On June 29, 2016, the Virginia High School League announced 39 Virginia schools named recipient of the Claudia Dodson VHSL Sportsmanship, Ethics, and Integrity award. Dominion, for the third time, was listed among them.

The award is named for Claudia Dodson, who served as VHSL assistant director from 1972-2001 years and fought for female inclusion in Virginia high school sports. Only the fourth ever woman in the U.S. to be hired as a state-level athletic administrator, she saw the number of girls’ sporting championships within the VHSL increase from one to 31.

In order to qualify for recognition, a school must either score in the 80^th percentile on a sportsmanship self-assessment if no student-athlete has been ejected from competition throughout the year or in the 90^th percentile if one student-athlete has been ejected from competition during the school year.

Additionally, schools must solicit and receive positive peer recommendations from three schools they regularly compete against and submit them to the VHSL Assistant Director for consideration. There is no limit on how many schools can receive the Dodson award in any one given year. No other LCPS school received Claudia Dodson recognition for the 2015-16 school year.

VHSL Assistant Director Tom Dolan considers the Dodson award to be “the Virginia High School League’s most prestigious award” as it is “the only award that the entire school is graded on.”