WINCHESTER Students Union‘s annual awards night honoured the clubs and societies and their members who had added something extra to university life.

The awards were held in the last week of the academic year in The Vault.

The winners were:

Fundraiser of the year: Sound Radio Sound Radio, the university’s radio station, ran a 24/7 show for charity. Over the course of an entire week, seven pairs of presenters each did a 24 hour show to raise money for seven different charities: Enham Trust, MS Trust, Youth Music, Great Ormond Street, Nordoff Robbins, Naomi House and Jacksplace and Cancer Research. Just over £4,100 was raised overall.

Best new society: The Commuting Society Set up by first year student Claire Allison, the society has secured a space for commuters, has explored having lockers for commuting students (which is hoped to be implemented next year), and holds regular meetings and socials to bring its members together. With Winchester having such a high number of commuting students, this society has been invaluable for many and will continue to grow in strength.

Most improved society: Climbing Society Climbing have had fantastic engagement and success since their first Freshers Fayre in September 2014. They regularly use the Student Union minibus to go to different climbing walls, went on a climbing trip to Wales, and are planning on getting more equipment to make their resources even stronger. They have also seen an increase in regular members attending each week.

Socially Engaging Society: Psychology Society One of the union’s few academic societies, but are welcoming of all students – whether they study psychology or not. They have 214 members of their Facebook page, which is a hub for organising activities, fundraisers and socials, such as fancy dress nights and bake sales for their chosen charity Solent Mind.

Society event of the year: Hampshire Pride This event was planned, organised and orchestrated by the Spectrum (formerly LGBT*) society, and was the first of its kind in Winchester. The march was held in February to celebrate LGBT history month, and ended up with around 150 people – both students and local residents – joining the march. It made the local press, and was described as “incredible” and “overwhelming” by those involved.

Society committee member of the year: Sam Saunters Sam has chaired the History Society this year, and has shown great leadership and passion for the society’s activities, organizing a variety of socials, meetings, academic talks and trips. Sam has empowered his committee to give an organized semester of activities. Sam was previously social sec in his second year, and has been a committed member of History Society for his three years.

Society of the year: International Society Changing their name from “International Students Society” at the beginning of the year represents how it is a society for all. They have led the way in encouraging diversity and inclusion and, with over 90 students attending their welcome event and over 560 members on their Facebook page, it is not hard to see why they received a nomination for this award.

Overall contribution: Lief Keay-Chaplin Lief has worn many Student Union t-shirts in her time at Winchester! She was a devoted Student Academic Rep for all three years and led a successful Student Fellows project on Student Safety (which has resulted in liaisons with the University about increasing lighting provision on campus.

Overall achievement: Claire Allison Claire founded the Commuter’s Society, which now has over 100 members, and did not take no for an answer when trying to secure a space for commuters! All of this has been achieved in just Claire’s first 2 semesters here; and with the added pressures that comes with being a commuting student.

President’s Award: Antonia Fox and Elinor Nixon-Davingoff: Antonia and Elinor are chair and vice-chair of the Debating society, and have shone through as being enthusiastic, organised and engaged – both as individuals and as a pair. Antonia and Elinor were a driving force in encouraging attendance to the Winchester Voice Debate Series hosted by the Student Union; and took one of these 3 debates under their wing! As individuals, Antonia and Elinor have also got heavily involved in student engagement, with both being Student Fellows and running very successful projects on top of their roles on the Debating Society committee – and of course on top of their degree!

Student Academic Reps (StAR) awards:

StAR of the year – Faculty of Arts: Flis Pitman Flis studies MA in Culture and Arts Management, and is an actively engaged student with her cohort, utilising social media and communicating on a one-on-one basis where possible and helping out with open days. Flis goes above and beyond the expectations of a rep by meeting with her programme leader once a month, making a directory of current and post graduate students for networking purposes and helping re-write the student handbook for her course.

StAR of the year – Faculty of Business, Law and Sport: Safiya “Fee” Francis Fee is a second year Events Management student, has been a rep from the start of year 1 and hasn’t missed a committee meeting yet! Fee has conducted herself with professionalism and diplomacy has become a role model for other reps.

StAR of the year – Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: Susie Tallis Susie has been a fantastic representative for the Classical Studies Programme. She signed up to be a student mentor further help the students on her course, as well as helpful with open days. She has also been working to establish and maintain an online presence for the programme and working with the programme leader ready for Welcome Week in September.

StAR of the year – Education, Health and Social Care: Georgia Lazell Georgia has just finished her degree in Primary Education, and has been a StAR for her final year of study. She has thrown herself into being a rep, taking the time across the year to attend Academic Committees, StARs Forums, and University panels. As a committee member of the Student Led Teaching Awards her contributions were invaluable to making the project a success.

Most dedicated rep: Haider Nawaz Haider has attended every social, every forum and academic committee meetings we have held this year, in order to use this as a platform for programme and institution wide improvement. His work as a Post Graduate student has been invaluable in order to affect change within his programme during some very difficult times. Haider conducts himself with a professional and friendly outlook and his considerable efforts in student engagement have not gone unnoticed.

Student Experience Impact Awards: Savannah King Savannah has been a committed engaged student across her past two years at Winchester. Through projects with University staff and active collecting of peer feedback, she has made significant change to both the institution and her course. On top of this, Savannah has been an incredible International Students Officer for the Student Union, part of the scrutiny panel for the Alfred Undergraduate Winchester student journal, and genuinely will be there for any student in need.