An Athlete of the Year award is awarded by several sports organizations to an athlete that they believe deserves to be recognized. The selection is usually based on achievements over the course of a year or, in some cases, a month. The first annual Athlete of the Year award was given by the National Football League (NFL) in 1947 to honor the league's best player as determined by fans voting at newspaper offices across the country. The trophy is called the Maxwell Award because it was established by the NFL and its president at the time, George B. Maxwell. Since then, a number of other awards have been created by various sports organizations. Some of the more prominent ones are listed below: • NBA MVP: Given out annually by the NBA to its most valuable player as voted by their peers through a survey of team managers and coaches. The winner is determined by which player has the highest percentage of votes from his/her team's head coaches. • MLB MVP: Given out annually by Major League Baseball to its most valuable player as voted by members of the media. The winner is determined by how many votes each player receives from all of the club presidents/chairmen around the league.