RGU:Union's annual Student Achievement Awards Ball took place on Friday night, which a wide range of groups and individuals being rewarded for their hard work over the last 12 months.
One Friday 25th of March, we celebrated the 2016 Student Achievement Awards with a ball at the Marriott Hotel in Dyce. As always, it was a lively evening, with the awards presentation the centrepiece of a packed evening of food, recognition and entertainment.
The awards involve both groups and individuals who are nominated by their peers and the recipients are decided upon by a panel from RGU:Union. It's a chance to reward all the amazing extra-curricular work undertaken by RGU students during the last 12 months, where societies have gone from strength-to-strength with over 1600 members, and our students have chalked up more than 15,000 volunteering hours.
Of the headline awards, effervescent RAG Chair Marty McGouran needed to book a van to get all his trinkets home, scooping Volunteer of the Year, a Full Scarlet Award, an Officer Award, a Student Contribution and Involvement Award and a certificate for a staggering, record-smashing 1400 volunteering hours. This also set a new record for the most occurrences of the word 'award' in a single sentence, representing a career low-point for this article's turgid author. Presumably overloaded with silverware, Marty did at least leave his suit jacket at the venue, by way of an exchange.
Gaming Society President Amy McNellis was the only other recipient of the coveted Full Scarlet; an award which, contrary to popular belief, is not named after 60s superhero puppet Captain Scarlet, although she is every bit the superhero herself. Amy also collected a main course of Society Person of the Year for the second time in 3 years, with a certificate for 500 volunteering hours for dessert.
In the Group Awards, the Language Society took the Society of the Year trophy, while the Gaming Society was given the award for Continued Excellence and Consistency for ten brillaint years as a society. ESN followed up on last year's Society of the Year award by picking up the Student Engagement Award, only to put it back down again much too quickly. But at least they had a cracking night.
Thanks to our sponsors - ACVO and Christine Buchanan - and to everyone who came along. Special thanks to Shona Cormack for presenting the awards and for winning Heads and Tails (I believe she donated her winnings to the night's charity cause), and also thanks DJ Greg Hanson, who organised not just the music but also an incredible lighting set-up for the evening. We trust everyone had a great night - the evidence suggests they did - and we look forward to running the event again next year as it's always one of our favourite nights of the year.
There were too many awards to include everyone in one article, so below are all the winners.
Photos will follow next week and congratulations to all the winners!
Group awards:
Society of the Year - Language Society
Award for Continued Excellence and Consistency - Gaming Society
Academic Society of the Year - Diagnotic Radiography (D-Radz)
New Society of the Year - Jewish Society (Jsoc)
Most Improved Society of the Year - Photography Society
Most Improved Academic Society of the Year - Business Society
Special Recognition Award - RGU RAG and RGU Nightline
Volunteering Project of the Year - RGU:TV Stay Safe
Community Ambassador Award - Dumbledore's Army
Student Leadership Award - IHI Patient Safety Chapter
Student Engagement Award - ESN RGU
Student Voice Award - LGBT+ Society
Media Group of the Year - RGU:Radio
Individual Awards:
Volunteer of the Year - Marty McGouran
Society Person of the Year - Amy McNellis
Full Scarlet - Marty McGouran
Full Scarlet - Amy McNellis
Half Scarlet with Distinction - Rebecca Lloyd
Half Scarlet with Distinction - Lewis Eden
Half Scarlet with Distinction - Tom Sadler
Half Scarlet With Continued Excellence - Charlotte Rigden
Half Scarlet With Continued Excellence - Ellen Laird
Half Scarlet With Continued Excellence - Hilary Scott
Half Scarlet With Continued Excellence - Joanna MacQueen
Half Scarlet With Continued Excellence - Kerry Harrison
Half Scarlet With Continued Excellence - Louis Currie
Half Scarlet - Amy Duncan
Half Scarlet - Bethan Coady
Half Scarlet - Emma Diamond
Half Scarlet - Gemma Loudon
Half Scarlet - Karen Mitchell
Half Scarlet - Karl Johnson
Half Scarlet - Lodovica Avidano
Half Scarlet - Lucy Moffat
Half Scarlet - Steven Hair
Recognition - Amy Gregor
Recognition - Andreea Gabriela Alexa
Recognition - Andrew Coulter
Recognition - Annaelle Harris
Recognition - Arham Aziz
Recognition - Bolun Tang
Recognition - Charlotte Blair
Recognition - Chris Burnett
Recognition - Christopher Cowie
Recognition - Craig Stewart
Recognition - Dale Sutherland
Recognition - Duncan Bell
Recognition - Edith Dinkpa
Recognition - Hristina Dimitrova
Recognition - Jemma Tansley
Recognition - Laura-Anne Riach
Recognition - Lydia Man
Recognition - Rory Wemyss
Recognition - Ryan O'Grady
Recognition - Sarah-Jane Reilly
Recognition - Sarah Nwinee
Recognition - Sophie Dolderer
Certificate - Calhounnah Bain
Certificate - Caroline Orr
Certificate - Lewis Copland
Certificate - Miriam Hogg
Certificate - Owen Clark
Certificate - Rebecca Taylor
Certificate - Robert Kandrik
Certificate - Siena Kim
Alumni Recognition Award - Greg Hanson
Alumni Recognition Award - Gordon Crabb