Union Award nominations and shortlist announced
As well as Union Colours and Fellowships, new awards include 'New CSP of the Year' and Wellbeing Representation Network awards.
Imperial College Union this week announced their nominees and winners for the 2018 Union Awards. The 14 categories, including ‘Campaign of the Year’, ‘Event of the Year’, and Union Colours acknowledge the efforts Union volunteers go to in order to improve the student experience at Imperial.
Nominations for the Awards are submitted by students, and student panels decide on the recipients of the Awards, which will be presented on the 15th June. This year over 500 nominations were made for the Award, beating last year’s total.
This year three students will be awarded Fellowships, given to those who have “continuously served the Union…over a number of years”: Milia Hasbani, Abhijay Sood, and Lloyd James.
Hasbani, current Chairman and former President of the City and Guilds College Union, told Felix she was “honoured and delighted” to receive a Fellowship: “I have really enjoyed volunteering with the Union in several capacities, and it’s lovely to be recognised. It shows me that all the hard work I have put in over the past few years has been appreciated and was as worthwhile and beneficial to the student experience as I hoped it would be.”
The shortlist for Campaign of the Year is between campaigns run by the Royal School of Mines Union (RSMU), the Imperial College School of Medicine Students’ Union (ICSMSU), and Muslim Medics/Islamic Society.
The RSMU ‘Look After Your Mate’ campaign focussed on advising students how friends can support people having a difficult time at university, while the ICSMSU ‘Online Honestly’ campaign saw current and former students sharing their true feelings behind old posts on social media, leading to genuine and eye-opening reactions. Muslim Medics/Islamic Society have been nominated for their ‘Believe and Do Good’ campaign; Jarka Naser, who was involved with the campaign, told Felix the campaign aimed to “encourage unity through performing selfless acts of kindness; positively influencing the local community,” and “students were able to be involved in such life saving measures, from feeding the homeless and donating blood, to cleaning the community!”
This year saw a number of new award categories launched, including ‘New CSP (Club, Society, or Project) of the Year’, whose nominations include Sign Language, ICSMSU Coding, and ICSMSU Women’s Football. Nominations for ‘CSP of the Year’ include Pole & Aerial, Muslim Medics, and Felix. Two new awards have also been established to recognise volunteers within the Wellbeing Representation Network, which was set up this academic year.
The most popular award is Union Colours, which recognises those who have “given significant and repeated outstanding contributions to the student experience at Imperial”. In total, 69 students have been awarded a Colours Nomination. Mira Davidson, BiochemSoc Chair, who has been awarded Colours, told Felix: “‘Volunteering for the Union can be incredibly rewarding.
“[Departmental societies] will always be there. It's great to see these societies and their volunteers gain recognition, as this encourages us to keep doing what we love.”
The Union Awards ceremony will be held on 15th June.
