This post was written by Hatchet reporter Nicole Butler

Hundreds gathered to recognize student and faculty contributions to the community Wednesday at the 27th annual excellence awards reception.

Fifteen individuals and seven student organizations were honored at the event, recognizing students for leadership, service, advocacy and cultural commitments.

“It’s an occasion that culminates a year’s worth of work for a lot of orgs and a lot of people,” junior Benjamin Pincus, one of the night’s emcees, said. “Everyone deserves their moment to be recognized for the amount of work they do.”

Winners were selected by a committee comprising student, faculty and staff.

The night also featured vibrant performances from GW Raas, The Voice Gospel Choir and Capital Funk – the winner of the Students’ Choice for Performance Group of the Year.

GW Students Against Sexual Assault was awarded a Pyramid Award for student organization of the year, along with the South Asian Society and Active Minds.

“It’s a really big honor to be nominated and winning just makes an entire year of work and effort and really working toward a goal worth it,” Ivonne Ramirez, a graduate student member of GW Students Against Sexual Assault, said. The group has coordinated with other advocacy groups on campus to develop training and educational programs about preventing sexual assault.

Junior Danielle Moore earned one of five Joint Committee Scholarships, which awards $3,000 to each student.

“It’s an honor to be nominated at all and then I didn’t think that I would win, seeing all the nominees, I just had no idea. So it was really a blessing and a great honor to be given that award,” Moore said.