HILTON HEAD, SC -- Georgia College & State University won their fourth consecutive Peach Belt Conference Institution of the Year Sportsmanship Award at the league's annual Awards Dinner on Tuesday night in Hilton Head.  The award is the fifth for GCSU in the last six years and their sixth overall.

The annual honor is given to the institution displaying the best overall sportsmanship for the 2025-26 season and culminates the PBC's season-long sportsmanship recognition program.

Through the help of presenting sponsors Athletic Solutions, following each championship sports season a Team Sportsmanship Award is presented to the team in that sport that best exemplifies what the award stands for: the spirit of sportsmanship, a high degree of integrity, character and class.  Each team award is voted on by other teams who compete in that sport and points are awarded on how each team finished in the voting. In an effort to encompass more facets of sportsmanship, an ejection component was also introduced to the award this year.

In 2025-26, GCSU won Team Sportsmanship Awards in women’s basketball, men’s golf and men's tennis and shared the award in women’s tennis.  The four awards give the department 36 since the inception of the program, second-most in the conference, and represents the 11th time GCSU has had multiple awards in the same season.

PBC INSTITUTION OF THE YEAR SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD WINNERS

Georgia College & State University, 2025-26
Georgia College & State University, 2024-25
Georgia College & State University, 2023-24
Georgia College & State University, 2022-23
Young Harris, 2021-22
Georgia College & State University, 2020-21
Flagler, 2018-19
Flagler, 2017-18
Georgia College & State University, 2016-17
Flagler, 2015-16
Flagler, 2014-15
Flagler, 2013-14
Flagler, 2012-13
Flagler, 2011-12
Flagler, 2010-11
North Georgia, 2009-10
Francis Marion, 2008-09

* - The award was not presented in the 2019-20 season due to the pandemic