The United States Basketball Writers Association ( USBWA ) was founded in 1956 with the urging of National Collegiate Athletic Association director Walter Byers to serve the interests of journalists who cover college basketball .
5-536: The USBWA annually awards college scholarships to students pursuing careers in sports journalism and to children of USBWA members. The USBWA annually selects a player of the year and All-America teams for both men and women in college basketball. The USBWA men's player of the year award, called the Oscar Robertson Trophy , was first established in 1959 and is considered to be the nation's oldest such award in college basketball. The USBWA also selects
10-590: A Most Valuable Player award. In association football , this award is held on both an international and national level. In baseball , publications sometimes issue awards with this name: Several awards for amateur baseball also exist: Publications also issue annual player of the year awards, including Baseball America , Collegiate Baseball , and the American Baseball Coaches Association . In American basketball , several such awards are given: In cricket , awards for
15-530: A national coach of the year for men and women, with the men's award named after coach Henry Iba and the women's award being named after Geno Auriemma starting with the 2025 award. The USBWA also chooses a USBWA National Freshman of the Year in men's and women's basketball, respectively named for Wayman Tisdale and Tamika Catchings . In addition, the USBWA presents a number of other awards: USBWA also divides
20-528: The country into nine districts, naming for each a Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and an All-District Team. The USBWA also honors past and current members for career achievements with the USBWA Hall of Fame . Player of the year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called
25-875: The leading international player are the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World and the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy . In Gaelic football , it may mean Donegal GAA#Player of the Year . In ice hockey , in the United Kingdom the Player of the Year Trophy is awarded by Ice Hockey Journalists UK . In lacrosse , two awards are given with this name, the Major League Lacrosse Offensive player of
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