April 11, 2008 — The first annual Senator John W. Warner Public Leadership Awards have been given to University of Virginia third-year students Sarah Buckley, a political philosophy, policy and law major from Richmond, and Grayson Lambert, a government and foreign affairs major from Columbia, S.C.

Warner presented the awards today to the third-year students at the Rotunda, where the senator received the Thomas Jefferson Award in Citizen Leadership.

The Warner Award, established by the University through an unrestricted gift from Warner, is given to third-year undergraduate students who exhibit a serious, convincing ambition to seek future election to public office. The award honors individuals who strive for service in elected office, whether it is a part-time city council position or a full-time legislative or executive office.

Named for Warner, a 1953 graduate of the U.Va. School of Law and a five-term member of the U.S. Senate, the award includes a stipend to help support the recipients' education and their interest in public life.

A committee chaired by Larry Sabato, Robert Kent Gooch Professor of Politics and director of the Center for Politics, selected the winners on the basis of their academic credentials, a reflective statement of their future goals and a letter of support.

Buckley is president of the University Democrats and a member of the Student Council Environmental Sustainability Committee. She has volunteered for the campaigns of Gov. Tim Kaine, Virginia Sen. Creigh Deeds, Sen. Jim Webb and Sen. John Edwards. For the past two summers, she has worked at the Charlottesville law firm of Buck, Toscano and Tereskerz.
 
Lambert is the vice chair for trials of the University Judiciary Committee and a member of the Jefferson Literary and Debating Society. He has interned for South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Virginia Del. Rob Bell. He is the recipient of a Harrison Undergraduate Research Grant studying the 10th Amendment.