2010(Fall)-Recipient, Texas A&M University System Chancellor Award for Teaching Excellence: Top 5% Student Rating A&M University System.
2004-President's Excellence Award College of Arts and Science Senior Level Research and Scholarship
2003-TAMUK Teaching Excellence Grants (Audio Recording)
2002-TAMUK Teaching Excellence Grants (Music Theory)
2001-Faculty Development Grant, Texas A&M University-Kingsville
1999-Texas A&M Foundation Grant
1992-Recipient, US Department of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Post Secondary Education (FIPSE), Transculturation Program Grant, three-week residence in Cuernavaca Mexico
1988-Recipient, Lilly Foundation Research Grant
1987-Recipient, Lilly Foundation Research Grant
2009-Sanders’ works for band appear on the Prescribed Music List of the following State Education
Association: Alabama, Middle Tennessee, Kansas, New York, Southern California, Mississippi, George, Florida and Michigan
2005- “Elegy: Jesus Wept” Selected for inclusion “Best New Music for Young Bands, 2nd ed.”
Dvorak editor, Manhattan Beach Publisher
2004-"Heritage Award" for the creation of "Dreams and Faith" from the Kansas Heritage Association
2004-CBS “The Osgood Report” interview on “Dreams and Faith”, National Broadcast
2003-Continental Harmony Grant, American Composers Forum
1999-Texas A&M University System Foundation Grant
1997- Named "National Art Associate" Sigma Alpha Iota
1996-"Prairie Wind" Selected as one of 1995's best new works for band by BandWorld magazine
1994-“Silver Dances”, 2nd Prize, Texas Orchestra Directors Association, Composition Contest
1992-"Prairie Dreams: The River's Echo " participant 1992 Pulitzer Prize
1991-Selected for Indianapolis Symphony's "Music of the Mind" Series, performance “Silver Dances”
1990-Elected to Sigma Alpha Iota Composer's Bureau
1989-Finalist, Charles Ives Center Composition Fellowship, Danbury, Connecticut
1988-Elected to American Composers Alliance, New York
1987-International Who's Who in Music, Cambridge, England
1987-Finalist, American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Grants to Young Composers
1986-2nd Prize, College Band Directors' National Association, Virginia Intercollegiate Band Symposium XI New Music for Band Competition, “Only the Sea Cries”
1985-Recipient, Pi Kappa Lambda Composition Scholarship Award, (Alpha Alpha Chapter) University of North Texas
1982-BMI Student Composer Award, “Wind of Fire”
1982-Winner Arkansas Student Composer Award, University of Arkansas
1981-Winner National Federation of Music Clubs, Musical Achievement Award
1978-1st and 2nd Place, Arkansas MTNA Composition Contest
1977-2nd Place, Southeast Region of MENC, Composition Contest
