Rules

1. Nominating A Candidate

Any college or university with an interscholastic ultimate team can submit one candidate for the Callahan Award. Teams can nominate Callahan candidates in whatever manner they choose: They can be selected by a captain or coach, voted for by senior players, voted for by all players, etc.

Regardless of the method used to nominate the player, each team must also submit the name of one team representative as the contact person regarding the team’s Callahan nominee. This team representative can be the player nominated for the award.

In addition to each team being able to nominate one player, USA Ultimate Regional Coordinators can nominate one player from their region as well. Note that this can result in two players being nominated from the same team.

2. Eligibility Deadlines

TEAMS’ NOMINEES: Teams eligible to nominate a player for the Callahan must submit the Callahan nomination form no later than midnight MT on Monday, April 30, 2018. Once a player’s name is submitted, they cannot be replaced by another player.

USA ULTIMATE COORDINATORS’ NOMINEES: In addition to players nominated by their teams, each of the 10 regional USA Ultimate coordinators will be able to nominate one player from the region they coordinate. Nominations by USA Ultimate Coordinators must be received by midnight MT on Monday, April 30, 2018.

3. Award Balloting

All voters select a first-, second- and third-place candidate for the award. First-place votes are worth five points. Second-place votes are worth four points. Third-place votes are worth two points. The candidate with the most total points will win the Callahan Award.

Players can place a third-place vote for a member of their own school. First- and second-place votes for a member of a player’s own school will be discarded. For example, players on a school’s B team can only vote for a player on their A team as a third-place vote and vice-versa.

When submitting a Callahan ballot, the voter must completely fill out the ballot. Incomplete ballots will not be counted.

4. Voting Procedure

Voters can only cast ballots for candidates in the division in which they play. Men’s players vote for men’s division candidates, and women’s players vote for women’s division candidates.

5. Award Ballots

All voters select a first-place candidate for the award. The candidate with the most total points, using first-, second- and third-place votes, will win the award.

6. Ballot Submission

Voting for the 2018 Callahan Award will open Tuesday, May 1, and close Tuesday, May 22, 2018 at 11:59 p.m. MT. Votes must be cast through your USA Ultimate member account.

Votes received via social media, mail, email, overnight post or telephone will not be accepted.

7. Award Criteria

Voters should take the following criteria into account when evaluating the candidates’ play during the season:

a. overall offensive and defensive abilities,

b. dedication to ultimate and leadership ability, and

c. sportsmanship.

All candidates should be judged by their performance only during the current college season. In particular, when judging sportsmanship, the slate should begin clean with the current college season.

8. Candidate’s Sportsmanship

When evaluating a candidate’s merit for the award, voters should treat any example of grossly poor sportsmanship (cheating, fighting, kicking, flagrant rule violation, etc.) as an infraction so severe that the player should be eliminated from consideration for the Callahan.

9. Candidate Removal

The Award Committee reserves the right to eliminate a candidate from consideration for whatever reason. Specifically, those candidates who receive support from internet posters or bloggers who habitually make slanderous claims against rivals may be eliminated from the competition.

Efforts to “game” the Callahan voting – for example, by making side deals with other teams and swapping votes, having teams vote for third-place candidates only, etc. etc. – are severely discouraged. Although ballot stuffing is rare in the history of the Callahan Award, candidates have lost the award because of these types of activities.

Note that over-the-top claims made on reddit, the world wide web or various ultimate-specific sites, regarding a Callahan candidate’s prowess on or off the field will not disqualify that candidate and are fully expected.

All decisions from the Award Committee are final.

10. Awarding of the Callahan Trophies

The winner of the 2018 Callahan Award will be announced at the USA Ultimate College Championships in Milwaukee, Wis.

Callahan trophies will be awarded at the College Championships to those candidates in attendance. For Callahan winners not attending the event, trophies will be shipped to the candidate’s home address.

11. Property Rights

All material sent to the award committee (photographs, etc.) becomes property of the Award Committee.

12. Communicating with the Committee

Communications regarding the Callahan Award can be made via email. All questions, comments and suggestions can be sent to: media@usaultimate.org.