Collegiate & Chapter Awards
Each year, Sigma Nu Fraternity recognizes chapter and individual achievements across a number of categories – merit awards, Alpha Alumni Chapter Affiliate recognition, LEAD, Pursuit of Excellence, Rock Chapter (only at Grand Chapters), scholarship, manpower, and community service & philanthropy. Awards recognize an individual's or chapter's accomplishments for the previous academic year, or, in some cases an individual's collegiate career.
Application Materials
Collegiate Awards Descriptions – Merit and Alpha Affiliate
Individual collegiate awards include: Alpha Chapter Affiliates, Man of the Year, Scholar of the Year, Talent of the Year and Athlete of the Year. Criteria and application instructions for these awards are provided in this packet.
Collegiate Awards Application – Merit and Alpha Affiliate
All applicants for an individual collegiate awards – Alpha Chapter Affiliates, Man of the Year, Scholar of the Year, Talent of the Year or Athlete of the Year – should complete and submit this form by April 30.
Collegiate Awards Recommendation Form – Merit and Alpha Affiliate
All applicants for individual collegiate awards – Alpha Chapter Affiliates, Man of the Year, Scholar of the Year, Talent of the Year or Athlete of the Year – require three (3) letters of recommendation.
Collegiate Awards Chapter Endorsement Form - Merit and Alpha Affiliate
All applicants for individual collegiate awards – Alpha Chapter Affiliates, Man of the Year, Scholar of the Year, Talent of the Year or Athlete of the Year – require completion of the chapter endorsement form by the current Commander of Lt. Commander.
Collegiate Awards Transcript Request
Official transcripts are required for all Scholar of the Year award applicants.
2020 Merit Award Winners
Alpha Chapter Affiliates
The Fraternity salutes those Knights, who demonstrate a genuine commitment to the ideals of the Legion of Honor and whose pattern of performance is a worthy example for others to follow.
- Alpha #660 – William C. DeLaney (Presbyterian)
- Alpha #661 – Dakota D. Fletcher (Montana State)
- Alpha #662 – Nicholas G. Girardi (Colorado)
- Alpha #663 – William E. Hensley (Tennessee)
- Alpha #664 – Michael C. Lay (Arkansas-Fort Smith)
- Alpha #665 – Paul C. Markos (Mississippi)
- Alpha #666 – Javier E. Ramirez (Oklahoma)
- Alpha #667 – Noah P. Rogers (East Carolina)
- Alpha #668 – Daniel C. Smith (Illinois)
- Alpha #669 – Kyle R. Svoboda (Kansas)
Scholar of the Year
The Fraternity recognizes the individual who has demonstrated excellence in the area of Scholarship.
- Stephen Jerod Sharp (Jacksonville State)
Athlete of the Year
The Fraternity recognizes the individual who has demonstrated excellence in the area of Athletics.
- John C. Staton, IV (Samford)
Man of the Year
The Fraternity recognizes the individual who has demonstrated all-around excellence in the area of Leadership, Chapter and Campus Involvement, and Scholarship.
- Paul C. Markos (Mississippi)
2020 Chapter Awards
LEAD Awards
LEAD Awards recognize those chapters and individuals that have exhibited excellence in their use of an individual phase of the program; innovation in their adaptation and expansion of parts of the program as it is implemented into their own, unique circumstance; individual alumnus and collegiate facilitators who have demonstrated an extraordinary contribution to the brotherhood through their facilitation of the program; LEAD Chairmen and Committees that have implemented an outstanding program for their local membership; and the chapter(s) that best represents an ideal application of the program at the collegiate level.
Pursuit of Excellence Awards
Chapters receiving an overall level of excellence for one of the three standard areas – Values-Based Leadership, Personal Development and Membership Value, Operational Excellence – will be recognized for the Pursuit of Excellence in that standard.
Rock Chapter Awards
The Rock Chapter Award is meant to honor collegiate chapters that have achieved excellence in all areas of chapter operations. To be granted the award, a chapter should be expected to attain the ideals or a nearly perfect state across a broad range of areas of fraternity operations. The Rock Chapter award is only presented at Grand Chapters, (i.e. every two years), providing there are chapters that qualify. Rock Chapter award recipients will be those chapters which consistently achieve very good to excellent ratings in the Pursuit of Excellence Program over the course of the biennium.
Scholarship Awards
Each year, Sigma Nu Fraternity recognizes those chapters that excel academically. These awards do not require an application and are based on the prior calendar year (e.g. Spring and Fall 2019 grades). Winners from the most recent year are below.
Gallaher Cup
This award is given to the chapter with the 1st place GPA of all Sigma Nu chapters nationwide.
- Gamma (Duke) – GPA of 3.71
Bronze Cup
This award is given to the chapter with the 2nd highest GPA of all Sigma Nu chapters nationwide.
- Delta Alpha (Case Western Reserve) – GPA of 3.65
Certificate of Commendation
This award is given to the chapter with the 3rd highest GPA of all Sigma Nu chapters nationwide.
- Gamma Delta (Stevens) – GPA of 3.62
Certificate of Merit
This is the award given to the chapter with the 4th highest GPA of all Sigma Nu chapters nationwide.
