The Annual Paul Robeson Scholar-Athlete Awards Program is entering 23 years of honoring student-athletes for their academic accomplishments. The program was initiated in 1986 by Executive Ron Sims and Lt. Ron Sylve (retired) of the Seattle Police Department to recognize the many young athletes who are involved in community based sport associations and strive for excellence in the classroom.

The program has grown dramatically from the small beginning ceremony awarding 23 students to honoring nearly 900 scholar-athletes last year. To date, thousands of student-athletes have been honored with trophies, awards, memorabilia, and speeches by nationally renowned leaders in government, education, and sports. The Robeson Program is a non-profit organization, sustained by volunteers and contributions from private individuals and businesses such as Qwest, KeyBank, Moneytree, Inc., Pacific Raceways, Inc., Seattle Sonics & Storm Foundation, Wells Fargo and the Seattle Home Show. The program is growing and welcomes additional sponsors. If your company or if you know of any businesses and or corporations that might be interested in learning more about the Robeson Program and how to become a sponsor, please contact the program, at PaulRobesonProgram@Kingcounty.gov.

Paul Robeson is one of the most talented African-American scholar-athletes of the 20th Century. He devoted his life to activism, the arts, sports and high academic achievement. Through hard work and perseverance, Robeson overcame every obstacle placed in front of him. In return, the Paul Robeson Awards Program was created to uphold and celebrate today's youth - who possess the same fervor and determination to excel academically, while displaying great sportsmanship, as Paul Robeson exemplified. For more information about Paul Robeson and the program, please visit our Web site, at http://www.kingcounty.gov/exec/robeson.

The Paul Robeson Awards ceremony will be held in late spring 2010.

In order to participate in the Paul Robeson Awards Program the following requirements must be met:

• Your child must participate in a sport association that is recognized by the Robeson Program.
• Your child must be nominated by one of those associations.
• Your child must be between the ages of 5-15 years old.
• A parent permission/verification form must be submitted for your child.

2009 Application form - PDF / Word

There is a waiting list for associations that are interested in participating in the Robeson Program. Interested associations can email the program, at PaulRobesonProgram@kingcounty.gov for information on how to become a member and a list of participating associations. This is a list of current participating associations:

Capitol Hill Soccer Association	SCAA/Rotary Boys & Girls Club
Empowering Youth and Families Organization	Seattle Asian Sports Club
King Aquatics Association	Tukwila Blazers Youth Basketball
Magnolia Soccer Club	Tukwila Youth Basketball League
Magnolia Little League Baseball	WA Hurricanes Fast pitch Softball Assoc
Montlake-Madrona Seattle Baseball Pony League	White Water Aquatics Swim Club
Mount Baker/Lakewood Soccer
Pacific Northwest Ballet School
Queen Anne Soccer Association

Yes, a new application must be submitted each year your child is nominated for the program.

A student's identification number is a 7-digit number, which can be retrieved from your child's report card/transcript or by contacting your child's school. (Please Note: the Paul Robeson Awards Program cannot request this number on your behalf).

No, only Seattle Public School District students are required to provide a student identification number.

Due to the growing number of nominees each year, it is imperative that all applications are received by the application deadline date. Late applications will be subject to an appeals process by the Paul Robeson Committee. If your child's application is late, the following criteria must be met in order for his/her application to be reviewed:

• A letter of explanation must accompany all late applications submitted after the application deadline. The letter should include the reason and/or circumstances in which the application was submitted late.
• Applications must be completely filled out with all the required information. Incomplete applications will automatically disqualify the applicant.

Mail the application to:

Martin Luther King, Jr. County Executive Office
ATTN: Paul Robeson Program
401 Fifth Avenue, Suite 800
Seattle, WA 98104-1818

For more information, please contact Cheeketa Mabone at, 206-263-9629.

No, all information regarding your child's academic performance must be submitted by your child's school. Report cards/transcripts will not be accepted. We will request this information directly from the school your child attends.

If your child changes schools between the application deadline and February 2010, please contact our office immediately with the updated information. If we determine that your child's information has changed during the nomination process, your child may be automatically disqualified.

Your child's academic performance is necessary to determine, if your child is eligible to receive this award. The deadline for submission of grade information from your child's school will be February 15, 2010. If you do not hear from us by the beginning of March 2010, please contact our office immediately. It is likely that grade information was not received from your child's school.

Your child's school will be provided a list of standards to choose from. These standards include category levels specifically created for schools with different grading systems.

All recipients will be notified by mail in March 2010, however, feel free to contact the Paul Robeson Program to check on the status of your child’s nomination.

Yes, student-athletes who continue to participate in a recognized sports association and who meet all of the necessary requirements of the program are eligible to receive more than one Paul Robeson Award.

The ceremony is free to the recipients and a limited number of family members are allowed to attend.

The ceremony location has not yet been determined. This information will be included in the invitation letter you will received in March 2010.

No, if you do not RSVP before the deadline, a trophy will not be ordered for your child, but you are encouraged to try again the following year.

Yes, if you are unable to attend the ceremony, instructions will be provided on how to obtain your child's award when you RSVP. If you do not pick up your child's trophy by the deadline provided, the trophy will be recycled for the following year.

We welcome parent participation, but parents are not required to volunteer or participate in the program.

We have five different types of awards; the standards for those awards are as follows:

• 3.00 - 3.50, 3.51 - 3.99 and 4.00 - The student's name & GPA is engraved on the awards.
• Marks of Distinction Award - Recognition award. Only the student's name is engraved on the award. This category was created to provide recognition for students who attend schools that do not give GPAs or that are not comfortable converting an academic assessment into a grade point average.
• Perseverance Award - Recognition award. Only the student's name is engraved on the award. This category was created to provide recognition for students in special classes who are performing above average or who have improved considerably.

The ceremony is about one hour in length. The format varies from year to year, but the program always includes a guest speaker, entertainment and prizes for the recipients.

No, the recipients are recognized in a group by award category,- 4 categories in all.

There will be no refreshments/food at the ceremony, please plan accordingly.

No, feel free to wear whatever is comfortable for you or your child.