Office of Student Life
Leadership and Community Engagement

Leadership Awards


The Student Life Leadership Awards is an annual awards ceremony that celebrates members of the Ohio State community who demonstrate exceptional skills in leadership, advocacy, community engagement, and more. Over the past 65 years, The Ohio State University has recognized hundreds of students, advisors and organizations who demonstrate leadership skills, collaboration, and a commitment to the Ohio State community. The Ohio State Leadership Awards are sponsored by the Office of Student Life.   

Who is Eligible for Ohio State Leadership Awards? 

Any Ohio State student, faculty or staff member is eligible. You do not need to hold a formal title or leadership position in order to be recognized. Leadership Award judges focus more on learning, attitudes, action, and accomplishments than on previous awards or titles. In some cases, an award may be designed for specific students, faculty, or staff (example: Outstanding First Year, or Outstanding SEE Supervisor).  

Who Can Write Letters of Recommendation  

Some of our awards require letters of recommendation for the nominee. All letters of recommendation should be written/submitted by a current OSU faculty, staff, or student. Extremely rare exceptions may be given on a case by case basis. Applicants may not write their own letter of recommendation.  

An Important Statement About AI Usage

Applications, nominations, and letters of recommendation should not be written or edited with the assistance of any type of Artificial Intelligence service or platform. It is important that applicants, nominators, and recommenders utilize their own words when representing themselves and others. While AI can be a valuable tool in many other contexts, it should not be utilized in the creation of any documents or materials that are submitted as part of Leadership Awards. 

How to Apply for Leadership Awards  

Applications for the 2026 Leadership Awards are now open! All applications/nominations are due Wednesday, January 28 by 11:59 pm. All letters of recommendation will be due by Friday, January 30 at 11:59 pm. 

Ready to submit an application on your own behalf or a nomination on the behalf of another? Visit lead.osu.edu/secure/leadership/award or submit your application here. See below for additional information about new nomination processes for some awards.

  1. Review the Leadership Awards Descriptions to see what awards you or someone you know might be a great candidate for 
  2. Determine if you are going to apply (submit materials on your own behalf) or nominate (submit materials on the behalf of someone else) and ensure that the award accepts applications/nominations 
  3. Open the award applications at lead.osu.edu/secure/leadership/award to see what questions you will be asked to answer 
  4. Write out your answers for the awards on a separate document (the system can time out so we strongly recommend this) 
  5. Once you are ready, submit your application here.  
  6. Double-check that you received a confirmation email. If you don't receive a confirmation email, your application/recommendation did not successfully save!
  7. If you applied to an award that requires a letter of recommendation (Outstanding First-Year, Outstanding Senior, Outstanding Grad/Prof student) and did not receive a nomination email from the Leadership Awards Team, send your recommender the customized link generated in your confirmation email so they can submit their letter.  
  8. Celebrate your achievements! We see many more exceptional Buckeyes than we can recognize every year, so tell yourself (or the person you nominated) that hard work is noticed and pays off! 

How to Nominate a Student for Leadership Awards

In 2026, the nomination process for some awards has slightly changed. Those awards include:

  • Outstanding Senior Award
  • Outstanding First Year Student Award
  • Outstanding Graduate/Professional Student Award
  • Stanley D. Gottsegen Award
  • Kaplan Humanitarian Award

Nominators for the above awards must be faculty members, staff members, or graduate associates. To submit the nomination, nominators will be asked to fill out a Microsoft form asking for information about themselves and the student they are nominating. For every award except for the Stanley D. Gottsegen Award, nominators will also submit a letter of recommendation to help fulfill that requirement in advance. The nomination form for these awards can be found here: Leadership Awards Nomination Form

Following the completion of this form, the nominated student will be informed of the nomination via email within 2-3 business days. In order to be eligible to receive this award, the student nominee must also complete the full application found on the Leadership Awards website. We encourage nominators to reach out to that student to encourage them to apply. Students nominated in this way do not need to solicit an additional recommendation letter via the link provided to them but may do so optionally. However, only one letter of recommendation will be considered. If multiple letters are received, only the most recent letter will be judged.

For all other awards, the nomination process remains the same and will be exclusively submitted in the Leadership Awards Portal (lead.osu.edu/secure/leadership/award)

What if you know a great candidate but cannot nominate them?

Email Austin Ahlborn (ahlborn.6@buckeyemail.osu.edu) with their name and award and they will receive a personalized email encouraging them to apply.

Annual Awards Given 

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS 

  • Boehm Holistic Wellness Leadership Award (application or nomination; sponsored by the Student Wellness Center)

  • Celena Irby Award  (application or nomination; sponsored by Student Life Disability Services)

  • Community Engaged Leader Award (application or nomination) 

  • Dean’s Leadership Award (application or nomination) 

  • Dick Maxwell Award  (application or nomination; sponsored by Student Life Disability Services)

  • Kaplan Humanitarian Award (application, resume, and recommendation letter) 

  • Outstanding First-Year Student Award (application or nomination, resume, and recommendation letter) 

  • Outstanding Senior Award (application, resume, and recommendation letter) 

  • Outstanding Graduate/Professional Student Award (application or nomination, resume, and recommendation letter) 

  • Outstanding Green Buckeye Award (application or nomination; sponsored by the Green Buckeyes Leadership Program)

  • Outstanding Student Advocate Award (application or nomination; sponsored by Student Life Disability Services)
  • Patricia M. Carlton Award (application or nomination; sponsored by Student Life Disability Services)

  • Stanley D. Gottsegen Leadership Award (application, resume, and interview) 

  • Oustanding Student Veteran Award (application or nomination; sponsored by Military and Veterans Services)

  • Willie J. Young, Sr. Staff Impact Award (application or nomination; sponsored by the Office of Off-Campus and Commuter Student Engagement)

  • Willie J. Young, Sr. Student Impact Award (application or nomination; sponsored by the Office of Off-Campus and Commuter Student Engagement) 

STUDENT ORGANIZATION AWARDS 

  • Boehm Holistic Wellness Leadership Award 

  • Student Organization of the Year (not application based) 

  • Outstanding New Student Organization Award 

  • Student Organization Excellence Awards (4) 

  • Outstanding Student Organization Program 

  • Outstanding Green Buckeyes – Sustainable Student Organization Award 

  • Risk Reduction Leadership Award (sponsored by Risk and Emergency Management)

NOMINATION-BASED AWARDS 

  • Outstanding Mentorship Awards (sponsored by Buckeye Leadership Fellows)

  • Outstanding SEE Student Employee Award (sponsored by Buckeye Commons)

  • Outstanding SEE Supervisor Award (sponsored by Buckeye Commons)

  • Student Organization Emerging Leader Individual Contribution Award (sponsored by Student Activities)

  • Student Organization Positional Leader Individual Contribution Award (sponsored by Student Activities)

  • Student Organization Advisor Individual Contribution Award (sponsored by Student Activities)