Youdee Leadership Awards

About the YoUDee Awards

The YoUDee Leadership Awards is an annual program held in May that recognizes registered student organizations (RSOs), student leaders and staff for their hard work in programming, philanthropy, marketing, overall achievement and more!

Award Categories

Individual Awards

Outstanding Advisor

The Outstanding Advisor Award recognizes outstanding support and guidance by the volunteer advisor (full-time exempt staff member) of an organization. The individual must demonstrate devotion, caring and mentoring to the organization. This is a person who exceeds expectations, attends meetings/events on a regular basis and has a positive impact on the success of the organization and its leaders.

NOTE: Professional advisors, as well as advisors who received the award the previous year, are not eligible.

Outstanding Leader in Philanthropy

This award recognizes a student who has been highly engaged in philanthropic activities on the University of Delaware campus to support local or national causes. This individual is someone who makes tremendous strides in creating and promoting philanthropic events.

Outstanding RSO Leader

The RSO Leader of the Year is awarded to any member of a registered student organization who has demonstrated outstanding leadership skills. The member has been instrumental in helping the chapter work towards its mission as well as help plan and conducts successful programming.

NOTE: The individual does not need to be an officer of the organization or chapter, but rather someone who has provided leadership to the group, its members and the University community.

Eligible Organizations: Registered Student Organizations

Outstanding Treasurer

The Outstanding Treasurer award recognizes the outstanding management of the group’s treasury books, reconciliation of ledgers, and reimbursement of funds. In addition, this individual should have made efforts to increase the organization’s funds as well as obtain necessary funding properly in order to implement planned events successfully.

Eligible Organizations: Registered Student Organizations

Bernie Award

Every year we recognize a UD staff or community member who has contributed to the success of student organizations. This special award is affectionately called “The Bernie” in honor of the staff person, Bernadette “Bernie” Coslar whom the award memorializes.

NOTE: This should not be the advisor of the RSO submitting this nomination.

Rosin Rising Star Award

The Rosin Rising Star Award was established in recognition and remembrance of Matthew Rosin. Matthew was a sophomore student leader who passed away in the spring of 2016. One first-year or sophomore undergraduate is honored with this award for demonstrating outstanding leadership potential in helping to produce campus-wide, co-curricular programs. The recipient must exhibit a high degree of student group involvement, organizational support, and leadership growth and development.

NOTE: The previous year’s award recipient is not eligible for this year.

Eligible Individuals: First-Year or Sophomore Undergraduate

Grossman Memorial Award

Each year a junior or senior undergraduate is honored for outstanding contributions to campus-wide co-curricular programs, as well as a high quality of leadership and organizational ability in helping plan and present programs. The Grossman Memorial Award was established by the Class of 1963 in remembrance of their classmates, Judy and Bill Grossman. Winners of this Grossman Memorial Award will receive a monetary award. 

NOTE: The previous year’s award recipient is not eligible for this year.

Eligible Individuals: Junior or Senior Undergraduate

Blue Hen Spirit Award

The Blue Hen Spirit Award is given to a student who demonstrates and enhances the Blue Hen spirit. This student exhibits high involvement in RSOs, contributes to the University through UD traditions and events, and creates positive experiences among the Blue Hen community.

Group Awards

Outstanding New Organization

The Best New RSO award is only open to Registered Student Organizations who have been recognized for less than two academic years (including the current academic year) but have been able to quickly build membership and become a known presence and have a positive impact on campus through its successful marketing, activities and programs. It recognizes success in both quality and quantity of activities, as well as establishing relationships with other organizations and departments.

NOTE: The previous year’s award recipient is not eligible for this year.

Eligible Organizations: Registered Student Organizations

Outstanding Program / Event / Philanthropy / Community Service

The Outstanding Program/Event award recognizes an organization for following its mission and purpose through planning and implementing a program or event exceedingly well. The program must coincide with the organization’s mission and should have provided a positive reflection of the organization to the campus community beyond its own members.

Here is a list of possible categories for RSOs within Outstanding Program/Event award umbrella:

  • Community Service
  • Philanthropy, Cultural
  • Health & Wellness
  • Community Engagement
  • Performing Arts
  • Large Scale
  • Global
  • Lecture
  • Educational
  • New
  • Annual

NOTE: All programs must have been held on campus.

Eligible Organizations: Registered Student Organizations

Outstanding Overall Achievement

The Outstanding Overall Achievement award recognizes an organization for following its mission, achieving its objectives successfully and making an impact on campus throughout the academic year. The organization has stayed active through effective marketing and publicity of meetings and events, sponsoring a variety of successful programs, sustaining an active membership and maintaining positive relationships with other organizations and departments. Actions of the organization and its members should exceed expectations.

Eligible Organizations: Registered Student Organizations.

