Every two years at Grand Chapter Conclave, we recognize our highest performing chapters with the Buchanan Outstanding Chapter Award. Named in honor of Past Grand President, Edwin Buchanan, Ohio State 1911, the Buchanan Cup represents superior and sustained achievement in our Fraternity. The Buchanan Cup, or “Buc Cup”, recognizes the best-of-the-best Sigma Phi Epsilon chapters. Chapters are measured in relation to the accomplishments of their peers on campuses across the country. Only the chapters that excel in every area of operations and further the Grand Chapter’s strategic plan qualify for this high honor.

An engraved silver bowl is presented to Buchanan Cup winners at the Grand Chapter Conclave. Chapters winning five consecutive Buchanan Outstanding Chapter Awards receive an engraved gold bowl, symbolizing a decade of excellence.

The 2025 Buchanan Cup will recognize excellence from January 1, 2023 through December 31, 2024. The Buc Cup application will open on mySigEp in early 2025 and must be completed and submitted by March 1, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Late submissions will not be considered.

Buc Cup Eligibility

As determined by the National Board of Directors in the fall of 2019, chapters are required to be an accredited SigEp Learning Community to be eligible to earn a Buc Cup. All applications for chapters seeking first-time and accreditation renewal must be submitted on mySigEp by January 17, 2025 for the chapter to be considered for a 2025 Buchanan Cup.

To review your chapter’s SigEp Learning Community accreditation status, visit your chapter dashboard on mySigEp. Chapters that earned their most recent accreditation before June 2023 must submit a renewal application by the January 17 deadline to be considered for a 2025 Buc Cup. Chapters must receive confirmation from the SigEp Learning Community committee that the chapter has been fully accredited by the Buc Cup deadline of March 1, 2025.

Chapters who have not earned SigEp Learning Community accreditation can still submit the Buc Cup application. These chapters will receive feedback from the review committee on strengths and areas of improvement in their chapter operations, but will not be eligible for the award.

Application

The 2025 Buc Cup application has been streamlined to reduce redundancies between the SLC accreditation process and the Buc Cup selection process. Since all chapters must be an SLC to be eligible for a Buc Cup, efforts have been made to remove questions from the Buc Cup application that were already answered by chapters when receiving their SLC accreditation. The application will, again, be hosted within mySigEp and will allow you to:

• Easily collaborate with your executive board to complete the application.
• Save your answers as you go ensuring you don’t lose your progress
• Provide context or color commentary about relevant pre-populated metrics, according to your chapter’s data already stored in mySigEp
• Review responses with chapter volunteers before submitting your application
• Request letters of recommendation that can be uploaded directly by key volunteers and stakeholders

Chapters should use these resources to begin preparing for their Buc Cup application now! For chapters planning to apply for the 2025 Buchanan Cup, please reference the evaluation rubric to see what is considered ‘excellence’ in each area of operations. A version of this rubric will be used by the volunteers who will be reviewing all applications. Additionally, for chapters that want to plan ahead, you can reference this resource to see the questions that will be on the 2025 Buchanan Cup application. In addition to these questions, the following supplemental documents will also need to be submitted, in mySigEp, along with the application:

• Chapter bylaws
• Membership agreement
• Overview of Improvements to the chapters BMP with outcomes
• Photo of chapter’s Ritual equipment set up to perform a Rite of Passage
• Chapter’s budget for last two years
• Chapter’s latest federal tax filing (Form 990)
• A recent monthly financial report for the chapter (there is a sample/template on the VPF resource page)
• An annual financial review of the chapter’s finances (there is a sample/template on the VPF resource page)
• Chapter’s calendar of events. Calendar should include events of all types (BMP, SLC, social, philanthropy, etc.)
• Grade reports for each term during the review period (2023 Spring and Fall, 2024 Spring and Fall)
• 3-5 photos of chapter events with brothers (to be displayed during the awards ceremony). Images must be high-resolution and above 1MB.

Data from mySigEp dashboards will also be evaluated along with the chapter’s written application responses. A step that the chapter can take right now is to validate that the information in mySigEp is accurate. The following dashboards are utilized in the process:

• Academics
• Balanced Man Scholarship
• Finance, including tax forms and budgets uploaded
• Manpower
• Program Attendance
• Recruitment
• Volunteer Engagement

If the information on these dashboards is not accurate, take the time now to start making updates.

Letters of recommendation should be submitted with your application. Letters should help support answers supplied by the chapter and help clearly show why the chapter should be considered as one of SigEp’s best. Reviewers typically like to see at least three letters of recommendation. Valuable recommendations could come from:

• Fraternity and sorority life advisor (Required)
• Chapter counselor
• AVC president
• Balanced man steward
• District governor
• Faculty fellow or resident scholar
• Dean of students or vice president of student affairs

Start having conversations with people you would like a recommendation from now, so they can be prepared to supply a valuable recommendation supporting the chapter’s application.

Important Dates

• December 31, 2024 - End of the evaluation period
• January 17, 2025 - Deadline to submit SLC applications for chapters who wish to be eligible for a Buc Cup but are not an accredited SLC or their last accreditation date was June 2023 or earlier.
• March 1, 2025 at 11:59 PM ET - Buc Cup application deadline and deadline to received full SLC accreditation
• July 23-27, 2025 - Grand Chapter Conclave, winners announced at the Thursday night Balanced Man Celebration

If you have any questions about the Buchanan Cup, please reach out to Stacy Nicodemus, Programs & Events Director.

Wondering if your chapter has previously won a Buc Cup? You can search here!