SIGMA GAMMA TAU

Annual Undergraduate Awards

   The Sigma Gamma Tau Undergraduate Awards serve to select outstanding Aerospace Engineering students at both the regional and national levels. The regional winners receive a plaque and a $250 award. Sigma Gamma Tau consists of nine different regions. The national winner, who is selected from the regional winners, will receive an additional $750 (for a total of $1,000). During the 2021 National Convention, a decision was made to award a National-level Runner-up Award to the 2nd place individual and an additional $500 (for a total of $750). Although the award amounts were increased during the 2009 National Convention, the real purpose of these awards is to recognize the accomplishments of these young students as they start their professional careers.

   Each chapter may nominate one (and only one) student for the annual undergraduate awards. Nominees must complete a nomination form (including attachments A and B and the goals statement), and submit it to the National Vice-President. Deadline for RECEIPT of the nomination form via e-mail is 5pm (central time) on the last Monday of February. The (unsigned) nomination form must be followed by a signed version of the nomination form along with official transcript covering all college or university courses taken through the fall quarter or semester AND a copy of the applicant's Sigma Gamma Tau membership certificate, all three as pdf files. Deadline for receipt of the signed form, transcript, and membership certificate is the first Monday of March. The membership certificate serves as proof of membership in Sigma Gamma Tau. If you do not have a membership certificate with an embossed seal, there is a very good chance that your chapter has not submitted the proper paperwork and paid the membership dues to National Headquarters. The applicant is ineligible for this award competition if the proper membership paperwork and dues check are not received by National Headquarters PRIOR to the electronic deadline date (i.e. the last Monday in February). (Note that the internal campus mail delivery may add a couple of days before mail arrives at the National Secretary's desk.) The ineligibility applies even if the student had been "initiated" locally because National will recognize a student's membership only if proper paperwork and dues are filed with National Headquarters. This rule applies without exception (backdated paperwork will not be accepted after the last Monday in February deadline date) even if someone else was responsible for submitting the membership paperwork and dues. The National Secretary can verify whether membership paperwork and dues were received prior to the electronic deadline date (i.e. the last Monday in February) for those applicants who do not have a copy of their membership certificate. This verification request should be made in EARLY February.

   An explanation of the judging process and criteria is provided in the following document:
  • Judging Process & Criteria

       Participating chapters will receive an engraved name plate with the name of the chapter nominee so that it can be added to the names of previous nominees on the chapter award plaque. In this manner the selected students will "forever" be honored at their alma mater. Eligible nominees receive a stole or other memento(s) of similar value. During the 2018 National Convention, a decision was made to give a $100 rebate, from National Headquarters, to each participating chapter that nominates one eligible undergraduate member in time for the electronic submission and transcript deadline dates. This decision was made to encourage chapters to nominate their most outstanding member so that Sigma Gamma Tau can recognize an outstanding Aerospace Engineering student from the various regions as well as the entire United States. Each chapter can decide how to utilize this $100 rebate from National Headquarters.

    Additional information and forms:
  • National Award (as of 2024) named after Professor Harry H. Hilton (profile in link)
  • National Runner-up award (as of 2024) named after Professor Ammon S. Andes (profile in link)
  • Nomination Form (or pdf version)
  • Award Statistics (in Excel format*)
  • Winners since 2001

    *Depending on browser or configuration, you may have to do the following in order to download an Excel file - after you open the file page, use the "SAVE LINK AS" command (under the "FILE" command) to save it as an XLSX format file. If this does not work, please contact the National Secretary-Treasurer to get the file via e-mail.