My experience at the Student Awards!

It came as a huge surprise but the Environmental Action Society were nominated (and shortlisted!!) for Campaigning Group of the Year! Two of our committee members were invited to the glamorous annual Student Awards event, where the winners would be announced, so as current President, I was able to attend along with the current Secretary. In this post I’ll relay my experience at the Student Awards and get across how amazing our Student’s Union is for creating this night to remember.

The Awards were held at Athena, a venue in the center of Leicester usually used for conferences and weddings. I had never been before so I was pretty stunned to see how large it was. The most wonderful Gatsby-style live music was blasting from inside, being played by a brass band in the entrance hall. The following photos and many more are available on the Student’s Union facebook page.

Athena, the venue (Photo from Student’s Union)

I felt much like a celebrity walking across the red carpet and getting my name ticked off the guest list. Once inside, we were served champagne and had our photos taken by a professional photographer, here’s one.

The EAS Secretary, this year’s Environment Team intern and myself

After an hour or so of mingling and feeling very fancy, we headed into the main room, where a very colourful light show and dozens of laid tables awaited us. Once we found our table, we were able to view the programme for the night ahead and the list of nominees. The President, Michael Rubin gave a great speech as well as a very interesting guest speaker.

(Photo from the Student’s Union)

After the initial speeches, a three-course dinner commenced, with awards presented in between each course. Maybe this is due to eating as a typical student for the past month or so, but the food was absolutely delicious, and I’d give anything to know how they made it!  Eventually they announced the winners of the Campaigning Society of the Year, which went to Sexpression, who truly deserved it. Although we didn’t win, we were still honoured to be there and make friends with students from other societies, including our competitors UNICEF.

The winners from each category (Photo from Student’s Union)

At the end of the evening, many of us headed the O2 Academy for LetsDisko, to which we were given free entry! Despite all the wonderful glamour, the best part of Student Awards is simply how it is held to recognise the achievements of student, which I don’t think many other Universities do. All in all it was a great night and very inspiring to see what fellow students have achieved- I really hope EAS are invited back next year… next time to win! If you have any questions about the Awards feel free to comment below 🙂

Caroline