Great news came in this morning as Caitlin Clark was honored with the Honda Sports Cup, yet again. However, it was her former coach Lisa Bluder who received the award on her behalf this year. Given her outstanding performance in her senior season at Iowa, this shouldn’t look surprising at all as the award is presented to the athletes who have excelled in their sport, scholastically, and in terms of community involvement.

But the question still lingers on, did Caitlin Clark earn any prize money after winning this year’s Honda Sporta Award? Let’s find out.

Caitlin Clark winning it big

Well, the answer is a big NO! The only monetary contribution that is made in the process is by American Honda Motor Co., Inc., donating $5,000 to each Honda Sports Award recipient school and $1,000 to each nominee school. Therefore, Clark didn’t earn any prize money after winning the 2024 Honda Sports Award. However, she achieved something grander than that.

The award became a means for her to join her idol, Maya Moore as she became the fourth women’s athlete to have won the Honda Sports Award more than once.

As for this award, it is the highest honor given to the chosen one out of the Top Three finalists in the 12 Honda Sports Award winners, one from each sanctioned sport which includes soccer, volleyball, cross country, field hockey, gymnastics- basketball- swimming and diving (in winter), lacrosse- softball- golf- tennis- track and field (in spring).

Now the nominations for the 12 Division I athletes come in from coaches’ panels, All-America committees, etc. For each sport, 4 nominees are received to be selected from. As for basketball, the nominees are selected by the NCAA Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.

With the nominees in place, let’s take a look at how the winner is selected.

Collegiate Women Sports Awards – voting procedure

The nominations are submitted to be voted, via a ballot. The voting is done by Senior Women Administrators at around 1000 NCAA member schools. Before the voting criteria, the winner of this award should reflect “not only athletic achievement but also the ideals of team contribution, scholastic endeavor, school and community involvement and those personal characteristics as are stated in the philosophy of the NCAA.”

Then again, in the month of June, the year’s final ballot is placed for the 12 winners among whom the NCAA schools vote the Top Three finalists. These three finalists are then reviewed by the CWSA Board of Directors discreetly. The Directors designated will then cast their confidential vote and the announcement of the same is made at the annual awards ceremony in June. And just like that, we have Caitlin Clark as the winner this year.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.