In total, there were a record breaking 16,765 student-athletes from 171 institutions recognized for the 2021-22 Academic Achievement Awards. This is the most student-athletes being recognized since the inception of the award's program. For the fourth consecutive year, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) has the largest number of student-athlete honorees with 1,709 total, closely followed by the Sunshine State Conference with 1,306 and Northeast 10 Conference (NE10) with 1,242. In addition, we would also like to recognize two additional conferences who finished in the top five; the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC) with 1,199 and the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) with 1,171, respectively.

"Congratulations to all of the student-athlete recipients of the distinguished D2 ADA Academic Achievement Award," said Kim Pate, vice president for athletics at Lenoir-Rhyne University and current D2 ADA President. "It's been so impressive to see the number of student-athlete's recognized for their stellar performance in the classroom grow to record numbers year to year since the inception of this award. This a reflection our member institution's commitment to ensuring special recognition of the academic success of so many well-deserving student-athletes."

Independently, the Great Midwest Athletic Conference's (GMAC) University of Findlay led the way with 273 honorees, followed closely by another GMAC representative Walsh University with 247 award winners. Mercyhurst University of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) finished third with 241 recipients and Queens University of Charlotte in the South Atlantic Conference (SAC) came in fourth overall with 234. Rounding out the top-five was the Sunshine State Conference's Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with 215 nominees.

Since the inception of the award's program in 2007-08, there has been a total of 127,960 student-athlete nominees recognized for their academic achievements at the Division II level.

In order for a student-athlete to receive an Academic Achievement Award, the athletics director of the Division II institution MUST BE a CURRENT dues-paying member of the D2 ADA.

• have a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or higher on a 4.0 scale
• have attended a minimum of two years (four semesters) of college level work 
• have been an active member of an intercollegiate team during his/her last academic year (Given the continued challenges institutions have had this year when it comes to participation, all athletes who meet bullet point items 1 and 2 are still eligible as long as they were still an active member of the roster during this academic year)