Criteria

These are NASPE's highest awards. The purposes of these awards are:

• Honor those individuals who have made a significant contribution in maintaining sport or/and physical activity as an integral part of the total educational program.
• Further the image of sport and healthy physical activity for all.
• Accentuate the integral relationships of sport and physical activity to the total educational process.
• Encourage the involvement in meaningful competitive sport or physical activity programs by influential educators and citizens in all walks of life. 
• Symbolize the educational and developmental potentials of sport and physical activity.

Category A - Sport

Individuals professionally engaged in education, including coaches, directors of athletics, school administrators, researchers, and others functioning in similar kinds of capacities.

Criteria:

• Successful career (20 years) in an educational sport setting
• Educational contributions clearly encompassing more than one facet of the program (in sports and other disciplines)
• Educational contributions of national significance through the medium of sport
• Social and humanitarian concerns clearly evident
• Service to the profession at both national and local levels

Category B - Special Recognition

Outstanding Americans not professionally associated with education or sport.

Criteria:

• Must have achieved national recognition in his/her field
• Sports association and involvement must have influenced all sections of the country and all age groups
• Life must represent the highest standards of sportsmanship, ethics and positive attributes

Category C - Physical Education/Activity

The purpose of this award is to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the development and promotion of physical education or physical activity and its identified sub-disciplines as an important part of the total educational program.

Criteria:

• Successful career (20 years) as a teacher, researcher, or school administrator in a school or college
• Educational contributions clearly encompassing more than one facet of physical education or physical activity
• Educational contributions of national significance through the medium of physical education or physical activity and identified sub-disciplines
• Social and humanitarian concerns clearly evident
• Service to the profession at the national, regional, and/or state levels.