Samuel E. Kelly Ethnic Cultural Center

GALA | Frequently Asked Questions

The Annual Gala Awards will be hosted in-person at the ECC Unity Suite. Nominations and voting will happen online and winners will be announced on Gala day. Check out the FAQ for more information!

To learn more about what makes a nomination eligible for these awards and what kinds of characteristics we are looking for, please visit our awards criteria page

How are Gala awards decided?

We will open our nomination process from April 15 – April 28. Each ECC-affiliated RSO can vote for winners of the RSO awards from April 30 – May 5. Each RSO can cast TWO votes for who they think should win for each category. Additionally, Community and Individual Student Leader awards will be determined by the Gala Planning Committee. All winners will be announced in-person at the Gala Awards Ceremony.

What categories are there?  

The ones that are presented to an organization are: 

  • Commitment to Community and Service 
  • Outstanding Collaboration and Participation 
  • Breakout Organization
  • Most Impactful Programming
  • Organizations of the Year

Individual awards include: 

  • Leadership Award
  • Branching Out Award 
  • Activism Award

What makes you eligible for a category?

  • You must be an Affiliated ECC RSO
  • You must be an active RSO with UW – Seattle Campus
  • Nominator must be a currently enrolled UW student or staff/faculty
  • You can nominate your RSO for multiple categories (it will be up to committee to choose only one category for your RSO)
  • RSOs and student leaders will need at least two nominations to advance to voting (this is at the discretion of the selection committee).

Read the Awards Criteria for more information

What is the timeline for the nominations?

  • Nominations for awards will open from April 15 – April 28. We will close our nomination form at 11:59 PM on Monday April 28.
  • The final selected organizations that advance to voting April 30 – May 5. You can see nominees via our ECC Instagram page or our ECC website!
  • Award recipients will be announced at the Gala Awards Ceremony on May 15.
  • (All times are subject to change)

How will voting work?

Awards will be strongly considered by your peers! Each ECC-affiliated RSO will be able to cast 2 votes via Google Forms. We recommend having a president and/or vice-president to cast the official votes on behalf of your RSO. Any additional votes cast after the 2nd vote will be disregarded.

If we win an award, do we win anything?

Yes! For the organizational awards, the winners will receive $250 in funds for their RSO. All funds can be available at the start of Fall 2025. Restrictions on the use of funding will apply. More information on that will be sent to the winners via email from eccadvs@uw.edu to their general organization email address.

Individual award winners will receive a commemorative statuette.

What is the theme of Gala? What can we expect?

The 2025 Gala Awards theme is Studio Ghibli! We will incorporate a variety of Studio Ghibli throughout the entire program and event, such as our marketing materials and decorations. Overall, the Gala will include music, food, mingling, and time to recognize all the hard work and achievements our ECC RSOs and ECC student leaders have done this past academic year!