Southern California High School Athlete of the Week: How Voting Works & How to Win

What is the Southern California High School Athlete of the Week?

The Southern California High School Athlete of the Week is a free weekly fan poll produced by High School on SI — Sports Illustrated's prep-sports platform, originally launched under the SBLive (ScoreBookLive) brand — published at si.com throughout every California prep sports season. The SBLive editorial team nominates standout performers from CIF Southern Section, LA City Section, and San Diego Section; the public then votes with no per-vote cap to decide the winner.

• Organizer: High School on SI (Sports Illustrated / SBLive) — the most widely distributed high school sports digital platform in the western United States.
• Coverage: CIF Southern Section (580+ member schools across Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, and parts of Santa Barbara counties), CIF LA City Section (156 LAUSD and charter schools), and CIF San Diego Section (San Diego and Imperial counties).
• Vote cap: none — fans vote as many times as they wish manually; automated scripts and macros are explicitly prohibited and result in athlete disqualification.
• Nominations: fans, coaches, and parents submit highlights to the SBLive California editorial team; the desk makes final ballot selections each week.
• Winner announced on si.com's High School California section and SBLive California social accounts, typically early the following week after the Monday 11:59 p.m. close.
• Boys and girls athletes are both recognised; parallel sport-specific polls (baseball player of the week, girls athlete of the week) often run simultaneously during multi-sport weeks.

The three CIF sections covered by this poll together represent the densest concentration of elite prep talent in the United States — the CIF Southern Section alone fields over 580 member schools across eight counties, anchored by the Trinity League, which has produced a higher volume of NFL Draft picks than virtually any other high school conference in the country.

Which Southern California schools and CIF sections compete in this poll?

The Southern California Athlete of the Week draws nominees from every CIF section governing prep sports south of the Tehachapi Mountains — a geographic footprint spanning from San Diego to the San Fernando Valley, and from the Pacific coast to the Inland Empire. The Trinity League (CIF Southern Section) accounts for a disproportionate share of nominations, because its six member schools consistently place among the top programmes in national rankings.

The Trinity League — Mater Dei, St. John Bosco, Servite, JSerra, Santa Margarita, and Orange Lutheran — is the most-watched high school athletic conference in SoCal and one of the most scrutinised in the country. Football rivalry weeks in September and October between Mater Dei and St. John Bosco, and between Servite and JSerra, attract national media attention and routinely generate this poll's highest annual vote totals.

Outside the Trinity League, the Sunkist League's Corona Centennial and the South Coast League's Mission Viejo are persistent football nominees from the Inland Empire and south Orange County. In the CIF LA City Section, Birmingham Charter (San Fernando Valley) and Cathedral (Metro LA Del Rey League) represent large public and private programme pools whose alumni span some of LA's most densely populated neighbourhoods. CIF San Diego Section schools, particularly from the Metro Conference in Chula Vista and the South Bay area, round out the geographic footprint.

How does the Southern California Athlete of the Week vote work?

Voting takes place entirely through the poll widget embedded at si.com's High School California section. The poll is free — no Sports Illustrated subscription, no SBLive account, and no personal information required. The widget displays each nominee's name, school, and sport alongside a running vote total visible throughout the window. For a plain-language explanation of how online newspaper and media-outlet sports polls function in general, see our guide to online contest voting.

Is there a vote cap?

The Southern California Athlete of the Week poll does not limit how many times a fan can vote manually. SBLive's published rules confirm the poll is intended to be fun, with no restriction placed on the number of manual votes any supporter may cast during the competition window. The one firm prohibition is automated activity — votes generated by scripts, macros, or other automated tools are not permitted and result in athlete disqualification.

Polls typically open mid-week — Wednesday or Thursday — after the SBLive team reviews preceding weekend performances. Voting then runs through Monday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific, giving supporters a full five-to-six day window. The exact open and close times are shown on the active poll widget; always verify there rather than assuming the standard schedule applies, as CIF playoff weeks and holiday breaks occasionally shift timing.

How is the Southern California Athlete of the Week winner chosen?

Selection unfolds in two distinct stages: editorial nomination, then fan vote. The SBLive California editorial team reviews performance submissions and assembles the weekly ballot — not every nominated athlete earns a spot. Once the poll opens, the outcome is entirely fan-determined: the nominee with the highest vote total when the poll closes Monday at 11:59 p.m. is named that week's winner. No editorial panel can override the vote count.

