Pittsburgh, Pa. – The Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) is proud to announce the nominees for the 2025 WPIAL James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award, which is celebrating its 34th year of existence. This year’s candidate list – which can be found at the link below – is made up of 158 student-athletes from 92 schools, with the 20 recipients (10 male, 10 female) set to be announced on the morning of Wednesday, April 16.
 
LINK: 2025 WPIAL James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award Nominees
 
WPIAL member schools are permitted to nominate one male and one female student-athlete for the James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award. Candidates are evaluated by the WPIAL Scholarship Committee in the categories of athletics, academics, and school and community service, and the 20 winners are each awarded a scholarship of $1,000 to attend the college of their choice.
 
The 158 nominees are the third highest total since 2000, with 2002 and 2023 boasting larger candidate pools of 168 and 162, respectively. This year’s group consists of 82 female and 76 male student-athletes, with 17 schools submitting at least one nominee after not doing so last year.
 
Among the 2024-25 group of applicants, 82.9 percent participated in multiple sports with 46.8 percent playing at least three sports over their high school careers. The nominees played a total of 21 different sports, including baseball, basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross country, field hockey, flag football, football, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, soccer, softball, swimming & diving, tennis, track & field, unified bocce, volleyball, and wrestling. Track & field, basketball, and soccer were the three spots with the highest participation among the nominees.
 
In the classroom, 51.2 percent of candidates were ranked inside the top 10 of their class among schools that rank, 34.4 percent of candidates slotted inside the top five, and 12.0 percent of candidates top their peers as the number one student.
 
The WPIAL Scholarship Fund was created to award scholarships annually to student-athletes from schools and school districts comprising Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) District VII. Since 1992, the league has given $739,000 in scholarships to the James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award recipients.
 
About the WPIAL
Founded in 1906, the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) represents Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) District VII, which is one of the 12 districts governed by the Constitution and By-Laws of the PIAA. The WPIAL represents its member schools by promoting academics, the safety of participants, sportsmanship, citizenship, and lifelong values as the foundation of interscholastic athletics. The league holds championships for 27 different sports, and its member schools are made up of 10 state counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland.

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