Outstanding Marketing

The Outstanding Marketing Award recognizes an organization’s outstanding use of social media, print material and other resources to advertise their organization and events. The organization receiving this award has gone above and beyond in their marketing efforts demonstrating creativity and attention to detail.

The submission should be for a specific event or initiative from the RSO. Entries for the specific event or initiative can include multiple submissions if part of an overall marketing campaign.

Best RSO Collaboration

The Best RSO Collaboration Award is presented to two or more organizations that worked together to plan and implement an event or series of events.

Programs being considered should demonstrate how the groups contributed to the overall success of the event, how and why the collaboration started, and explain how the program aligned with the missions of all partnering organizations.

three students pose with their YouDee Awards in front of a blue UD screen
three students pose with their YouDee Awards in front of a blue UD screen

Past Awardees

2025

Outstanding RSO Advisor

  • Sheldon Hewlett – National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)

Bernie Award

  • Gab Pergeorelis
  • Sara Shinn
  • Suzanne Nelson

Outstanding RSO Collaboration

  • Sisters on the Move and CPAB – Gabby Douglas Event

Outstanding Individual Event Marketing

  • Harrington Theatre Arts Company – Chicago

Outstanding Overall Marketing

  • Caribbean Student Alliance

Outstanding RSO Leader

  • Ebenezier Antwi – National Association of Black Accountants (NABA)
  • Will Ryan – UDance
  • Nick Quintana – Harrington Theatre Arts Company
  • Daniah Jones – NSBE

Outstanding Program

  • Community Service: Assistive Medical Technologies
  • Community Engagement: Black Student Union – The Chop Up
  • Performing Arts: E-52 Theatre – The Curious Incident
  • Large Scale: The Crew – Brittany Broski
  • Cultural: Asian and Pacific Islander Student Association – Night Market
  • Annual: UDance Dance Marathon

Outstanding New RSO

  • Women in Healthcare
  • Blue Hen Data Analytics Club

Matt Rosin Rising Star

  • Lola Sokolskiy from Harrington Theatre Arts Company
  • Vanessa Rack from The Crew

Blue Hen Spirit

  • Faith Skinner – NSBE
  • Griffin Smith – UDance

Treasurer

  • Noah Mummert – E-52 Student Theatre
  • Gabriel Kavadias – The Rock Climbing Club

Grossman Memorial Award

  • Ryan Van Hilst from E-52 Theatre
  • Gianna Richason from UDance Dance Marathon

Overall RSO Achievement

  • Alpha Phi Omega
  • NSBE
  • Public Relations Society of America
  • 91.3FM WVUD Radio

    2024

    Outstanding Advisor

    • Jason Hamilton – Advisor to Black Future Femme Physicians and E-52 Student Theatre

    Bernie Award

    • Keith Flowers-Parker
    • Karen AuYeung

    Best RSO Collaboration

    • Diaspora Jeopardy- BSU, HOLA, DASA, CSA

    Marketing

    • The Crew
    • E-52 Student Theatre

    Outstanding Leader

    • Jadyn Worthington – Men of Distinction
    • Julia Hatoum – StUDent Government Association
    • Julia Lanzona – Asian & Pacific Islander Student Association (APSA)
    • Meliha Tokay – Panhellenic Council at University of Delaware

    Program or event

    • Community Service – AMT
    • Health & Wellness – HTAC (Pippin Publicity)
    • Performing Arts – E-52 (The 1-Act Play)
    • Concert – WVUD (Battle of the Bands)
    • Educational – BSU (Black Heritage Appreciation)
    • New – The Crew (Are UD One?)
    • Annual – MGC (Homecoming Step & Stroll)
    • Philanthropy – Impact Dance
    • Cultural – HOLA (Fiesta Latina)
    • Overall – APSA (Night Market)

    New Organization

    • Chemistry of Baking
    • Blue Hen Cricket

    Rosin Rising Star

    • Michelle Rosner – Hillel Student Life
    • Rebecca Stutzman – Vocal Point

    Blue Hen Spirit

    • Luke Garrwood – University of Delaware Programming Board, The Crew
    • Evan Jamison – University of Delaware Programming Board, The Crew

    Treasurer

    • Abigail McGraw, E-52 Student Theatre
    • Priya Salako, National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)

    Grossman Memorial Award

    • Reaghan Vasilenko – Phi Chi Theta and University of Delaware Programming Board
    • Gianna Sacca – E-52 Student Theatre
    • Alvaro Ayala – Multicultural Greek Congress at UD

