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.
2021 Merit Award Winners
2021 Collegiate 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 #670 – Brandon S. Avers (Colorado State)
- Alpha #671 – Cole M. Barnhill (Mississippi)
- Alpha #672 – Brett M. Benigno (Southern Mississippi)
- Alpha #673 – Dominic A. Frattura (Arizona State)
- Alpha #674 – Justin S. Jacobs (Southeast Missouri State)
- Alpha #675 – Christopher R. McClintock (Birmingham-Southern)
- Alpha #676 – Robert Ortega, Jr. (Fresno State)
- Alpha #677 – Stephen Jerod Sharp (Jacksonville State)
- Alpha #678 – Maxwell L. Smith (Stetson)
- Alpha #679 – Jonathan M. Thomas (Missouri S&T)
Scholar of the Year
The Fraternity recognizes the individual who has demonstrated excellence in the area of Scholarship.
- Maximum V.P. Waller (Oklahoma State)
Athlete of the Year
The Fraternity recognizes the individual who has demonstrated excellence in the area of Athletics.
- Jerrion Z. Ealy (Mississippi)
Talent of the Year
The Fraternity recognizes the individual who has demonstrated excellence in the area of Talent.
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.
- Justin S. Jacobs (Southeast Missouri State)
2021 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 2020 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 3.94 in Spring 2020
Bronze Cup
This award is given to the chapter with the 2nd highest GPA of all Sigma Nu chapters nationwide.
- Beta Rho (Pennsylvania) – GPA of 3.85 in Spring 2020
- Delta Alpha (Case Western Reserve) – GPA of 3.85 in Spring 2020
- Gamma Delta (Stevens) – GPA of 3.85 in Fall 2020
Certificate of Commendation
This award is given to the chapter with the 3rd highest GPA of all Sigma Nu chapters nationwide.
- Gamma Omicron (Washington in St. Louis) – GPA of 3.81 in Spring 2020
Certificate of Merit
This is the award given to the chapter with the 4th highest GPA of all Sigma Nu chapters nationwide.
- Iota Theta (Southern Methodist) – GPA of 3.77 in Spring 2020
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.
- Epsilon Sigma (Rhodes)
- Epsilon Xi (Mississippi)
- Gamma Delta (Stevens)
- Gamma Tau (Minnesota)
- Iota Beta (Virginia Wesleyan)
- Iota Pi (Kennesaw State)
- Kappa (North Georgia)
- Mu Kappa (Southeast Missouri State)
- Mu Xi (Columbus State)
- Nu Delta (High Point)
- Theta Gamma (Southern Mississippi)
- 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.
- Zeta Chi (Houston) – GPA increase from 2.89 to 3.44 (+0.55)
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 Theta (Auburn) – 194 men
- Delta (South Carolina) – 148 men
- Delta Epsilon (Oklahoma) – 133 men
- Delta Iota (Washington State) – 109 men
- Epsilon Epsilon (Oklahoma State) – 127 men
- Epsilon Eta (Tennessee) - 147 men
- Epsilon Mu (Butler) – 114 men
- Epsilon Omicron (Southern California) – 145 men
- Epsilon Pi (UCLA) – 109 men
- Epsilon Xi (Mississippi) – 189 men
- Eta Zeta (Louisiana Tech) – 104 men
- Gamma Iota (Kentucky) – 127 men
- Gamma Kappa (Colorado) – 1369 men
- Gamma Upsilon (Arkansas) – 248 men
- Gamma Zeta (Oregon) – 153 men
- Iota Delta (James Madison) – 132 men
- Lambda Epsilon (Texas Christian) – 143 men
- Mu (Georgia) – 149 men
- Nu (Kansas) – 100 men
- Phi (Louisiana State) – 111 men
- Rho (Missouri) – 168 men
- Theta (Alabama) – 134 men
- Zeta Pi (Texas Tech) – 115 men
- Zeta Upsilon (Arizona State) – 106 men
This award is given to the chapters who have achieved a manpower of above 80 men.
- Beta Tau (North Carolina State) – 97 men
- Delta Rho (Colorado State) – 92 men
- Epsilon Rho (Michigan State) –98 men
- Gamma Mu (Illinois) – 94 men
- Gamma Tau (Minnesota) – 86 men
- Iota Theta (Southern Methodist) – 87 men
- Kappa Pi (Cal Poly San Luis Obispo) – 95 men
- Kappa Zeta (Villanova) – 80 men
- Mu Kappa (Southeast Missouri State) – 88 men
- Nu Delta (High Point) – 85 men
- Theta Kappa (Georgia Southern) – 97 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.
- Beta Zeta (Purdue) – 49% increase
- Epsilon Delta (Wyoming) – 48% increase
- Epsilon Lambda (Utah) – 45% increase
- Iota Kappa (Cal State Chico) – 44% increase
- Iota Lambda (Jacksonville State) – 100% increase
- Iota Theta (Southern Methodist) – 36% increase
- Lambda Upsilon (Cal State Fullerton) – 43% increase
- Mu Upsilon (Stephen F. Austin) – 46% increase
- Rho (Missouri) – 36% increase
- Zeta Psi (Lamar) – 33% 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.
- Lambda Gamma (Eastern Illinois) – 20 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.
- Epsilon Xi (Mississippi) – $386 per man