AI-assisted summary The 2025 Enquirer High School Sports Awards will be held on June 13 at Princeton High School.

The event starts at 6 p.m., with doors opening at 4:45 p.m. for photos and activities.

Tickets are free but limited, and attendees should register in advance.

Bengals Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz will be the featured speaker.

Attendees are encouraged to dress in business casual attire.

With the 2025 Enquirer High School Sports Awards, presented by Beacon Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, happening Wednesday, June 18, at Princeton High School, here are answers to frequently asked questions about the event.

Q: When does it start and what is the process?

Doors open at 4:45 p.m. Between that time and when the event starts at 6 p.m., families can get “red-carpet” photos at the step-and-repeat spots, visit booths (including Ohio Army National Guard) and high-five the Florence Y’alls’ mascot. There is no food at the event so you will want to have dinner first. There’s no food allowed in Matthews Auditorium.

The event will run until about 9:15 p.m., with awards starting around 6:30 p.m. after the featured speaker. The awards order is spring, winter, fall and premium awards. The Enquirer’s Shelby Dermer and Fox19’s Joe Danneman will share presentation duties. Girls tennis will be announced with boys tennis in spring. Gift bags will be available on the way out.

Seating is first-come, first-served. We will have the athletes, coaches and athletic directors seated together in the front of the auditorium so we can get everyone up to the stage quickly. Winners can give a brief speech after their wins.

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The program will be digital and the event hashtag is #cincyhssa. Follow sportswriters Alex Harrison (@ByAlexHarrison), Jack Schmelzinger (@jackschmelznger), James Weber (@JWeberSports) and Brendan Connelly (@BConnellySports) as they provide live coverage on X.com.

Click here: To reserve tickets

Click here: Enquirer releases complete nominee list

Q: What is the free ticket process?

A: The venue is now a little more than 80 percent reserved so it’s important to register quickly before the last 20 percent fills up. Please do not book more than you need.

Here is a direct reservation link. At the bottom of that link, you’ll see “athlete” and “athletic director” buttons. Team and coach nominees will use “athlete.” Please be sure to register under the coach/athlete’s name, not the parents’ names. Also, we’d like to ask athletic directors to say who their tickets are for, please.

Every athlete gets three (3) free tickets, one of which is for the athlete. If they are nominated twice (say, in track and cross country), they still have just three (3) tickets to start. Every athletic director of nominated athletes gets three (3) tickets for themselves, coaches, staff or the athlete. Among the spring and premier category nominees in June will be “team” of the year nominees. Those teams will get three (3) tickets initially, one of which will be the coach and two players of his/her choice.

Q: Why do my digital tickets give two different times?

A: Unfortunately, some of this year’s tickets arrived with last year’s information on them. The ticket software company is working to fix the problem. Please consider the information in this article to be accurate.

Q: What’s new this year, Y’all?

A: The Florence Y’alls mascot will be on hand at the event. The baseball team will host an Enquirer High School Sports Awards game on Sunday, July 13. Winners will receive two free tickets with their award and all nominees will have access to discounted tickets ($10) using the QR Code found on a flyer inside the gift bags. Please note: You must buy tickets up to 24 hours in advance to get the deal.

Doors open at noon with the game starting at 1:07 p.m. Recognition will happen around 12:40 p.m. Other activities that day include team autographs, kids running the bases and Bark in the Park (bring furry friends; they don’t need tickets.)

Q: That’s not all: How can attendees enter the Ultimate Cincinnati Sports Experience giveaway?

A: At the show, the Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati.com will provide one winner with tickets to four professional games – FC Cincinnati, Cincinnati Reds, Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Cyclones. It’s one entry per person, who must be 18 or older to win. Because the winner will be announced that evening, he/she must be present to win. The Enquirer will provide a QR code and a URL at the event to enter.

Q: Who is the speaker this year?

A: Cincinnati Bengals Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz will speak and have a short Q&A with Bengals beat writer Kelsey Conway early in the show.

Q: What is the dress code?

A: Dress up! Wear business casual, with dresses or slacks for ladies and shirt/tie or nice shirt and slacks for the guys. No jeans, t-shirts or sweatshirts (you never know), please.

Q: Do the athlete of the week winners or all-star/all-city teams take part in this event?

A: They do not, unless those same athletes just happen to be among those invited. We will, however, have a table at the event for athlete of the week winners after April 11 to pick up their certificates if they’re in attendance. We will mail the rest to athletic directors after the event.

Q: How did The Enquirer staff determine which players were nominated?

A: Our staff produced those lists based on stats, postseason awards, impact on far-reaching tournament teams, strength of schedule and more. We then sent those lists to key coaches within the sport to get their feedback. We used their input to solidify the lists.

Are they ultimately perfect? With 129 Greater Cincinnati schools, 10s of thousands of high school athletes and coaches and no shortage of opinions, we think we’re as close as we can be.

There are great athletes not on the list, not because we felt they weren’t special, but because we had to keep our numbers smaller this year, with only one show and expanded categories.