UPSU held the 2019 SU Awards on Thursday 9th May at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, celebrating the amazing contributions students have made to the Students’ Union, University and the local community. These awards recognise truly inspirational students and groups; highlighting their outstanding achievements. We received 477 nominations, submitted exclusively by students, with 55 of them shortlisted for the main awards, 16 achieving full colours and 75 recognised for half colours.
We are proud to have a thriving student community here at the Students’ Union, that helps support the wellbeing of our members. These awards recognise some of our key communities of over 100 societies with 4,000 members, 55 sports clubs with over 3,200 members, and over 500 student volunteers that have contributed over 20,000 hours in the local community. Within our student community these activities and groups are helping students to have a successful, fulfilling and rewarding time both at University and in the future.
List of winners:
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Dedication to Volunteering: Louise Crichton – Highly Commended / Rupert Cunnington – Overall Winner
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Contribution within the Community: Sherena Masharani
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Dedication to UPSU: Emily Adams – Highly Commended / Isabelle Cox – Overall Winner
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Outstanding Contribution to UPSU: Big Band
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Student Leadership of the Year: Claudia Encinar – Highly Commended / Jordan Hargreaves – Overall Winner
Student Led Project/Event/Campaign of the Year:
This award goes to an individual or a group who have shown commitment and enthusiasm for a project or event this year. The outstanding project or event can be ongoing or a one off, which meets the needs of students, demonstrates the opportunity to develop or sustain in the future, raises awareness and evidences attitudinal changes.
The nominees were:
Ultimate Frisbee
Enactus Plymouth - Winner
University of Plymouth Amateur Dramatics
MedSoc
Student led volunteering Special Olympics
Plymouth Marrow
Focussing on mental health and raising awareness of the environmental impact of fast fashion, Enactus Plymouth went home with the award. They’ve had a remarkable year, running mindfulness workshops, collaborating with S.P.A.C.E and the mental health team, as well as their Don’t Waste, Donate project ranking in the top 8 in the UK for tackling mental health issues. The impact they’ve had on students combating complex issues and working towards a more sustainable future is why they’ve won Student Led Project of the Year.
Fundraiser of the Year:
This award goes to an individual or a group who has made a significant contribution to a particular charity or charities over the year.
The nominees were:
Harry Potter Society
Alannah Blount – Highly Commended
University of Plymouth Netball Club
Jordan Hargreaves
Plymouth Marrow
University of Plymouth Football Club
Lauren Fidler – Overall Winner
Deep Patel
Showing her support to a friend, who had recently been diagnosed with cancer, Alannah Blount organised the first ever Alumni match day with over 70 ladies who currently play and those who graduated, including all the founders of the club, to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust. Sadly, before the match day, her friend lost her battle with cancer, however Alannah continued to fundraise in her friend’s memory, raising over £2300. Smashing all previous club fundraising totals, Alannah thoroughly deserves her Highly Commended award.
Raising over £35,000 for the Sea Watch Foundation by completing grant applications, crowd funding, running the Plymouth 10k and so much more, Lauren Fidler has gone to incredible lengths to raise funds. She has also volunteered to train charity staff and trustees, supports other volunteers as a Pin Badge Co-ordinator for the RSPB, as well as using a recent bursary from the Institute of Fundraising to add to her skills as she continues to support charities, post graduation. Lauren is a truly inspiring individual, who wins this year’s Fundraiser of the Year award.
Dedication to Volunteering:
This award goes to an individual or a group who has demonstrated a positive attitude and has shown an exceptionally high level of commitment and enthusiasm to volunteering.
The nominees were:
Emily Haberfield
Cara Baer
Louise Crichton – Highly Commended
Nadia Frontier
Angel Kemp
Rupert Cunnington – Overall Winner
Plymouth Marrow
The winner of the Highly Commended award has been volunteering as a Motivate, Generate and Activate session activator as well as with the Be Active Reduce Stress (BARS) project, supporting as a mentor. As well as being a course representative for two years, introducing a rep clinic to encourage more students to represent their courses, Louise Crichton also spends her time as part time officer for Mature Students and continues to work between that role and the Mature Student society to foster closer relationships.
Rupert Cunnington, winner of Dedication to Volunteering has shown an incredible commitment to a number of causes. Through volunteering with Marrow for the Antony Nolan charity, his hard work has helped lead the society to sign over 1,500 people to the bone marrow register, raising over £20,000 all while collaborating with over 20 other clubs and societies. As well as this, he’s volunteered for MedSin, friends of MSF and the Shekinah Mission, all of whom talk about his drive, dedication and great organisational skills. Just a small insight into his contributions, Rupert has had his hard work recognised on an international level, even receiving an international award.
Contribution within the Community:
This award is for an individual or a group who has made a positive impact within the community. The award is given to an individual or group who has shown dedication and commitment to an organisation and is an excellent advocate, continually going above and beyond expectations.
The nominees were:
Elise Annand
Sherena Masharani - Winner
Students for Global Health
Sherena Masharani wins this year’s Contribution within the Community award for all of her hard work as Enactus President, setting up seven initiatives that have changed over 200 lives both in Plymouth and on an international level. Tackling water sanitation in Egypt using biosand filters, working with refugees, helping school children develop their employability skills as well as working on the Road Suraksha project, that teaches school children in India road traffic safety, and the Empower project, which provides skills and a network to tackle gender inequality in the workplace, Sherena deserves the recognition for her dedication and commitment to help others and encourage others to do the same.
