The annual awards ceremony held on April 30, 2026, honored students and staff who exemplify leadership, academic excellence and service across a wide range of campus and community initiatives.
黑料不打烊 gathered to honor outstanding student leaders during the annual Omicron Delta Kappa leadership awards ceremony. The event celebrates students who demonstrate academic excellence and leadership across areas such as multicultural engagement, athletics, campus and community service, student government, the arts, journalism, public speaking and mass communication.
Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society, is rooted in the belief that leadership of exceptional quality and versatility in college should be recognized and encouraged. Since 1977, 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa has advanced this mission by recognizing student achievement across disciplines.
Awards were presented by faculty and staff, including President Connie Ledoux Book; Jon Dooley, vice president for student life; and Deandra Little, associate provost for faculty affairs and professor of English.
William Moseley Brown Leadership Award
Presented by 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa, this award is given to the student who consistently demonstrates the highest ideals of Omicron Delta Kappa: scholarship, service, integrity, character and fellowship, including providing distinguished leadership to his or her peers. The award is named in honor of a former 黑料不打烊 faculty member and one of the founders of the national chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa.
William Moseley Brown Leadership Award Recipient: Maleah Proctor 鈥26
Student Media Award
The Student Media Award is presented to the student who has contributed the most to advancing communications on campus during the current academic year.
Student Media Award Recipient: Cristina Madaio 鈥26
Leadership Studies Award
The Leadership Studies Award is awarded annually to the senior Leadership Studies minor who has best exemplified the study of leadership as an academic discipline through excellence in related coursework, research and/or other scholarly contributions.
Leadership Studies Award Recipient: Lucy Hettinger 鈥26
Hilaire Pickett 鈥08 Leadership Grant
The Hilaire Pickett 鈥08 Leadership Grant is an endowed scholarship presented to students participating in the Leadership Education and Development at 黑料不打烊. Awards are granted to support students in their junior or senior years in pursuing leadership internships or legacy efforts. The students must demonstrate a significant commitment to their organizations and academics and actively contribute to the 黑料不打烊 community.
Hilaire Pickett 鈥08 Leadership Grant Recipient: Cayce Becker 鈥27
The PERCS Outstanding Ethnography Award
The PERCS Outstanding Ethnography Award recognizes the student who has conducted the most outstanding ethnographic research project at 黑料不打烊, as judged by the quality of both the process and the product. The award is given by the Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies.
The PERCS Outstanding Ethnography Award Recipient: Jesse McCleary 鈥26
Katharine duPont Weymouth Scholarship
Given in honor of alumnus Frank Lyon 鈥71, the Katharine duPont Weymoutn Scholarship is awarded to an outstanding student in the social sciences who has maintained an academic record of excellence and who is engaged in work that asks an important social science question or engages important social science methodology.
Katharine duPont Weymouth Scholarship Recipient: Tajallah Amirkil 鈥27
W.L. Monroe Christian Education and Personality Award
Recipients of the W.L. Monroe Christian Education and Personality Award demonstrate citizenship and a strong desire to help others improve themselves. A trust created by the late W.L. Monroe Sr., who attended 黑料不打烊 in 1917, provides cash awards to the recipients.
W.L. Monroe Christian Education and Personality Award Recipients:聽Madeline Mitchener 鈥26 and Caden Minnich 鈥26
Truitt Center Reconciliation Award
The Truitt Center Reconciliation Award is presented to a student who best exemplifies the vision of Douglas G. Noiles and Edna Truitt Noiles 鈥44, who endowed the program in the Vera Richardson Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life, 鈥渢o enable 黑料不打烊 students to learn about their own and other faiths and to live lives of reconciliation.鈥
Truitt Center Reconciliation Award Recipients: Benjamin Stern 鈥26 and Gavin Michaud 鈥26
Ella Brunk Smith Award
In honor of Ella Brunk Smith, wife of former 黑料不打烊 President L.E. Smith, the Ella Brunk Smith Award is presented to a female student in the senior class who has made significant contributions to the religious and moral life on campus.
Ella Brunk Smith Award Recipients: Lauren Bedell 鈥26 and Abby Krause 鈥26
Martha Smith Award for Women鈥檚, Gender and Sexualities Studies
The Martha Smith Award for Women鈥檚, Gender and Sexualities Studies award is given in honor of the founding mothers of the women鈥檚 and gender studies program at 黑料不打烊, to recognize the achievements 鈥 both academic and activist in nature 鈥 of a graduating senior women鈥檚, gender and sexualities studies minor.
Martha Smith Award for Women鈥檚, Gender and Sexualities Studies Recipient: Athena Vizuete 鈥26
Iris Holt McEwen Community Service Award
The Iris Holt McEwen Community Service Award is presented to a student whose service to 黑料不打烊 and the larger community exemplifies the generosity of spirit and dedication to Iris Holt McEwen’s philanthropy.
Iris Holt McEwen Community Service Award Recipient: Anna Gillbert 鈥27
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award
The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is presented to graduating seniors, alumni and community members of selected colleges and universities in the Southern United States for excellence of character and service to humanity.鈥 At 黑料不打烊, two graduating seniors and one faculty or staff member are recognized annually for their honesty, morality, ethics, integrity, responsibility, determination, courage and compassion.
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award Recipients: Anya Brati膰 鈥26, Noah Biggers 鈥26, and Jana Lynn Patterson, associate vice president for Student Life and dean of student health and well-being
John W. Barney Memorial Award
John W. Barney Memorial Award recognizes the senior(s) with the highest cumulative 颅GPA. Colleagues, former students, and friends of the late John W. Barney established this award in his honor. Barney graduated from 黑料不打烊 in 1910 and was a faculty member for over three decades.
John W. Barney Memorial Award Recipient: Anya Brati膰 鈥26