NSAA Cup
LINCOLN  — The Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) will present the NSAA Cup, an all-activities championship, and Academic All-State Awards during the coming school year.
“We are launching these programs to recognize the excellence of our high school activities programs,” explains Dr. Jim Tenopir, Executive Director of the NSAA. “Our member schools do a tremendous job preparing our youth for future success through activity participation. Whether it is speech, debate, play production, music, journalism, or athletics, all of our activities play a vital role in the development of our high school students. The NSAA Cup and Academic All-State Awards are designed to give further recognition to the schools and students.”
The NSAA Cup, will feature a girls’ division, boys’ division and a combined all-school division.
Schools within each division will be divided into four classes, (A, B, C, and D) based on enrollment used for the boys’ basketball classification. The Class C1 and C2 schools will combine for Class C, while the D1 and D2 schools will form Class D. In all, a total of 12 NSAA Cups will be presented annually to member schools.
“The girls’ and boys’ divisions of competition in each class will feature schools earning points from their respective athletic activities while sharing points equally from fine arts activities based on their performance in NSAA state championship events. In fine arts activities featuring both boys’ and girls’, we will divide the points in half and apply those points to the boy’s and girls’ divisional totals,” said NSAA Marketing Director Bud Dahlstrom. “The all-school contests will combine the boys’ and girls’ points to determine overall champions in Classes A, B, C and D.”
The Academic All-State Awards will recognize two students per activity based on their individual academic excellence and significant contributions to the team or group. Each school will be allowed to nominate a varsity player or group leader with a cumulative grade point average of 3.7 on a 4.0 scale or overall average of 93 percent for the Academic All-State Award.
“We have so many outstanding students in our high schools, that we really need to find a way to highlight, not only the achievements of our student-athletes, but those who participate in non-athletic activities as well,” says Dahlstrom. “That is what the NSAA Academic All-State Awards are designed to do.”
Tenopir is excited about the new programs. 

The NSAA Cup and the Academic All-State Awards are the first new recognition programs the NSAA has introduced since 1999, when the Believers & Achievers Program was created by U.S. Bank, the NSAA’s premier corporate partner.

 “I see these two new programs as avenues for our schools and their students to achieve another level of success,” said Tenopir. “I know our schools will be excited about the NSAA Cup and the NSAA Academic All-State Awards. These programs will further support the ideal that activities give every Nebraska high school student a chance to compete and learn, build self-esteem and develop their leadership skills.”

NSAA Cup Details & Point System
Each year the NSAA and a supporting corporate sponsor will recognize the top activities programs in the state with the NSAA Cup. The NSAA Cup will be determined by a point system based on performance in state championship events within each division and class.  Music, which does not have a state championship, will earn points based on district music contest participation.

The girls’ division and boys’ division competitions, in each class, will feature schools earning points from their respective athletic activities and in the case of coed schools, the fine arts activity points will be divided in half and awarded to each schools’ boys’ and girls’ Cup totals. The all-school division contest will include all activities in which each high school participates.

A member school will earn five points for each NSAA sponsored activity it participates in. All schools that finish in the top eight (plus ties) of a state championship event will receive points.  In NSAA events involving more than four classes, like volleyball and basketball, the top eight positions in C1, C2, D1 and D2 will earn full points in the NSAA Cup standings. If there are fewer than eight schools from a classification placing in an activity, only those schools represented will receive points.

NSAA Cup Points
State Champion         50
State Runner-up        45
Third Place               40
Fourth Place             35
Fifth Place                30
Sixth Place               25
Seventh Place          20
Eighth place             15

In the event of a tie, the schools will receive an equal number of points based on the total points of the tied places, and divided by the number of tied teams. Example, a three-way tie for third place in boys’ golf (40 + 35 + 30 = 105 ÷ 3 = 35 points each) would earn each school 35 points.

In activity championships that only recognize two places, like football, the non-advancing semifinal teams will split the 3rd and 4th place points (40 + 35 = 75 ÷ 2 = 37.5 points each); the non-advancing quarterfinal teams will split the 5th through 8th place points (30 + 25 + 20 + 15 = 90 ÷ 4 = 22.5 points each).

In district music, each school will earn five total points for entering at least two instrumental entries; and five total points for at least two vocal entries.

In activities that do not culminate in a team state championship, like debate, the highest individual places from the finals, will earn the points for their member school. Schools tied after advancing to the semifinals and quarterfinals will equally divide those place points (3-4, 5-8) between their schools.

For those schools involved in cooperative agreements, each of the schools in the coop will earn points in that respective activity.

If a team is forced to relinquish its honors in a state competition as a result of an infraction (such as the use of ineligible student) the school will be ineligible for any points in that activity for that year.  If the penalty for the infraction is assessed after a school has received the award and the loss of points in that activity results in a drop in the standings for the Cup, the Cup must be relinquished to the eligible school, which received the next highest point total in the final standings.

NSAA Cup standings will be released after the conclusion of the fall, winter, and spring activity seasons. The NSAA Cups will be presented to the winning schools during a special ceremony the following fall.

NSAA Academic All-State Details
Each year the NSAA and a supporting corporate sponsor will recognize students who have been nominated by their schools, based on their individual academic excellence and significant contributions made to their NSAA activity.

Every student who meets the criteria for nomination by their school will be recognized and awarded a certificate of achievement by the NSAA and the supporting corporate sponsor of the Academic All-State Awards program. The following leadership and academic guidelines shall apply:

* A nominated student must be a varsity player or organizational leader who has played a significant role on the team or in the organizational activity that season.
* A nominated student must have a minimum cumulative grade point average, in all curricular subjects, of 3.7 on a 4.0-point scale or the equivalent, (93% or A-, etc.).
* A school may nominate two students for each NSAA-sponsored activity during the school year.
* Nominations must be made by November 15th for the fall activities season with the winners being announced in December.
* Nominations must be made by March 15th or the winter activities season with the winners being announced in April.
* Nominations must be made by May 1st for the spring activities season with the winners being announced later that month.