    Overall Achievement

    • Outing Club
    • SGA
    • Lori’s Hands
    • Men of Distinction

    Lifetime Achievement

    • Cathy Corsi

    2023

    Outstanding Adviser

    • Alexander De Rosa, Advisor of American Society of Mechanical Engineers

    Bernie Award

    • Mackenzie Craft, UD Catering
    • Jenna Iavecchia, UD Catering

    Marketing

    • Phi Chi Theta’s Fall Rush Flyer – Outstanding Event Flyer
    • UD Programming Board – Outstanding Social Media
    • Animal Science Club – Outstanding Photo

    Outstanding Student Leader

    • Julia Hatoum, Honors, Student Government Association (SGA)
    • Dylan McCormick, WVUD Radio
    • Ashleigh Steinberg, Honors, Harrington Theatre Arts Company (HTAC)
    • Tori Glover, Honors, Student Government Association (SGA)

    Outstanding Graduate Student Leader

    • Fiona Eramo, Honors

    UDance Outstanding Leader in Philanthropy Award

    • Caroline Stevenson

    Program or Event

    • UD Programming Board for their Drag Bingo Event – Outstanding Large Scale Production
    • The Environmental Justice Project for their Mexico Beach Grant – National Outstanding Philanthropy Event
    •  Assistant Medical Technologies for their Biannual Workshop – Local Outstanding Philanthropy Event
    • HOLA (Hispanic/Latinx Student Association) for its Noche de Travesuras Event – Outstanding Multicultural Program
    • WVUD for its Blue Hen Sports Broadcast – Outstanding Community Engagement Event
    • Black Student Union (BSU) for their Black People Meet Event – Outstanding Community Building Event
    • Sky Club for their Sky Happiness Retreat – Outstanding Health and Wellness Event
    • WVUD Radio for their Battle of the Bands Program – Outstanding Performance
    • Black Student Union for their Exploring the Diaspora Event – Outstanding New Event
    • Cultural Programming Advisory Board for their Annual Icebreaker Weekend Block Party – Outstanding Annual Event

    New Organization

    • Sky Club

    Rosin Rising Star

    • Gianna Richason, Honors, UDance

    Treasurer

    • Chase Dunlap, Honors, UDance
    • Josh Artis, National Society of Black Engineers

    Grossman Memorial Award

    • Annanya Venkataraman
    • Rachael Tilson, Honors
    • Hannah Armstrong
    • Adam Bungarden, Honors

    Overall Achievement

    • Black Student Union (BSU)
    • WVUD Radio

    Lifetime Achievement

    • Dave Mackenzie, WVUD Radio

    Blue Hen Leadership Program Site Leader of the Year Award

    • Kaveri Srivastava

    Blue Hen Leadership Program Outstanding Service to the Program

    • Riya Moorthy

    Blue Hen Leadership Program Emerging Leader Award

    • Malika Iyer, Honors
    • Nick Quintana, Honors

    Blue Hen Leadership Program The Model the Way Award

    • Kate Knesek
    • Jalen Rogers

    Blue Hen Leadership Program Senior Leadership Award

    • Tony Denney
    • Lauren Leader

    Blue Hen Esports Award of Distinction

    • Tyler O’Keefe
    • Jon Palmeri

    University Student Centers Outstanding Technician

    • Elisha Shrestha

    University Student Centers Outstanding Customer Service

    • Lauren Gilligan

    University Student Centers Outstanding Building Manager

    • Abby Newton

    University Student Centers Outstanding Associate

    • Aretha Korsah
    two students pose with their YouDee Award in front of a large screen that reads "Women in Healthcare"

    Examples of Outstanding Nominations

    Outstanding Leader

    Full Name of the Individual Nominee: John Smith

    Nominee UDel Email: jsmithxxx@udel.edu

    Please state clearly why this individual deserves recognition at the YoUDee Leadership Awards.

    I am excited and pleased to nominate John Smith, Vice president of the Awesome Congress at UD for the outstanding leader award.

    I have known John for 2 years and have watched him exemplify stellar leadership and commitment within the roles he serves. John is focused, analytical and determined.

    John is a dynamic leader. In addition to his position as VP for the Awesome Congress, he is also the president of the Amazing Organization. He previously served as the programs and recruitment chair for the Awesome Congress at UD as well as treasurer for his other organization.

    John has been my right-hand-man throughout my tenure as president of the congress. Whenever I needed a co-host or could not attend a meeting, John was always there to help and facilitate the meetings. John attended all but one general body meeting and has never missed an executive board meeting. Dependable, reliable, committed are all adjectives that characterize John as an individual and leader.

    What distinguishes John is his inquisitive attitude and diverse perspective. John challenges decisions and analyzes the options. Whenever there was a discrepancy or issue that the executive board needed a solution to, he asked great questions to facilitate the process and always kept things in perspective. If we digressed, John was there to bring the focus back to the goal and what we were trying to achieve. His pragmatic approach has been invaluable this year, as we have had to overcome and address various issues and make tough decisions as an executive board to ensure the Awesome Congress is operating in conjunction with its constitution.

