CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Big Ten Conference announced its Big Ten Distinguished Scholar Award winners, including 51 student-athletes honored from the University of Illinois. The list recognizes student-athletes with a minimum grade-point average (GPA) of 3.7 or higher for the 2017-18 academic year that were also named Academic All-Big Ten.

Big Ten Faculty Representatives established the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2008 to supplement the Academic All-Big Ten program. Similar to the Academic All-Big Ten honor, Distinguished Scholar Award recipients must be letterwinners in at least their second academic year at their institution. However, the Distinguished Scholar Award encompasses only students with a minimum GPA of 3.7 or higher for the previous academic year, excluding summer school. The Academic All-Big Ten threshold is a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher for a student's academic career.