Award applications are now available for awards to be presented at the Recognized Student Organization Banquet taking place April 11.

RSOs can pick up an award packet in the Student Government Office, across from Copy Express in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. This year, rather than having a separate application for each award, all applications will be in a packet, Yve Williams, student vice president for student affairs, said Sunday.

RSO awards are divided into three categories, Williams said. Organizational awards deal with the organizations themselves and their programs and projects carried out this year, such as the best new RSO, the most outstanding RSO, and best programs.

The administrative awards are for outstanding RSO advisers. Individual awards are for individual leadership and scholarship, Williams said.

A new perk this year for awards is that the individual award winners will receive monetary awards as well, Williams said.

Two of the awards, the Lou Hencken Presidential Excellence Award and the Shirley Stewart Outstanding Student Leader Award will receive $100. The other five award winners will receive $50 each, Williams said.

“We really want students to apply for them,” Williams said.

These awards require applicants to be full-time students, to have a cumulative grade point average of 2.25, to be a member of an RSO and to write an essay highlighting their leadership and service to the campus, Williams said.

The Hencken and Stewart awards require a 200-word essay, but the other five only require 100 words, Williams said.

The money for the awards comes from money allocated to Student Government by the Apportionment Board for the banquet budget.

Applications for the organizational and administrative awards vary depending on the award, Williams said. Applications for outstanding projects and programs ask four standard questions and ask for supplemental materials, such as newspaper clippings about them, Williams said.

A selection committee is to consist of about six people and will choose the award recipients, Williams said. Award applications are due April 9 at 5 p.m.

The RSO Banquet will take place at 7 p.m. April 11 in the Grand Ballroom of the Union, Williams said.