The shortlists for this year’s Guild Awards have been announced. Probably the most prestigious awards night this side of the Oscars (or at least featuring presenters more skilled at accurately reading small pieces of card), the University of Exeter’s Guild Awards have annually celebrated outstanding commitment and achievement by our students and alumni since their introduction in 2013.
The awards consist of eleven categories ranging from Community Impact to Outstanding Individual Contribution, with the shortlisted groups and individuals having been selected from over 600 student nominations. This year’s shortlists – visible in full via the Guild website at exeterguild.org/guildawards – showcase the highlights of an impressively productive year for Exeter’s student body. For ‘Campaign of the Year’, the We Are All Exeter campaign goes up against Exeter Beats Eating Disorders, Exeter Islamic Society’s Charity Week, and Respect Your Rack; ‘Event of the Year’, meanwhile, ranges from RAG’s Jailbreak to X-Media’s US Election coverage.
The hotly contested ‘Student Group of the Year’ this time sees Xpression FM, the Model United Nations, Student Action for Refugees, and BodySoc pitted against each other; last year’s winner, Exeter University First Aid Society, did not make the shortlist to defend its title. Repeat nominations include Leah Fuller, last year for ‘Outstanding Commitment to Student Welfare and Support’, this year for the ‘Alumni Contribution Award’. Fuller was nominated last year both individually and as part of Mind Your Head; this year, a similar feat has been achieved by Medicine students Navin Mukundu Nagesh and Bogdan Chiva Giurca, whose joint nomination for ‘Student Leader(s) of the Year’ comes alongside their National Pathology Week’s nomination under ‘Student-Led Project’. In that category they are up against Exeter Beats Eating Disorders (also a double nominee), Loud and Queer, and Exeter Vegshare. These projects exemplify just the gilded tip of the iceberg that is the Exeter student body’s ongoing efforts to aid health (both physical and mental) and diversity in the University community.
The event will be hosted at Streatham Campus’ Great Hall, with attendance exclusive to nominees and invited guests.
