DAPHNE, Alabama - Online voting on the United States Sports Academy’s male and female Athlete of the Month for May has begun and runs through June 12 at http://www.ussa.edu/ballots/athlete-of-the-month/. Sports fans worldwide are encouraged to vote for one of the top six athletes on the ballot.

The winners of the Academy’s male and female Athletes of the Month are considered as candidates for the 2012 Athlete of the Year ballot. In December, the Academy will name the male and female Athlete of the Year for the 28th consecutive year.

The recipients of this prestigious award are selected annually through worldwide online balloting hosted by the Academy in conjunction with USA Today and NBC Sports.

In 2011, the Male Athlete of the Year was No. 1-ranked tennis player Novak Djokovic of Serbia and the Female Athlete of the Year was No. 1-ranked golfer Yani Tseng of Taiwan. Both of them dominated 2011’s ballot that drew as many as 50,000 votes a day from across the world.