Matt Howard has been selected as one of ten finalists for the 2011 Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award.

Howard, one of five seniors on the Butler men’s basketball team, was nominated  for the award alongside 29 other senior collegiate basketball players in November.

The award focuses on student-athletics, specifically by encouraging student-athletes to be leaders in their communities and stay in school.

Howard has several accomplishments in the 4 C’s—classroom, character, community and competition—which will be used to determine the winner of the award.

In the classroom category, Howard was named a first-team ESPN the Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-American last year.

In the character category, Howard is in the middle of his second year as team captain, averaging 17.9 points per game.

In the community category, Howard has volunteered at local soup kitchens during the holidays each of his three years at Butler.

In the competition category, Howard won the Horizon League Player of the Year award after his sophomore season.

Vote for Howard each day online at until Mar. 20.