Every two years at Conclave, we recognize our highest performing chapters with the Buchanan Outstanding Chapter Award. Named in honor of Past Grand President Edwin Buchanan, Ohio State '11, 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 2021 Buchanan Cup application — which measures chapter performance from Jan. 1, 2019, to Dec. 31, 2020 — is now available in mySigEp! The completed application and all supplemental documents must be submitted in mySigEp by Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at 11:59 p.m ET. Only chapters that submit a complete application by the deadline will be considered for a Buchanan Cup. However, all chapters that submit an application by March 24 (whether complete or incomplete) will receive feedback from reviewers with suggestions on how to improve chapter performance.
After feedback from chapters and volunteers on the cumbersome nature of past applications, we have made significant strides in streamlining the application to make this easier for all. As you begin working on your application in mySigEp this year, you will find:
- An easier to navigate experience with each section of the application designated by an icon within mySigEp.
- Pre-populated dashboards with information for your chapter. In each applicable section, you will need to review the respective dashboard and answer the open-ended questions to provide context or color commentary.
- The ability for multiple members of your chapter to work together toward completion while being able to save answers and return later. Additionally, your volunteers will also have access to review the application and help you stay on pace to submit before the deadline.
- An altogether easier application experience with far fewer opportunities for technical glitches when completing, saving or sending.
Buchanan Cup FAQs
mySigEp is a digital portal to manage your contact information, access chapter and AVC tools and allows you to easily log into other SigEp platforms like the BMP App and greekbill. If this is your first time logging into mySigEp, use method #3 here to set up your account.
This year, the Buchanan Cup application is hosted within mySigEp and must be submitted through this portal. You can find resources on the platform and information on how to access mySigEp and submit the application here.
All chapter officers and committee members listed in mySigEp will have access to the 2021 Buchanan Cup application in mySigEp, and everyone with access can make changes or additions to the application. As you complete the application, you may save your responses and come back to them later. If someone else in your chapter needs access, you can assign them a temporary role as a “Buchanan Cup Application Committee Member” in mySigEp.
All volunteers will also have access to view the chapter's Buchanan Cup application. Submissions may be disqualified if volunteers complete the application on behalf of the chapter.
The data points you are seeing in your application are calculated based on various actions taken by chapter officers (ex: reporting new members), members (ex: submitting activities in the BMP App) or Headquarters staff assessments (ex: Balanced Man Scholarship assessment results). The first open-ended question of each section that references a dashboard allows you an opportunity to provide color commentary or context on the data. For example, if your new members show 0 and your campus was on a recruitment moratorium, you should provide that context in the respective question’s response field.
The only dashboard that is editable is the Academic Dashboard, where you will have the ability to edit/upload academic performance from prior semesters.
If you run into any issues during the application process, or the dashboards are displaying an error, you should email membership@sigep.net for support, well in advance of the deadline, to troubleshoot the concern.
You may download the Microsoft Word document to work on your responses offline. However, all responses must be submitted in mySigEp directly. The Microsoft Word document will not be accepted as your application submission. As you complete your responses in mySigEp, make sure to save your answers as you go. Within each section, there will be a question to designate whether your chapter is still "In Progress" working on those responses or "Completed". To indicate that your chapter is done with the application, please switch all section statuses to "Completed".
Changing the status to "Completed" does not prevent you or others from editing the responses, however, any responses submitted or modified after the deadline will be ineligible for review.
All volunteers have years of experience working with SigEp chapters and understand what constitutes the “best of the best.” Additionally, they are provided with this rubric to help guide their decision making. This resource helps show what excellence looks like within each area of the application.
