Lexington, KY (October 28, 2026) – The American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) is proud to announce the sixth annual AVCA Best and Brightest Awards for Girls High School Senior student-athletes. This year set a new record for honorees, with 1646 Senior athletes honored.

The AVCA Best & Brightest Award is an award meant to honor individual high school Senior student-athletes who excel on and off the court. To be eligible for the Best and Brightest Award, Senior student-athletes must have earned at least a 3.5 Unweighted GPA on a 4.0 scale (or the equivalent, if using a different GPA scale) during their junior year AND play in 50% of their varsity team’s sets during their senior season.

Nominations for the award were completed between October 9-19. Please note that downloadable certificates will be available on the AVCA Certificate Database by the end of the week (10/30).

Some additional tiers of recognition apply:

• AVCA Best and Brightest First Team: 3.8 Unweighted GPA/4.3 Weighted GPA or above
• AVCA Best and Brightest Second Team: 3.65 Unweighted GPA/4.15 Weighted GPA or above
• AVCA Best and Brightest Third Team: 3.5 Unweighted GPA/4.0 Weighted GPA or above

Total amount of student-athletes receiving the 2026 AVCA Best and Brightest Award:

1646

The awarded student-athletes are broken down in the following amounts:

• AVCA Best and Brightest First Team: 1051 Athletes
• AVCA Best and Brightest Second Team: 309 Athletes
• AVCA Best and Brightest Third Team: 286 Athletes

Are you on the list? Download your customizable social media graphic here, and tag @avcaphenom so we can celebrate your success!

Missed the nomination deadline or need to make a correction? Please reach out to Alex Fitzmorris-Sorn with any questions.