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Event Summary 2019: The Society of the Year Awards 2019

Book open Reading time: 3 mins

On Wednesday 4th December, we celebrated our second annual Society of the Year Awards lunch. From over 140 nominations, together with our award sponsors we welcomed our 8 society award winners and 6 President of the Year finalists to enjoy the stunning views and food at our central London venue, and recognize all of the hard work that they do on campus.

With the huge success of last year’s awards, we decided to go even bigger this year - introducing 4 new society awards, the President of the Year award and a brand new voting system, placing all the deciding power back in the hands of our wonderful membership. 

Together with the leading firms sponsoring each award (EY, P&G,Police Now, Marsh & Mclennan, Frontline, Reed Smith LLP, BUCS, and Salesforce), the top three nominations for each award category were shortlisted, for the wider network to then decide on their victors. 

The award winners and sponsoring firms:

  • Community Outreach Award - Kent African-Caribbean Society
  • Diversity & Inclusion Award  - Warwick Women's Engineering Society
  • Entrepreneurship Award - ENACTUS Warwick
  • Environment Award - Energy Journal
  • Impact on Campus Award - LSE Business and Investment Group
  • Innovation Award - King’s IP & IT Law Society
  • Sports & Wellbeing Award - Nottingham Volleyball Club
  • Women’s Society Award - The Black Women's Project

Seven representatives from each of the winning societies were invited to join us for an awards lunch of celebration and networking. Each was able to receive their award from the award sponsor and then present why they should be crowned Bright Network’s overall Society of the Year 2019. Also with us on the day were 6 finalist presidents also presenting their case for why they deserve to win President of the Year Award, sponsored by London Business School.  

President of the year award finalists:

  • Andrea Guariglia, President of Oxford Venture Capital Network
  • Emily Collettt, President of KCL Lawyers Without Borders
  • Kingsley Duru, President of Leeds African-Caribbean Society
  • Luila Zaimi, President of York Finance Conference
  • Raphael Khoo, President of UCL Law Society
  • Wanipa Ndhlovu, President of Cambridge African-Caribbean Society

The awards ceremony was awe-inspiring for all there on the day. With so many incredible candidates for overall Society of the Year and President of the Year awards, the room was filled with anticipation and suspense. 

Finally, the decisions from our sponsor firms were in. Taking home the title of Bright Network Society of the Year 2019, and £2,000 of funding for their society, huge congratulations went to The Black Women’s Project from Warwick University. For President of the Year, LBS crowned Emily Collett as the first-ever winner of this award.

What's next?

Once again, we’d like to extend a huge thank you to all of our fantastic firms, incredible societies and Presidents involved. This event wouldn’t be possible without their continued support, the utter dedication and the sheer passion that each of the societies demonstrates in leading their societies.

Enjoyed learning about our Society of the Year Award's event? Excited to be a part of our next event? Register your interest here to be the first to know when applications open.  Meanwhile hear from the societies and presidents who were there: