NOMINATIONS

The nomination of players for the Harlon Hill Trophy and the voting on these players is conducted by the sports information directors at the 156 NCAA Division II schools which compete in football.  Schools may nominate any player who has distinguished himself as being among the best players in the NCAA Division II during the current season.  To insure national representation on the voting for the Harlon Hill Trophy balloting, voting is first conducted on regional basis within the four NCAA regions.  Player nominations from the four Super Regions are sent to Hill Committee Chairman Jeff Hodges. They are then broken down into regions and are sent to the National Advisory  Committee for review.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE MAKES THE FIRST CUT

The Advisory Committee is comprised of  four SIDs from each region who have a  long-time involvement with the Hill Trophy and who have been through the process before.  The chairman of each regional advisory committee polls his members to determine who the top six players are from their respective region. No more than six players may advance to the regional ballot, but the advisory committee is not under any obligation to select six players. If only four candidates from a region are deemed worthy, only four will advance.  The regional selections are then forwarded to the Chairman who updates biographies on each nominee and compiles the regional ballot.

REGIONAL VOTING

The players who make the regional ballots are first voted on by the sports information directors in their region. These 24 players (maximum) are CANDIDATES for the award.  SIDs vote on a first, second and third basis, with three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vote and one point for a third-place vote. All votes are mailed or faxed back to the voting coordinator, who counts the votes. The top two selected in each region then move on to the national ballot.

NATIONAL VOTING

The eight players selected for the national ballot are then voted on nationwide by all sports information directors at Division II football-playing institutions. These eight are the FINALISTS for the award. Statistics and biographies are again updated and are mailed nationwide. SIDs again vote on a first, second and third basis.  The final vote count  is  also compiled and is kept secret until the presentation banquet. The top three vote-getters from that final voting are then invited to the Shoals for the Championship week activities. The voting is already completed at this point, but no vote totals are released until the actual presentation banquet. These players only know that they have finished among the top three, and the other five finalists must wait until the banquet to see where they placed.