COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Amanda Palladino, a three-time All-American gymnast and member of the Class of 2018, has been nominated by Ursinus College for the NCAA Woman of the Year award.
For 28 years, the NCAA Woman of the Year program has honored the academic achievements, athletics excellence, community service, and leadership of outstanding female student-athletes. Rooted in Title IX and directed by the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics, the program celebrates the accomplishments of female college athletes across all three NCAA divisions. This year, the NCAA received a record 581 nominations for this prestigious award.
Of the 581 nominees, 251 competed in NCAA Division I, 131 competed in Division II, and 199 competed in Division III.
All nominees who competed in a sport not sponsored by their school's core conference, all associate conference nominees, and all independent nominees will be considered in a pool separate from core conference nominees. A committee will then decide the nominees to move forward from that pool to the conference round. The nominee(s) selected from this pool will be notified by the NCAA, and all conference-round nominees will be announced on ncaa.org in early August.
Conference office nominations and nominations from the separate pool are forwarded to the NCAA Woman of the Year Selection Committee, which identifies the top 10 honorees in each of the three NCAA divisions. From those 30 candidates, the selection committee then determines the three finalists in each division. The Committee on Women's Athletics will then select the 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year from the nine finalists. You can learn more about the award program, next steps and previous winners by visiting ncaa.org/woty.
The 2018 NCAA Woman of the Year will be announced Sunday, Oct. 28, at an awards dinner in Indianapolis.
Palladino distinguished herself in all areas of her well-rounded collegiate experience. She garnered three All-America certificates at the NCGA Championships for her career, placing 11th as a freshman, 2nd as a sophomore, and 8th this past season.
In the classroom, she earned a 3.5 grade point average as an Applied Economics major (finance and accounting concentration) with a minor in management studies. She was also a UC Ambassador and the co-president of the Japan Club.
Palladino was involved in numerous community outreach efforts and organizations, including the Best Buddies program, Special Olympics, Relay for Life, Kellogg's Tour of Champions, the MS Walk, and organized multiple fundraisers for her sorority, Sigma Sigma Sigma.
Additionally, Palladino attended the 2018 NCAA Career in Sports Forum as part of the Division III Student Immersion Program. She is currently in the process of interviewing for a number of entry-level administrative positions that have come available through Division III's Ethnic Minorities and Women's Internship Grant.
Palladino was this year's recipient of the Olive Sargeant Hamm Award, presented annually as an all-around prize for a senior woman who exemplifies "the best in college life – athletically, socially, and scholastically."