ESPY Award

An ESPY Award (short for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Award) is an accolade currently presented by the American broadcast television network ABC, and previously ESPN, to recognize individual and team athletic achievement and other sports-related performance during the calendar year preceding a given annual ceremony. The first ESPYs were awarded in 1993. Because of the ceremony's rescheduling prior to the 2002 iteration thereof, awards presented in 2002 were for achievement and performances during the seventeen-plus previous months. As the similarly styled Grammy (for music), Emmy (for television), Academy Award (for film), and Tony (for theatre), the ESPYs are hosted by a contemporary celebrity; the style, though, is more relaxed, light, and self-referential than that of many other awards shows, with comedic sketches usually included.

From their inception to 2004, ESPY Award winners were chosen only through voting by fans. Since 2004, sportswriters, broadcasters, sports executives, and sportspersons, collectively experts; or ESPN personalities also vote. Award winners have been selected thereafter exclusively through online fan balloting conducted from amongst candidates selected by the ESPY Select Nominating Committee.

Best Female Soccer Player ESPY Award

The Best Female Soccer Player ESPY Award was presented annually between 2002 and 2004 to the female soccer (association football) player adjudged to be the best in a given calendar year among those contesting the sport on the professional or international level. The award, as the Best Male Soccer Player ESPY Award, evolved from the Best Soccer Player ESPY Award, which was awarded in 2000 and 2001, and the latter once more absorbed the gender-specific awards in 2005.

During the award's three years, the voting panel comprised variously fans, who participated through Internet balloting; sportswriters and broadcasters, sports executives, and retired sportspersons, termed collectively experts; and ESPN personalities. The ESPY Awards ceremony was conducted in June and awards conferred reflected performance and achievement over the twelve months previous to presentation.

List of winners

See also

Notes