What is the Roger Dearing Heart of the Arts Award?
This award seeks to recognize those individuals who exemplify the ideals of the positive heart of the arts that represent the core mission of education-based activities. The award may be given in recognition of a specific act or for an activity of longer duration.

Who is eligible for nomination?
The recipient must be an individual from a FHSAA member high school and could be any student, adult or group associated with the school’s performing arts program. In the instance of a student, that student must be in good academic standing within his or her respective high school. Among the qualifying criteria that will be used are the student’s grade-point average, the activities in which he or she is involved, and community involvement. Other candidates should possess similar positive character traits, such as a high level of integrity and ethics. The nomination must be for something that occurred between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024. Nominated individuals do not necessarily need to still be enrolled in high school at the time of the nomination.

What are the nomination deadlines?
Nomination forms will be due to the FHSAA no later than January 15th in 2025. It may be submitted electronically by completing the form and e-mailing it to FHSAA Assistant Director of Marketing, Quinten Ershock, at qershock@fhsaa.org.

What does the winner receive?
A student winner will receive a $1,500 scholarship from the FHSAA. If a teacher or school administrator win the award, their program will receive a $1,500 donation from the FHSAA. The winner of the Roger Dearing Heart of the Arts Award will be submitted to the National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations (NFHS) as the FHSAA’s nomination for the NFHS Heart of the Arts Award.

How do I obtain the previous results of this award?
Please send an email to Media@fhsaa.org requesting this information. Please be sure to reference both the name of the award and year within your request.