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The University of Pennsylvania has nominated transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, a biological male, for the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Woman of the Year award.
Thomas is one of 577 nominees selected from the roughly 223,000 female collegiate athletes nationwide.
The NCAA’s Woman of the Year award recognizes “female student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility and distinguished themselves in their community, in athletics and in academics throughout their college careers.”
NCAA member schools can nominate up to two female student-athletes for the award, with a caveat that if two are nominated, one “must be an international student-athlete or student-athlete of color.”
With 2022 marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX, the NCAA is honoring the top 30 nominees and naming the award winner at its annual convention in San Antonio, Texas, in January.