    The main responsibility of the vice president is to coordinate the annual event. John did a phenomenal job at maintaining professionalism throughout the process. He handled the paperwork including the event contracts and allocation requests. The step show was a sold-out event and the participation from UD organizations was greater than it had been in recent years. In addition to planning the event, he performed in it.

    It is with great enthusiasm that I highly recommend John Smith for the outstanding leader award. His skillset and personality have been essential to the executive board and helping to improve the operations of the Awesome Congress at UD. John is truly exemplary of an outstanding leader!

    Outstanding Program or Event

    Title: The Best Event Ever

    Date(s): The Past

    Start Time: 3:00 p.m.

    End Time: 6:00 p.m.

    Location: Mitchell Hall

    Estimated Attendance: 350

    Was this even co-sponsored by another organization: Yes

    Please state clearly why this event and/or program deserves recognition at the YoUDee Leadership Awards.

    Our organization exists to plans programs that represent the interests of the campus community through social, cultural and educational programming. Leading into the fall semester, America witnessed what was considered “the trial of the century”. The fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin committed by George Zimmerman resurfaced and reignited conversations about race and left us wondering how we evaluate race and the presence of race in American society.

    Adhering to the mission of organization, we wanted an event that would place an emphasis on educating communities where people from different communities can learn from each other. As a response to George Zimmerman’s acquittal, we wanted to forge a forum to address race and the criminal justice system, and the result was the Best Event Ever. Knowing that the trial reignited the subject of race, we wanted to have co-sponsors and supporters of this program. The additional supporters were: __________. Representatives from other RSOs and Greek Organizations met for about two months to serve on the planning committee to present this conversation in a respectable, informative and effective manner.

    The Best Event Ever sought to engage a diverse audience in a discussion on the role of race in contemporary society. The event included a keynote by Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, host of HuffPost Live and Our World with Black Enterprise, and Associate Professor of Education at Columbia University’s Teachers College.

    After Dr. Hill, we continued the conversation so a panel discussion followed. Moderated by Dr. Donald Morton, President and CEO, Ankh Renaissance Corporation, the panelists included: Dr. Yaba Belay, assistant professor of Africana Studies at Drexel University, Dr. Armando Lara-Milan, Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology/Criminology at the University of Delaware and Felecia J. Rose, Esquire a lawyer at Obermayer, Rebmann, Maxwell & Hippell, LLP.

    Lasting for three hours, the forum was held in Mitchell Hall. We had a crowd of over 350 people. It was a diverse crowd. We received countless comments on the production of the forum, the keynote speaker and the panelists. This particular program was an educational event and our attendees left the event with new knowledge as Dr. Hill and the panelists addressed how to introduce the conversations in everyday conversations with regular people and how to affirm different racial identities.

    Flyer was included in nomination.

    Outstanding Overall Achievement

    Organization: We Rock Organization

    Please state clearly why this organization deserves recognition at the YoUDee Leadership Awards.

    We Rock Organization is deserving of the Outstanding Overall Achievement Award at the YoUDee Leadership Awards this year due to the intentional and continuous efforts made in overall chapter improvement. With the input of all chapter members, the executive board of We Rock Organization created an action plan to foster growth in all areas of the chapter, including improving chapter morale, unity and confidence, communication, PR, on-campus visibility, values-congruence, member retention and recruitment. The mission statement for this year was to “grow into a positive, unified and constructive chapter with social presence on campus in order to recruit more values-congruent members for life.” This statement was broken down into six goals, each of which had several tangible action items to work toward the goal. In one year, the chapter completed over 90 percent of the planned action items and has made measurable progress, including moving from 10/10 to 6/11 in GPA Rankings, as well as improving performance outcomes in formal recruitment by 288% in one year. Internally, the chapter has experienced major improvements in chapter morale, cohesion and confidence. These improvements were possible because of the hard work of all chapter members, not solely the executive board.

    We Rock Organization also demonstrates outstanding involvement within the larger University community. In July 2013, a member of We Rock Organization had the opportunity to travel to Africa with the Circle of Sisterhood Foundation to break ground on a school for a community in need. In Fall 2013, We Rock Organization proceeded to co-sponsor an event with the Panhellenic Council to promote the Circle of Sisterhood Foundation and educate the community on the importance of educating girls worldwide through the story of this member’s experience in Africa over the summer. As of Spring 2014, We Rock Organization is in the process of planning a viewing of “Half the Sky,” a documentary promoting the mission of the Circle of Sisterhood Foundation and highlighting the importance of empowering girls and women worldwide. The event will be open and promoted to the entire university community. As demonstrated here, We Rock Organization has gone beyond the level of average involvement and has been proactive and intentional in promoting UD’s Philanthropy and educating the university community.