McDonald's High School All-American basketball game

This afternoon, I received a press release announcing that a kid from one of the schools I cover has been nominated to play in the McDonald's High School All-American boys basketball game.
This was funny for several reasons. First, the press release got the name of the school wrong. Second, the kid no longer attends the school. He transferred before this school year "for personal reasons." He never lived in the town. Third, the release starts with "With her nomination to the McDonald's All American boys basketball game..."
This may be the worst professionally written press release I've ever received.
The use of "her" aside, I'm sure the information about the school was garbage-in, garbage-out, but where do they get this information and what is the selection process like?
A few years ago, I received a release about another kid who was nominated and he didn't even start for his high school team.
Are these nominations based mostly or entirely on AAU performance?
I know the non-starter didn't end up playing in the game and the kid who switched schools probably won't, but given that a non-starter can be nominated for this game, are the nominations pretty much meaningless?

 

Those "nominations" are a dime a dozen. Probably done way in advance by someone who knows little.
I covered a girls team in Oklahoma's smallest classification a few years back and two players from that one team were nominated. It was a good team and both girls were good players, but everyone knew neither of the two were ever considered for the actual All-American team. The release and nomination are nothing more than free local advertising for McDonald's.

 

Nominations to McDonald's all-American team = Finalist for Publisher's Clearing House Million Dollar Prize

I'm a finalist!

 

I ran into a similar situation a few years ago with Parade Magazine's All-America high school boys soccer team. Three kids in our area were named to the team. Only one of the three was on the team, and the others were in residency in Bradenton, Fla. The one kid in our area rarely played and his coach told me he wasn't the best player on the team.

I called Parade to ask what they're selection process is and they gave me the runaround for a while until they gave me some bogus answer. A lot of it is based on how they play with their club, U-17 national team or a "scouts" evaluation. Very shady since this is supposed to be an award for a player who excels in with their high school team.

 

Yeah, if it's based on AAU or some other outside of school stuff, don't call it "High School All-America"
Call it "AAU All-America" or "Under-18 All-America" or something like that.