Each year at the DCI World Championships, drum majors across Drum Corps International’s competitive divisions are recognized with leadership awards.
Named for the founder and former director of the Troopers, the Jim Jones Award — presented to one World Class and one Open Class drum major each season — recognizes recipients’ leadership abilities, as evaluated through an application and interview process administered by DCI Hall of Fame member Gene Monterastelli.
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Additionally, a member of the All-Age Class receives the annual Butch Anderson & Walt Winkleman Memorial Trophy for Best Drum Major, named in honor of two former New York Skyliners drum majors who are in the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame.
Honored with the World Class Jim Jones Leadership Award, Megan Conlan added to her legacy as a Santa Clara Vanguard drum major in her second year at the head position and third overall.
“From the day I arrived at Santa Clara, my goal was to give others the experience I had when I started in drum corps,” Conlan said. She wanted to help her teammates love the activity, enjoy the journey and stay focused on what mattered most: their performance on the field.
Long before winning the Jim Jones award, Conlan built a reputation as a standout leader. She began her drum corps journey playing mellophone for the Boston Crusaders — where she earned the Rick Woodall Leadership Award — before joining Vanguard in 2024. In her first year as Vanguard’s head drum major last season, she earned the Director’s Award for her contributions to the corps’ mission.
Now returning to school in the fall to continue her music education degree, Conlan reflects on her final season with Vanguard not just by the accolades, but by the corps’ resilience.
“This group is really mature. They took all the challenges the design team and instructional staff threw at them, faced them head-on, and worked as a team,” Conlan said. “It makes my job easy when they do that. They’re just so great at what they do, and I get the best seat in the house to see it.”
In the Open Class category, Lennon Sherard made a massive impact on the Eclipse’s historic 2026 tour. The corps represented Indianapolis this summer as a first-year Open Class Affiliate corps and had a homecoming of sorts during their very first performance at Lucas Oil Stadium. For Sherard, in their third year as an Eclipse drum major and as an organization veteran, pride in the corps would be an understatement.
“It’s incredible, it’s just knowing that we are part of something so huge. We’re the first corps from Indiana to compete in the DCI circuit in over 30 years,” Sherard said. “That’s just so amazing, and I know all of the kids have worked so hard, so incredibly hard, and it’s just awesome that we get to say Lucas Oil Stadium is a home show.”
WATCH: From Indianapolis, Indiana… Eclipse!
Even with leadership skills coming naturally, Sherard still finds the results of the hard work to be unbelievable.
“My first year as drum major was with Eclipse in 2024, I’d never been a drum major before, even in high school,” Sherard said. “In some ways, I never thought I would be here. It’s so surreal.”
The recipient of 2026’s annual Butch Anderson & Walt Winkleman Memorial Trophy has a history of trail blazing in the All-Age Class. Kim Roman became the Hawthorne Caballeros’ first female head drum major in 2018 and led the New Jersey corps’ first all-female drum major team in 2025.
Flashing forward to 2026, Roman received this award for a second time after last doing so in 2024. A special education teacher outside of drum corps, Roman regularly demonstrates her skills as a leader on and off the field.
“I’m honored to be selected for this award. Obviously, there’s a lot of really excellent drum majors out here, so to be considered is really amazing,” Roman said.
Roman’s nod comes on the heels of a milestone season for the Hawthorne Caballeros, one where the New Jersey organization celebrated its 80th anniversary.
“We had a really good season,” Roman said. “Our staff was great, our members were great, they worked really hard, and we had the best run here at the end.”
