The April Heinrichs Award honors the top senior girls soccer player, scholar and citizen in Colorado. The award, presented by The Denver Post and backed by the non-profit Colorado High School Girls Soccer Award Corporation, evaluates players based on their on-field performance, their grades and their community service work.
Coaches nominate seniors for the award, and a group of finalists plus the winner are voted on by a 17-member selection committee that features high school coaches, former star players in the state, local media members and April Heinrichs herself.
The winner of the award gets a feature story written about her in The Denver Post, a trophy, a $1,000 scholarship, recognition at a Denver Summit FC match and a banquet held in her honor.
Heinrichs, a Colorado native who attended Heritage High School, is a legendary soccer player and coach. She was national player of the year twice at North Carolina, was captain of the United States Women’s National Team which won the first ever FIFA Women’s World Cup, coached the USWNT to an Olympic gold medal and was the first female player inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame.
The Heinrichs Award, which mirrors The Denver Post’s Gold Helmet Award in football and the Roy Halladay Award in baseball, was started in 2026 in conjunction with the inaugural season of Denver Summit FC. It is a signature honor for an elite senior in a renowned girls soccer state that has a long history of producing world-class female players.
April Heinrichs Award 