The Tewaaraton Trophy is an award given annually, since 2001, to the most outstanding American college lacrosse

College lacrosse

College lacrosse refers to lacrosse played by student athletes at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. In both countries, men's field lacrosse and women's lacrosse are played in both the varsity and club levels...

 player. It is the lacrosse

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse or lacrosse stick, mainly played in the United States and Canada. It is a contact sport which requires padding. The head of the lacrosse stick is strung with loose mesh...

 equivalent of football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

's Heisman Trophy

Heisman Trophy

The Heisman Memorial Trophy Award , is awarded annually to the player deemed the most outstanding player in collegiate football. It was created in 1935 as the Downtown Athletic Club trophy and renamed in 1936 following the death of the Club's athletic director, John Heisman The Heisman Memorial...

. The trophy is presented by the Greater Washington Sports Alliance

Greater Washington Sports Alliance

The Greater Washington Sports Alliance is a non-profit organization, founded in 2003 under the Greater Washington Board of Trade. Currently, an independent entity, its board is headed by Chairman Fernando Murias, Managing Partner of PriceWaterhouseCoopers. It is the regional sports commission...

 and the University Club of Washington, D.C. One trophy is presented to the top men's player, and one trophy is presented to the top women's player each year. The 2010 Awards Ceremony was held at the National Museum of the American Indian

National Museum of the American Indian

The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum operated under the auspices of the Smithsonian Institution that is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the native Americans of the Western Hemisphere...

 on June 3rd.

Lacrosse is one of the oldest team sports played in North America and the award honors the Native American

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 heritage of lacrosse in the name of its trophy, "Tewaaraton," the Mohawk name for their game and the progenitor of present day lacrosse. The Tewaaraton Trophy has received the endorsement of the Mohawk Nation

Mohawk nation

Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...

 Council of Elders. Each year, the award recognizes one of the Six Nations of the Iroquois

Iroquois

The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

 Confederacy: the Mohawk

Mohawk nation

Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...

, Cayuga, Oneida

Oneida tribe

The Oneida are a Native American/First Nations people and are one of the five founding nations of the Iroquois Confederacy in the area of upstate New York...

, Onondaga, Seneca

Seneca nation

The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...

 and Tuscarora

Tuscarora (tribe)

The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...

 tribes. 2010 celebrates the "Year of the Seneca."

Trophy

The trophy is a bronze sculpture depicting a Mohawk native playing lacrosse. It was designed and created by Frederick Kail with the assistance of Thomas Vennum, Jr., a renowned Native American lacrosse historian and author, who consulted with Kail to ensure the trophy's historical authenticity. The 12-inch figure is mounted upon a hexagon-shaped slab of black granite and polished Cocobolo wood. The hexagonal base symbolizes the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy: the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca, and Tuscarora tribes. With some minor decorative exceptions, the stick is a replica of a pre-1845 Cayuga stick belonging to the grandfather of Alexander T. General of the Six Nations Reserve in Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. This stick was an original predecessor of the modern-day lacrosse stick

Lacrosse stick

A lacrosse stick or crosse is a long-handled racket used to play the sport of lacrosse. Players use the lacrosse stick to handle the ball and to strike at opposing players...

.

Nomination process

Players are nominated for the award by coaches from all three NCAA divisions during the collegiate season. All Watch List nominees are then screened and selected by two Selection Committees. The Selection Committees are composed of collegiate coaches, one committee for the men and one committee for the women. At the conclusion of the season the selection committees meet to rank the top five male and female finalists. The finalists are then invited to the Awards Banquet, where the Tewaaraton trophy winners are announced.
In addition to recognizing the top men’s and women’s collegiate lacrosse players, the Tewaaraton Award also recognizes the High School All-Tewaaraton team for both boys and girls lacrosse. This is a regional team which is composed of the best players from both private and public schools in the Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, and Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 area.

