“Striving to make a difference in the lives of others is core to the mission of Amherst College,” said Suzanne Coffey, the school’s athletics director. “All of our teams share this award with the entire Amherst community.”

Other honorees

Two schools, North Central (Illinois) and Salisbury, were honored this year in multiple categories. Each school received an award of merit in one of the program’s three categories and honorable mention in a second category.

Joining those honorees as recipients of awards of merit are Cortland State, Redlands and Springfield. Other schools receiving honorable mention are Geneseo State, John Carroll, Mills, Ohio Wesleyan, Oneonta State, Oswego State, Plattsburgh State, Rowan and Trine.

The awards are presented in cooperation with the program’s sponsor, Jostens Inc. of Minneapolis, whose products include yearbooks, class rings, graduation products, school photography, and employee and achievement awards.