Alpha Delta Pi sorority became two-time winners of the coveted Sweepstakes Award in Samford University’s 2019 Step Sing Feb. 8-10. The women’s group also won the top spot in last year’s show.
With the theme, “Independence Day,” the sorority explored what toys do when people leave home. Show directors were Madeline Allred, a senior business major from Jonesboro, Georgia; Emily Allred, a junior business major from Jonesboro, Georgia; Mackenzie Epps, senior education major from Buford, Georgia.
More than 1,200 students in 16 groups performed four shows. The show is totally student-produced and professionally judged. It is considered one of Samford’s most cherished traditions.
Each year the show identifies a community partner that benefits from group fundraising. This year, all participating groups helped to raise $14,025 for Community Food Bank of Central Alabama’s Kids Meal Campaign. The campaign focuses on childhood hunger in Birmingham and the surrounding counties with its “Weekender Backpack” program to feed a child for an entire weekend.
Judges also presented a women’s and men’s division award. Sigma Chi fraternity won the men’s division award, and Zeta Tau Alpha sorority won the women’s division.
Sigma Chi performed “Sent It,” a show about a child who grows up with the dream of becoming a dare devil. In addition to winning the men’s division, Sigma Chi also received the Judges Award for excellence in music and Participants Choice awards for favorite costume.
Show directors were Hampton Dortch, a junior finance major from Vestavia Hills, Alabama; Grayson Hill, junior marketing major from Cordova, Tennessee, and Jackson McKinney, sophomore business major from Hopkinsville, Kentucky.
Zeta Tau Alpha performed “Cast,” telling the story of a group of young witches. Show directors were Caroline Colee, a senior journalism and mass communication major from Hoover, Alabama; Chloe Champion, a senior English major from Montgomery, Alabama; and Lucy Pharr, a junior musical theatre major from Tuxedo, North Carolina.
In addition to four live performances on campus that attracted about 8,000 to Samford’s Wright Center Concert Hall, viewers across the country and globe tuned in via livestream on Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.
Step Sing originated on the steps of Renfroe Hall on Samford’s East Lake campus before the university relocated to its present location in the late 1950s. It was held in the gymnasium of Seibert Hall and other locations around the Homewood campus before finally landing in Wright Center in 1976. This was the 48th anniversary for the Sweepstakes Award.
Additional Awards:
- Excellence Awards (Judged)
- Excellence in Choreography: Alpha Delta Pi
- Excellence in Creativity: Alpha Delta Pi
- Excellence in Music: Sigma Chi
- Philanthropy Award: Alpha Omicron Pi
Participant Choice Awards (voted on by Participants)
- Favorite Choreography: Alpha Tau Omega
- Favorite Costumes: Sigma Chi
- Favorite Emcee: Dudes-a-Plenty
- Favorite Music: Alpha Tau Omega
- Most Entertaining: Alpha Tau Omega
Committee Choice Awards
- Favorite Song: Pi Kappa Phi, “Rise Up”
- Favorite Moment: Freshman Ladies, “We are the Champions”
- Directors of the Year: Sigma Chi
- Character Award: IGnite
Previous Sweepstakes Winners:
2018 Alpha Delta Pi2017 Pi Kappa Phi
2016 Dudes-a-Plenty
2015 Sigma Chi
2014 Pi Kappa Phi
2013 Pi Kappa Phi
2012 Dudes-a-Plenty
2011 Dudes-a-Plenty
2010 Dudes-a-Plenty
2009 Pi Kappa Phi
2008 Sigma Chi
2007 Dudes-a-Plenty
2006 Independent Ladies