1. Nomination: coaches, parents, and fans submit the preceding week's standout performances to the SBLive California team. Including the athlete's name, school, sport, statistical summary, game context, and a coach quote produces the strongest submissions.
2. Ballot curation: the High School on SI editorial team selects nominees by editorial judgement from submissions received. Boys and girls athletes across all sports are considered; parallel sport-specific polls may run alongside the general award during busy multi-sport weeks.
3. Open vote: the poll goes live at si.com, typically Wednesday or Thursday, and the community votes freely until Monday at 11:59 p.m. Pacific. No per-vote cap applies to manual voting.
4. Winner announced: after the poll closes, High School on SI publishes the result on si.com's High School California section and across the SBLive California social media accounts. The recognition creates a published third-party credential on a nationally distributed Sports Illustrated platform.

Because there is no cash prize, the value of a win is entirely reputational — a published mention on a Sports Illustrated property that surfaces when college coaches or recruiters search the athlete's name. In SoCal's extraordinarily competitive prep sports market, a High School on SI credential from a national outlet carries genuine weight in recruiting conversations.

Getting more votes for your Southern California Athlete of the Week nominee

In the no-cap structure of the SBLive SoCal poll, depth of community reach and early, sustained activation are the decisive variables. The foundation is always the same: put the direct poll URL in front of every realistic supporter network the moment the poll goes live — not a general name drop, but the exact si.com article link. For a full tactical breakdown of how vote-building works across online polls in general, see our guide to online contest voting and our how-to hub.

Two SoCal-specific dynamics produce outsized results. First, Trinity League Catholic alumni networks extend across generations — a Mater Dei or Servite graduate from 2005 still actively follows their alma mater's programme and will vote if the message reaches them through a shared chain. These multi-generational networks are uniquely deep compared to most public-school booster structures. Second, SoCal student populations are among the most social-media-active in the country: a single well-formatted Instagram post from the team account — with the nominee's highlight clip, name, school, and the poll link — can generate hundreds of link-taps from existing followers in the first hour.

When every organic network has been fully mobilised and the nominee still needs ground, some campaigns use a paid vote promotion service to reach additional real voters. If you go that route, use a service that delivers genuine, manually paced votes within the contest's manual-only rule — our sports fan poll votes service is designed around this approach.

Rules, eligibility, and the buy-votes question for this poll

The Southern California Athlete of the Week is a reader-engagement fan poll produced by a sports journalism organisation — not a regulated sweepstakes, not a commercial contest with a cash prize, and not subject to California prize-promotion law. The governing restrictions are SBLive's own published poll rules, which centre on one explicit prohibition: votes generated by automated scripts or macros. For a balanced overview of the legality question across online polls generally, see our full buy-votes guide.

What is the practical risk if votes are flagged?

The consequence for disqualified automated votes is removal from that specific poll's tally. There is no account suspension (no account is required to vote), no permanent ban from future nominations, and no legal or regulatory consequence under California law for participating in a free, no-prize fan poll. The risk is competitive — losing a vote total already in the count — not legal or long-term.

The meaningful practical distinction is between automated tool activity — which violates the stated rules — and real human supporters voting manually at any frequency. Paid promotion services delivering actual people clicking the vote button manually are structurally the same as a booster club email reaching several hundred additional supporters. Whether that aligns with the spirit of any given week's contest is a judgement each entrant must make by reading the live poll page.

Southern California Athlete of the Week season timeline

The poll tracks the California high school sports calendar across three distinct seasons. Each season brings a different nominee pool, different school communities mobilising, and markedly different competitive intensities. The table below maps the programme to the CIF seasonal schedule as it applies to all three SoCal sections.

Fall is the most competitive season for this poll by a wide margin. October and November Trinity League football rivalry weeks — when Mater Dei, St. John Bosco, and Servite are playing nationally watched games and alumni networks across Southern California are fully activated — produce the year's highest vote totals. Spring baseball and softball weeks from smaller programmes may be decided with a few hundred votes; a November CIF playoff football week involving a Trinity League or Sunkist League finalist can generate totals in the thousands.

For context on how the California high school athletic year connects to the broader California voting contests landscape — including other athlete polls and school community votes — see our state hub. For the full US picture, browse the USA contest guide index.