Whereas SSA grants assist affiliates with projects that will take place in the future, "Best Awards" are designed to reward groups that have excelled in a particular area.

Best awards cover an entire academic year and will be given at our annual conference in June. Applications for awards are due by May 31st, 2009.  Groups may apply for as many awards as they like.

A $300.00 prize and an attractive plaque are awarded to each group that wins a Best Category Award.  The Best Affiliate award comes with a plaque and a $500.00 prize.  We will also cover the winning projects in the eMpirical.

The categories you can apply for this year are:

• Best Affiliate (application) - $500
• Best New Affiliate (application) - $300
  
• Best Service Project (application) - $300
  
• Best Letter to the Editor or Media Coverage (application) - $300
  
• Best Web Site (application) - $300

Please Note!  The web applications for the Best Awards do not support Apple's Safari browser.  Entries through Safari will not be submitted!  Please use Firefox or another browser to submit your application.

Here are some examples of projects that won in the past:

2008 Best Award Winners (All Categories, 2008)
University of Kentucky SHIFT Wins Best Service Project Award (2007)
Kansas University's SOMA wins SSA Best Affiliate (2007)
SSA Best New Affiliate: Bruin Alliance of Skeptics & Secularists (2007)
Freethought Books for Prisoners (Service, 2006) 
Toronto Secular Alliance wins SSA Best Website Award (2006)
Drive Time Evolution Education (Media, 2006)
2005 Best Award Winners (All Categories, 2005)

In 2004 James Madison University Freethinkers received an the Best website Award. The University of Kansas Society of Open-Minded Atheists and Agnostics was given the Best Media award for the newspaper article in the Lawrence Journal-World featuring their efforts and publicizing campus Freethought. Students for Freethought at the Ohio State University received an award for the best service project for raising over $1,000 at the Central Ohio AIDS-Walk. The Michigan State University Freethinker Alliance was honored as the best SSA affiliate for 2003-2004 for their work persuading their city council in East Lansing, Michigan to honor "Church-State Separation Week."