Dedication to UPSU:
This award goes to an individual who demonstrates a positive attitude to UPSU and stands out from the others by support students, staff or departments. This award is for someone who goes the extra mile, with a good spirit, involving themselves in a range of activities, which contributes to enhancing the reputation of the students’ union through their commitment, dedication and professionalism.
The nominees were:
Emily Adams – Highly Commended
Thomas Bateman
Molly Timlett
Chelsie Ross
Alice Shaw
Isabelle Cox – Overall Winner
Rupert Cunnington
A passionate and determined individual, Emily Adams won the Highly Commended award for her great commitment in all she does, from being a course representative campaigning for better module options and teaching methods, to being an active member of the Jitsu club, helping it achieve GOLD ICONS. She also deserves recognition for her role as Deputy Sustainability Part Time Officer, leading the Students Against Single Use Plastic campaign, and for her commitment to her role as People and Planet Campaigns Manager, questioning the VC office around the investment in fossil fuel.
Defining dedication to UPSU, this year’s winner is Isabelle Cox. During her three years at the University, she’s taken on the role of Student Ambassador, been an active member of several societies and most recently, co-founded the SU: Video Society. Thanks to her hard work, they have invested many hours into capturing events and building up a substantial network within the University. Covering events such as the Choir’s Christmas Concert and the School of Medicine Graduation Ball, Isabelle has proven herself to be incredibly dedicated to giving students the best experience, building a strong network of peers with a passion for photography and film, creating a firm foundation for a future of bigger and better things.
Outstanding Contribution to UPSU:
This award goes to an individual or a group who has made a huge impact on UPSU throughout the year. They have demonstrated support, inclusivity, positivity and inspire others to get involved. It also considers their outstanding performances or achievements which has increased engagement outside of their main aims or objectives.
The nominees were:
Big Band – Winner
Lauren Fidler
Chloe Florence
Emily Adams
Cloe Waterfield
Plymouth University Fencing
Alice Shaw
Big Band have contributed tremendously to UPSU, creating new and unique opportunities for the society and individuals, helping developing those as people and players. They’ve regularly dedicated huge amounts of their time and resources to helping other societies and student groups, whether at an events throughout the year at the University, collaborating with non-musical groups or raising money to create greater opportunites. More importantly, the Big Band continue to demonstrate how music can bring people together and connect them.
Student Leadership of the Year:
This award goes to a student who has shown great leadership and commitment to their group or activity, all while having a positive, passionate and enthusiastic attitude. The award considers someone who has demonstrated their leadership skills and qualities, is highly motivated, supportive and reliable and has become an ambassador for students.
The nominees were:
Sherena Masharani
Emily Adams
Claudia Encinar – Highly Commended
Jordan Hargreaves – Overall Winner
Joshua Asker
Emily Pope
Daniel Rhys Shortland
Francesca Evans
Simran Chahal
This year, the Highly Commended award goes to Claudia Encinar, the futsal captain this year who managed to get the team back into BUCS while doubling their membership and coaching all the futsal sessions. Developing the team with her vast knowledge, she has brought a new game dynamic to the squad with her love of futsal and her desire to share that with the team.
At the forefront of the Plymouth Marrow group, president Jordan Hargreaves wins this year’s Student Leadership award. Since becoming president, he has shown great character growth, developed in confidence and has gone on to use his innovative ideas to break every Plymouth student group record. This included raising over £9000 and signing up over 750 people to the stem cell register. Without his training of volunteers to support these clinics and drives, this wouldn’t have been possible, and his passion and dedication has helped form collaborations with over 10 UPSU societies, numerous Sports Clubs and community organisations.
Student Group of the Year:
This award is for a group who have demonstrated professionalism, achieved outstanding accomplishments and have worked as a team throughout the academic year. This group will have consistently shown their commitment through supporting or running activities, providing opportunities throughout the year and responding to student feedback, implementing change.
The nominees were:
Big Band
Canoe Club
Harry Potter Society
Plymouth Marrow – Highly Commended
Fencing Club
Amateur Dramatics
Ladies Rugby Club
Yacht Club – Overall Winner
Plymouth Marrow is an incredible society that has raised over £9000 throughout the academic year, whether it be through shaving heads, holding a Valentines auction, running many of their well organised events and even taking part in the Plymouth Half Marathon. Through their hard work, they’ve signed up over 900 students to the stem cell register, 280 of which were signed up over a three day period to help find a match for a young boy called Oscar who had recently been diagnosed with leukaemia. Plymouth Marrow actually found a match for Oscar, earning them, rightly so, the Highly Commended award for Student Group of the Year.
Taking their club to the next level, the well-deserved Yacht Club wins Student Group of the Year. By running Give It a Go sessions welcoming over 100 students to their activities, introducing Learn To schemes, running a free ladies day to help with breaking down the barriers of women joining their sport as well as representing UPSU and the University, the Yacht Club has put in tremendous effort to provide longevity of club activities for years to come. From establishing a competitive calendar for all abilities and providing development opportunities at subsidised rates to gain qualifications, to taking part in litter cleans, supporting local events and raising £1500 for Horizons, a charity enabling deprived children in Plymouth to access their beloved sport of sailing, Yacht Club has shown themselves to be a role model for any group within the University.