The Committee on Student Organizations presented its third annual awards yesterday, with the Dartmouth Asian Organization taking home four awards and Uncommon Threads sharing the Best Publication of the Year award, despite recent controversies over material it printed.
DAO captured its record-number of awards for Best Collaborative Event, Best Cultural Event and Outstanding Leader, as well as the Milton Sims Kramer Group Award.
Uncommon Threads shared the Best Publication award with the Stonefence Review literary magazine.
The publication was embroiled in controversy earlier this year for printing sexually explicit material which was criticized by some members of the community.
Director of Student Activities Linda Kennedy said the members of COSO were in agreement about awarding Uncommon Threads the publication prize.
"Throughout all the discussion about their organization, they ... have been very mature," Kennedy said.
She also said she did not think the College community was divided about the appropriateness of the sexually explicit story in Uncommon Threads and thought COSO's decision was not in conflict with student opinions.
"I don't think the student body had a heated discussion about Uncommon Threads," Kennedy said.
She said she felt students did however have divided feelings about the Jack-O-Lantern humor magazine after it published a humor piece describing Eskimo pick-up lines and a Dartmouth Review dictionary which featured racial epithets in Fall term.
Uncommon Threads' Kytja Weir '98 said she was excited about the win.
"It's nice to have the recognition of the College, especially given the controversy we had in the winter over the things we published," Weir said.
DAO won for Best Collaborative Event for DAO Culture Night and Best Cultural Event award for "Food, Fight and Film," a series of 4 events designed to showcase various Asian cultures.
Former DAO President Priscilla Cham '98 was named the outstanding leader of the year.
Cham is currently the director of the Chinese Dance Troupe, a member of Casque and Gauntlet senior society and treasurer of the Sheba dance group.
DAO also won the Milton Sims Kramer Group Award, which is accompanied by a $750 dollar prize, for its organization of the Henry Wu speech and its representation of a traditional Asian wedding.
DAO President Margaret Chu '98 said she was surprised her group left with so many awards.
"There are a lot of COSO organizations out there ... I didn't think we'd walk away with [four] awards," Chu said.
The Dartmouth Aires were named Best Performing Group for the second year in a row.
The Pretty How Town Theater Company received the award for Best New Organization. The philanthropic acting company performed its first play, "Know Thyself," in Winter term.
Voices won for Best Event Series for a series of professor teas.
The Korean-American Student Association won Best Event Publicity for its poster advertising the Korean Culture Night.
For organizing the William F. Buckley speech last term about his New York Times column "God and Man at Dartmouth," Voces Clamantium won the Best Issue Oriented Event award.
Dartmouth Medical School Professor Lee Witters was named Advisor of the Year for his work on the Nathan Smith Premedical Society.
The awards are selected by the members of COSO and only COSO-funded groups are eligible to win.
Each of the awards, except for the Kramer Group Award, is accompanied by a $250 prize.
Kennedy said the members of COSO discuss each award and come to a consensus about the recipient.
