Societies Awards celebrate success

The University of Warwick hosted the annual Societies Awards in Butterworth Hall on June 25.

Nine awards were presented, interspersed with a two-course meal, wine and entertainment from various Warwick societies such as the Big Band.

Warwick TV, the only video production society at the University, won Society of the Year, which is perhaps the most coveted of the awards.

Two academic societies were amongst the award winners: European Law for Best Academic Society and Chemistry for the Most Improved Society.

The Warwick Globalist, St John Ambulance LINKS and World@Warwick won Best New Society, Best Community Society and Best Cultural Society respectively.

Opera Warwick also narrowly beat off tough competition from TEDx Warwick to win Best Event for its production of Cinderella.

Silkie Cragg, societies officer at Warwick Students’ Union and organiser of the event, told Radio Warwick, the winner for Best Arts and Media Society: “I think it went really, really well.

“I can’t believe I’m saying it. It’s six months of work for that event – I’ve never put on an event like that before, I was extremely nervous as you could probably tell, but today I am happy.

“We managed to give out extra tickets. We had 300 people in the room compared to last year’s 170, so I was really chuffed.”

The Boar also celebrated minor success at the Societies Awards. George Ryan, editor of the publication, commented: “We’re really pleased to have come second in the Most Improved Society category.

“I think this reflects the hard work of the executive team in improving opportunities for our writers as well as the huge strives we’ve made with the paper and our new website.

“The event has inspired us to strive to do even better as a society for our 300-odd members and I hope that this time next year we’ll do even better in the awards.”

The judges also decided to present four Outstanding Contribution Awards, although it was originally meant to be three, because the standard of nominations was so high and the winners all “excelled in different domains”.

Shayan Amin won his award for his involvement in many societies, in particular for taking Warwick Economics Society to greater feats when he became president.

Sian Bedford had a unique role in convincing the National Debating Council to introduce a women’s officer position.

Amar Dhokia was awarded the Outstanding Contribution for his dedication to Warwick TV as chief engineer. Ms Cragg said this demonstrates that one does not have to be at the top of a society’s hierarchy to win an award.

Lizzie Drapper, organiser of the Warwick Students’ Art Festival, helped produce more than 30 shows before even applying for the co-ordination role, and was given the award for her exceptional achievements.

Ms Cragg ended the awards ceremony by giving an emotional speech which received a standing ovation: “It’s really important that students, staff and local stakeholders alike learn how talented, creative, innovative, entrepreneurial, supportive and selfless Warwick students are.

“With the resources available to them, societies at Warwick contribute enormously to life here and in the local community. I hope you will all leave the Hall this evening feeling inspired by what fellow students can do.”

However, she concluded her speech by encouraging societies to reach out to those less advantaged: “It must be said that I am speaking tonight with a heavy heart.

“Many of the beneficiaries of your work, such as families in more socially-deprived areas such as Canley or Tile Hill, have children who would have to defy all recorded statistics to get into a University like Warwick.

“What students do for the local community truly is inspiring, but realistically the contribution of our volunteers will only scratch the surface of social inequalities in Higher Education unless the University, its students, and local councils work more collaboratively.”

There was an after-party in the Terrace Bar to celebrate the event.

Andy King, first-year Philosophy and Literature student, said: “The Societies Awards were awesome. I found the entire event incredibly inspiring: from the videos to Silkie’s speech, it made me grateful to be part of societies and motivated me to get as involved as I could in the future.”