What is the Omega Talent Hunt?

2026 Benjamin “Pops” Wilson Talent Hunt and Scholarship Recognition Program

Benjamin Parker “Pops” Wilson Talent Hunt and Scholarship Recognition Program

By Judson L. Jeffries, PhD, MPH

Eta Nu Nu Chapter has donated more the $28,000 in performance arts scholarships

and cultural programs support

While the idea was conceived in 1945, the first District Talent Hunt program was held in the Sixth District in Charlotte North Carolina. Since its inception, the Talent Hunt Program established by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. has been instrumental in supporting youth worldwide in showcasing their artistic talents and giving them a platform to nurture these talents through an objective, unbiased competition both locally and regionally.  The Talent Hunt program is one of several national, mandated programs that our great fraternity facilitates in supporting our youth.  

On Sunday March 8, 2025, for the fourth year in a row Capital University’s Mees Hall, located in Bexley, Ohio, served as the venue for Eta Nu Nu’s Talent Hunt and Scholarship Recognition Program. Named in honor of the incredibly talented and OSU graduate, Benjamin Parker “Pops” Wilson, the event is a highly anticipated occasion. The Talent Hunt is one of the fraternity’s twelve internationally mandated programs that each chapter in the fraternity is required to carry out every year, however our program is unique in the following ways: a) since the chapter’s founding in 2020 the men of Eta Nu Nu have raised more than $700,000 b) our program is named in honor of a jazz great who also happens to be a member of the fraternity and c) several of our participants have gone on to major in music at prestigious colleges and universities, two of whom are currently studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
The performances in this year’s Talent Hunt program ranged from dance to reed instruments, to piano to singing to string instruments, to name a few. At least three of the participants were competing for the third year in a row. There were an equal number of boys and girls. Each of the performances had audience members on their feet clapping thunderously. At the conclusion of that portion of the program each participant was given a striking medallion that was draped around their necks. As an added touch, before leaving the stage, each of the young ladies was handed a bouquet of roses. Yet again, multi-instrumentalist Antione Lee took home first prize for the second time in four years.
Following the performers the scholarship winners took the stage against a backdrop that included an image of each winner, and a short bio projected on a screen behind them. Each winner was handed a certificate acknowledging receipt of the scholarship that will help defray the cost of college tuition at which point a photo was taken of the recipient standing alongside both the chairman of the scholarship committee, Judson L. Jeffries and Matthew B. Coleman the basileus of Eta Nu Nu. Past winners of our scholarship have enrolled in some of the country’s most prestigious colleges and universities including, Fordham University, Morehouse College, The Ohio State University, North Carolina A & T University and Howard University.
Eta Nu Nu’s Talent Hunt and Scholarship Recognition program is a good time to be had by all. As the program continues to grow, we anticipate our fundraising apparatus to take on even greater responsibility, our recruitments efforts to uncover more sensational talent and our scholarship coffers to swell in unprecedented proportions. The men of Eta Nu Nu are proud of the young performers who participate in the Talent Hunt portion of the program as well as the students whose academic achievements merit being awarded a scholarship. We are expecting big things from all of them in the future.