The Bowerman is an annual track and field

Track and field

Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...

 award that is the highest accolade given to the year's best student-athlete in American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 collegiate

College athletics

College athletics refers primarily to sports and athletic competition organized and funded by institutions of tertiary education . In the United States, college athletics is a two-tiered system. The first tier includes the sports that are sanctioned by one of the collegiate sport governing bodies...

 track and field. It is named after Oregon track and field and cross country

Cross country running

Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 coach Bill Bowerman

Bill Bowerman

William Jay "Bill" Bowerman was an American track and field coach and co-founder of Nike, Inc. Over his career, he trained 31 Olympic athletes, 51 All-Americans, 12 American record-holders, 24 NCAA champions and 16 sub-4 minute milers...

 and is administered by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association

U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association

The U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association is a New Orleans, Louisiana-based professional association representing men's and women's cross country and track & field coaches in the United States. The organization has about 8,000 members...

 (USTFCCCA).

The winners of the award are announced in a mid-December ceremony held in conjunction with the USTFCCCA annual convention. Oregon's Ashton Eaton

Ashton Eaton

Ashton Eaton is an American decathlete, who competes for the Oregon Track Club Elite team based in Eugene, Oregon. He currently holds the world record in the heptathlon.-College career:...

 and Virginia Tech's Queen Harrison

Queen Harrison

Queen Harrison is an American hurdler and sprinter who competed in the 400 meter hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics....

 are the reigning winners of The Bowerman.

Men's finalists for the 2011 award were named on July 13 and are Jeshua Anderson

Jeshua Anderson

Jeshua Anderson is an American sprinter, who specialises in the 400 meters and 400 m hurdles. He currently enters his senior year at Washington State University. He won the 400m and 400m hurdles during the 2011 Pac-10 championships in May 2011...

 (Washington State), Ngoni Makusha (Florida State), and Christian Taylor

Christian Taylor (athlete)

Christian Taylor is an American track and field athlete who competes in the triple jump and has a personal record of 17.96 meters...

 (Florida). Women's finalists for the 2011 award are Jessica Beard

Jessica Beard

Jessica Beard is an American sprinter who qualified for the 2009 IAAF World Championships in the 4x400-meter relay and 400 meters. She won the gold medal with the relay team...

 (Texas A&M), Kimberlyn Duncan (LSU), and Tina Sutej

Tina Šutej

Tina Šutej is a Slovenian pole vaulter.Šutej began competing in athletics at an early age, practising in a variety of events from the age of seven. A change of coach at her local club saw the arrival of a pole vault specialist, who encouraged her to focus on vaulting the high bar...

(Arkansas).

List of recipients

Year	Male winner	Female winner	Ref.
2009	, Oregon	, Colorado
2010	, Oregon	, Virginia Tech