- Beta Rho (Pennsylvania) – GPA of 3.60
Regent's Award for Academic Excellence
This award is given to the chapters who have achieved the highest GPA among fraternities on their campus during the 2019 calendar year.
- Beta Beta (DePauw)
- Delta Alpha (Case Western Reserve)
- Delta Theta (Knox)
- Epsilon Delta (Wyoming)
- Epsilon Sigma (Rhodes)
- Eta Beta (East Carolina)
- Eta Delta (West Texas A&M)
- Eta Upsilon (Midwestern State)
- Gamma (Duke)
- Gamma Delta (Stevens)
- Iota Beta (Virginia Wesleyan)
- Iota Pi (Kennesaw State)
- Kappa (North Georgia)
- Kappa Eta (UC Santa Barbara)
- Kappa Lambda (Akron)
- Mu Chi (Lynchburg)
- Mu Iota (Hartford)
- Mu Pi (Jefferson)
- Mu Xi (Columbus State)
- UT Chattanooga Colony
- Zeta Upsilon (Arizona State)
- Zeta Xi (UC Davis)
Scholarship Improvement Award
This award is given to the chapter that has shown the greatest improvement in its GPA among other fraternities on its campus and among all Sigma Nu chapters.
- Nu Alpha (Arkansas-Fort Smith) – GPA increase from 2.25 to 2.82 (+0.57)
Manpower Awards
Each year, Sigma Nu Fraternity, Inc. recognizes those chapters that excel in the areas of recruitment and manpower. These awards do not require an application.
This award is given to the chapters who have achieved a manpower of above 100 men.
- Beta Tau (North Carolina State) – 152 men
- Beta Theta (Auburn) – 177 men
- Delta (South Carolina) – 148 men
- Delta Epsilon (Oklahoma) – 116 men
- Delta Rho (Colorado State) – 100 men
- Epsilon Epsilon (Oklahoma State) – 117 men
- Epsilon Eta (Tennessee) - 135 men
- Epsilon Mu (Butler) – 124 men
- Epsilon Omicron (Southern California) – 168 men
- Epsilon Pi (UCLA) – 110 men
- Epsilon Rho (Michigan State) – 177 men
- Epsilon Xi (Mississippi) – 264 men
- Eta Zeta (Louisiana Tech) – 104 men
- Gamma Beta (Northwestern) – 101 men
- Gamma Iota (Kentucky) – 109 men
- Gamma Kappa (Colorado) – 139 men
- Gamma Upsilon (Arkansas) – 257 men
- Gamma Zeta (Oregon) – 145 men
- Iota Delta (James Madison) – 134 men
- Kappa Pi (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) – 103 men
- Lambda Epsilon (Texas Christian) – 126 men
- Mu (Georgia) – 122 men
- Mu Kappa (Southeast Missouri State) – 112 men
- Nu (Kansas) – 108 men
- Phi (Louisiana State) – 130 men
- Rho (Missouri) – 124 men
- Theta (Alabama) – 144 men
- Theta Kappa (Georgia Southern) – 100 men
- Zeta Upsilon (Arizona State) – 118 men
This award is given to the chapters who have achieved a manpower of above 80 men.
- Delta Beta (Dartmouth) – 94 men
- Delta Iota (Washington State) – 98 men
- Delta Phi (Maryland) – 96 men
- Eta Beta (East Carolina) – 86 men
- Gamma (Duke) – 85 men
- Gamma Mu (Illinois) – 88 men
- Gamma Tau (Minnesota) – 85 men
- Iota Pi (Kennesaw State) – 83 men
- Kappa Epsilon (Appalachian State) – 92 men
- Kappa Zeta (Villanova) – 98 men
- Theta Zeta (Clemson) – 81 men
- Zeta Xi (UC Davis) – 83 men
25% Increase in Manpower Award
This award is given to the chapters who have achieved at least a 25% increase in manpower from the previous year.
- Delta Phi (Maryland) – 35% increase
- Epsilon Lambda (Utah) – 42% increase
- Eta Upsilon (Midwestern State) – 56% increase
- Iota Theta Colony (Southern Methodist) – 39% increase
- Kappa Delta (Duquesne) – 31% increase
- Lambda Epsilon (Texas Christian) – 27% increase
- Mu Chi (Lynchburg) – 26% increase
- Mu Kappa (Southeast Missouri State) – 26% increase
- Zeta Upsilon (Arizona State) – 53% increase
Service and Philanthropy Awards
Each year, Sigma Nu Fraternity, Inc. recognizes those chapters that excel in the areas of service and philanthropy. These awards do not require an application. Selections are made based on Pursuit of Excellence submissions, including chapter reports of verifiable service and philanthropic contributions.
Community Service Contribution Award
This award is recognizes the chapter with the highest per man average of verifiable community service hours throughout the course of the previous academic year.
- Zeta Xi (UC Davis) – 54 hours per man
Philanthropy Contribution Award
This award is recognizes the chapter with the highest per man average of verifiable philanthropic dollars donated throughout the course of the previous academic year.
- Gamma Nu Colony (Michigan) – $2,453 per man