DAPHNE. Ala. – The United States Sports Academy is holding its Athlete of the Month ballot for January and public voting is in progress. Following the selection committee’s meeting, 12 candidates – six male and six female – from eight countries comprise the list.

Each month, the public is invited to participate in the Academy’s worldwide Athlete of the Month program by nominating athletes and then voting online during the first week of every month. The online votes are used to guide the Academy selection committee in choosing the male and female monthly winners, who then become eligible for selection to the Athlete of the Year ballot.

Cast a vote on the Academy’s website at: USSA.edu and have friends do the same. The full ballot is listed along with bios of each athlete. Voting will continue until 5 p.m. Central time on Thursday, Feb. 9.

Male nominees are Roger Federer, tennis, Switzerland; Martin Fourcade, biathlon, France; Emmanuel Korir, sprinting, Kenya; Justin Thomas, golf, United States; Tamirat Tola, marathon, Ethiopia; and Deshaun Watson, football, United States.

Female nominees are Anna Gasser, snowboard, Austria; Evgenia Medvedeva, figure skating, Russia; Kelsey Plum, basketball, United States; Mikaela Shiffrin, skiing, United States; Alina Shukh, pentathlon, Ukraine; and Serena Williams, tennis, United States.

The Academy presents the awards to pay tribute to those who have made significant contributions to sport, in categories as diverse as the artist and the athlete in several different arenas of sport.

The Athlete of the Year Award is part of the United States Sports Academy’s Awards of Sport program, which each year serves as “A Tribute to the Artist and the Athlete.”

For more information about the Academy, call (251) 626-3303 or visit USSA.edu.

For more on the Academy’s American Sport Art Museum and Archives which is open free to the public from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, go to ASAMA.org.