Tewaaraton Award recipients

Tewaaraton Award Recipients
Year	Men's Winner	School	Position	Women's Winner	School	Position
2001	Doug Shanahan Doug Shanahan Doug Shanahan is a professional lacrosse player who is a midfielder and faces off for the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse . He attended Hofstra University, playing both football and lacrosse in college.-Hofstra University:...	Hofstra University Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...	Midfield	Jen Adams Jen Adams Jen Adams is the head women's lacrosse coach at Loyola University Maryland and was an All-American lacrosse player at the University of Maryland from 1998 to 2001, leading the Terrapins to national titles for four straight years, including a perfect 21 and 0 record in 1999, as well as a perfect 23...	University of Maryland University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...	Attack
2002	Mike Powell	Syracuse University Syracuse University Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...	Attack	Erin Elbe	Georgetown University Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...	Attack
2003	Chris Rotelli Chris Rotelli Chris Rotelli is a professional lacrosse player who had a standout collegiate career at the University of Virginia before going on to the professional ranks in Major League Lacrosse.-High school and collegiate career:...	University of Virginia University of Virginia The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...	Midfield	Rachael Becker	Princeton University Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....	Defense
2004	Mike Powell	Syracuse University	Attack	Amy Appelt	University of Virginia	Attack
2005	Kyle Harrison Kyle Harrison Kyle Harrison is a lacrosse player from Baltimore, Maryland born to Wanda and Miles Harrison,M.D.. He matriculated to the Friends School of Baltimore, and later played in college at Johns Hopkins. While playing for the Blue Jays, he led the team to the 2005 NCAA Division I National Championship.His...	Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University, commonly referred to as Johns Hopkins, JHU, or simply Hopkins, is a private research university based in Baltimore, Maryland, United States...	Midfield	Katie Chrest	Duke University Duke University Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...	Attack
2006	Matt Ward	University of Virginia	Attack	Kristen Kjellman Kristen Kjellman Kristen Kjellman is an American women's lacrosse player. She played for the Northwestern Wildcats and the USA World Cup Team.-Early life:...	Northwestern University Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....	Midfield
2007	Matt Danowski Matt Danowski Matt Danowski is a professional lacrosse player for the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse. He also plays professional indoor lacrosse in the National Lacrosse League for the Rochester Knighthawks...	Duke University	Attack	Kristen Kjellman	Northwestern University	Midfield
2008	Mike Leveille Mike Leveille Mike Leveille is a professional lacrosse player with the Chicago Machine of the Major League Lacrosse. He was an All-American at Syracuse University, and was awarded the Tewaaraton Trophy in 2008.-Professional career:...	Syracuse University	Attack	Hannah Nielsen	Northwestern University	Midfield
2009	Max Seibald Max Seibald Max Seibald is a lacrosse player for the Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse and the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League. He graduated with the at Cornell University. He is from Hewlett, New York, and attended Hewlett High School...	Cornell University Cornell University Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...	Midfield	Hannah Nielsen	Northwestern University	Midfield
2010	Ned Crotty Ned Crotty Ned Crotty of New Vernon, New Jersey is a MLL professional lacrosse player, formerly of the NCAA Division I college lacrosse team in Duke University. He also plays indoor lacrosse for the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League.Ned attended and played lacrosse at the Delbarton School in...	Duke University	Attack	Caitlyn McFadden	University of Maryland	Midfield
2011	Steele Stanwick Steele Stanwick Steele Stanwick is a NCAA Division I lacrosse player at the University of Virginia. One of eight children, all three of Steele's sisters—Sheehan, Wick, and Coco—were All-American lacrosse players in college, while brother Tad played lacrosse at Rutgers University...	University of Virginia	Attack	Shannon Smith	Northwestern University	Attack

Native American Scholarship Program

Since 2007, The Tewaaraton Award has given over $40,000 in scholarships to Native American high school lacrosse players through its Tewaaraton Outstanding Native American Scholarship Program. The $5,000 scholarships are awarded annually on a highly competitive basis to one Native American female and one Native American male lacrosse player who are enrolled members of a U.S. tribe with their collegiate tuition. All awards are not only based on the student's athletic performance, but also on their merit, academic achievement, and ambition.

Tewaaraton Outstanding Native American Scholarship Recipients
Year	Men's winner	Tribe	Women's winner	Tribe
2007	Alexander Jimerson	Seneca Nation of Indians Seneca nation The Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...	Mia McKie	Tuscarora Indian Nation Tuscarora (tribe) The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...
2008	Emmett Printup	Tuscarora Indian Nation Tuscarora (tribe) The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...	Corinne Abrams	Tuscarora Indian Nation Tuscarora (tribe) The Tuscarora are a Native American people of the Iroquoian-language family, with members in New York, Canada, and North Carolina...
2009	Isaac "Ike" Hopper	Onondaga Nation Onondaga (tribe) The Onondaga are one of the original five constituent nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. Their traditional homeland is in and around Onondaga County, New York...	Trenna Hill	Mohawk Descent Mohawk nation Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...