The Tewaaraton Award is an annual award for the most outstanding American college lacrosse men's and women's players, since 2001. It is the lacrosse equivalent of football's Heisman Trophy. The award is presented by The Tewaaraton Foundation and the University Club of Washington, D.C.
Lacrosse is the oldest sport played in North America[1] and the award honors the Native American heritage of lacrosse in the name of its award, "Tewaaraton," the Mohawk name for their game and the progenitor of present-day lacrosse. The Tewaaraton Award has received the endorsement of the Mohawk Nation Council of Elders. Each year, the award recognizes one of the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy: the Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora tribes.
The award winners each receive a trophy of 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 Native American lacrosse historian and author.[2]
Replicas of the trophy are given to the winners each year. The original castings of the trophy are part of a permanent collection and are currently on display at the University Club of Washington, D.C.[2][3]
Players are nominated for the award by coaches, and winners chosen by selection committees made up of coaches.[4][3]
In addition to recognizing the top men’s and women’s collegiate lacrosse players, the Tewaaraton Award in the past has also recognized the High School All-Tewaaraton team for both boys and girls lacrosse. This was a regional team which was composed of the best players from both private and public schools in the Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia area. Although no such list has been released since 2010[5] and there is no mention of it on either the Tewaraaton Awards website nor the University Club of Washington, D.C.'s website.
Each year the ceremony takes place at the National Museum of the American Indian.[6] Anyone can purchase a ticket to attend the ceremony.[3]
There is debate in the lacrosse community as to whether the Tewaaraton Award is an outstanding player award or whether it should be called a postseason award. The controversy stems from the fact that the award is usually given to a male player who plays well during the season-ending NCAA tournament and from a team which is the winner or runner up in the NCAA Tournament. The Lt. Raymond Enners Award is the USILA Outstanding Player of the Year Award selected by the NCAA coaches, and the Tewaaraton Award recipient was not the same as the Raymond Enners Award recipient in 5 out of the first 11 years that the Tewaaraton was awarded.[7] Since then, the two awards have agreed almost exactly; in each season but one from 2012 through 2022, both awards were won by the same individual. The only exception in this span was in 2014, when the Enners Award went to one of the two brothers who shared the Tewaaraton Award.
Since 2011, the Tewaaraton Legend Award has been presented to one recipient each year who played collegiately prior to 2001 when the first Tewaaraton Award was presented, whose performance during their college years would have earned them a Tewaaraton Award had the award existed when they played. All awardees received the Enners Award when they played except for Jim Brown and Jimmy Lewis whose playing days preceded the first Enners Award in 1969. In 2016, the foundation began presenting both a men's and women's Legend Award.
The Spirit of Tewaaraton is presented each year to an individual who has contributed to the sport of lacrosse in a way that reflects the spirit of the values and the mission of the Tewaaraton award. The award was first presented in 2003. Although there have been some years it was not presented, it has been presented each year since 2012 with the exceptions of 2020 and 2021.[8]
Since 2006, The Tewaaraton Foundation has given over $130,000 in scholarships to Native American high school lacrosse players through its Tewaaraton Native American Scholarships program.[9] The $10,000 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. All awards are not only based on the student's athletic performance, but also on their merit, academic achievement, and ambition.