It is quite obvious that there's a fierce competition for all our sports in the athletic arena. What isn't quite so obvious is that there's also a competition between all NSU sports in the academic arena. This little competition designed to create a friendly rivalry within NSU's own athletic department is called the Demon Academic Challenge.

Launched for the first time this fall, the Demon Academic Challenge puts the men's athletic programs and women's teams head-to-head against their counterparts.

It has three main categories for which each team may score points. These categories include: Team GPA, the Team Academic Progress Rate (APR), and the percentage of the team that turns in their "Advising Sheets" each semester. Each category is worth a certain number of points depending on the team's ranking.

At the end of the academic year the winning men's team and winning women's team will have a catered dinner at the home of Athletic Director Greg Burke as a reward. Additionally, a picture of each team will be hung in the academic center and rotated out each year as there are new winners.

The Demon Academic Challenge is a smaller, academic-specific version of a larger competition called the "Demon Cup" that the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee hopes to kick off for the 2010-11 academic year. The "Demon Cup" would consist of numerous categories in addition to academics in which to earn points.

The non-academic categories in the "Demon Cup" competition could include participation in CHAMPS/Life Skills, Southland Conference championships, community service, Athletes-for-Athletes (where a team would designate a competition and all teams would get points for the percentage attending). The goal is to get student-athletes more involved in all areas so that they leave NSU not only with a great athletic experience, but also many other experiences which help prepare them for a successful transition to the workforce and adulthood.

Here's a breakdown of the Demon Academic Challenge.