The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is an award presented to graduating seniors, alumni, and faculty of selected colleges and universities in the Southern United States for excellence of character and service to humanity. The awards stem from the Society's wish to establish a permanent reminder of the "noblest human qualities as expressed and followed in the life of its first president, Algernon Sydney Sullivan; and to do so in a manner which will perpetuate the influence of such a man, not so much as an individual but as a type." Specifically, each awarding institution seeks recipients with Sullivan's ideals of heart, mind, and conduct as evidenced by a spirit of love for and helpfulness to others, who "excel in high ideals of living, in fine spiritual qualities, and in generous and unselfish service to others. When the institution makes the Student Award, it appoints the recipient as its representative to bear its standard before the world."