The Times-Gazette is making plans for its 9th annual dinner banquet that will see this year’s Highland County Scholar-Athlete Award nominees honored and the 2018 Highland County Athletic Hall of Fame class inducted, and the newspaper is reminding all varsity head coaches that scholar-athlete nominations are due by Friday, June 8.

The dinner banquet will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 21 at the Ponderosa Banquet Center in Hillsboro. All coaches who nominate a student-athlete, and the student-athlete they nominated, will be the guests of The Times-Gazette at the banquet.

Each varsity head coach, including cheerleading coaches, can nominate one student-athlete, for each sport they coached, for the Highland County Scholar-Athlete Award. All nominees will be recognized and receive an award at the banquet, and the overall winner will receive a $200 scholarship and a plaque.

The nominees must have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 and have lettered in at least one varsity sport during their senior year. They will be judged on their academic and athletic achievements, as well as their community service. Coaches are reminded that the nominees are judged largely on their nomination form, so as much information as possible should be included on the forms from all three areas.

Nomination forms can be dropped off or mailed to The Times-Gazette, 108 Gov. Trimble Place, Hillsboro, Ohio 45133; or emailed to [email protected].

If you are a coach and do not have a form, contact Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or the above email address and one will be emailed to you. Forms should also be available from the athletic directors at all five Highland County public schools.

The Times-Gazette will also honor its 2018 Highland County Athletic Hall of Fame inductees at the banquet, and they will also be the guests of the newspaper. The inductees will be announced early next week.

The banquet is open to the public. Tickets for those who are not guests of the newspaper are $16 each and can be reserved by calling Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522.

Past winners of the Highland County Scholar-Athlete Award are:

2010 – Andrew Goolsby (Hillsboro) and Cali Hatten (Lynchburg-Clay)

2011 – Aric Carroll (Hillsboro)

2012 – Karen Hilt (Lynchburg-Clay) and Luis Rivas (McClain)

2013 – Morgan Dettwiller (McClain)

2014 – Tara Karnes (McClain)

2015 – Trey Moberly (Hillsboro) and Kiley Sosby (Whiteoak)

2016 – Devin Pierson (Lynchburg-Clay)

2017 – Hannah Binkley (Lynchburg-Clay)

Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522 or [email protected].