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Committees

Awards

Individual and delegation awards at SSUNS 2026.

Awards Policy

How SSUNS recognizes excellence

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SSUNS is first and foremost a forum designed to foster meaningful dialogue and develop impactful solutions to complex global issues. Awards matter, but they never replace the conference's core purpose: enriching the learning experience of everyone in the room.

The awards policy places particular emphasis on soft skills, especially advocacy, leadership, ingenuity, and diplomacy. Recognition is given to delegates whose conduct meaningfully strengthens the learning of their peers.

Individual Awards

Gavel Awards

  • Viola Desmond Award for Advocacy (3 points)
  • Hide Hyodo Shimizu Award for Leadership Limited to GAs, ECOSOCs, and Specialized Agencies (3 points)
  • Frederick Banting Award for Ingenuity Limited to Crisis committees (3 points)
  • Sergeant Tommy Prince Award for Diplomacy (3 points)
  • All gavel awards are considered equivalent; there is no ranking among the individual gavel awards.

Other Awards

  • SSUNS Outstanding Delegate Award (2 points)
  • Honourable Mention Certificate (1 point)
  • Award distribution The number of Outstanding Delegate awards and Honourable Mentions in each committee is granted in proportion to committee size.

What the dais evaluates

  • Rules of procedure, country or character position, and speaking performance.
  • Leadership, collaboration, creativity, and willingness to learn and improve.
  • For resolution-cycle committees: drafting quality, mechanisms, mergers, and bloc-building.
  • For directive-cycle committees: directive drafting, crisis strategy, and backroom note quality.
  • For double-delegate committees: partner alignment, workload sharing, and mutual respect.

Read the awards policy for more detailed information about what the dais evaluates.

Delegation Awards

Delegation standings

  • Large Delegation Above the median SSUNS delegation size. Available awards are Best Large Delegation and Outstanding Large Delegation.
  • Small Delegation Below the median SSUNS delegation size, with a minimum of four delegates. Available awards are Best Small Delegation and Outstanding Small Delegation.
  • Ranking method Rankings are calculated by dividing total award points by the number of delegates in the delegation.
  • Double-delegate committees Awards earned in double-delegate committees are weighted at twice their standard point value.
  • Ad Hoc committees Gavels earned in Ad Hoc committees are also weighted at twice their standard point value.