The Pride of Newcastle University Awards recognise your achievements and contribution to university life and the wider community through your extra-curricular activities.
They celebrate students who have shone through in the ‘Celebrating Success Awards’.
These awards acknowledge students involved in activities such as clubs or societies, volunteering, fundraising, starting a new business, representing students or working on campus or beyond. This may be on any of our campuses, or reaching into the wider community on a local, national and international scale.
If you are a winner at any of the Celebrating Success Awards, you may be eligible to go forward to the Pride of Newcastle University Awards. You will then be invited to a celebration dinner where awards will be presented before an audience of students, university staff, graduate recruiters and city leaders. If you are an Undergraduate or Postgraduate Taught award winner, you will also receive formal recognition of your award on your degree transcript.
This year’s Awards Ceremony will take place on the evening of Thursday 8 June 2023 at 18:00 and will be hosted in-person at Newcastle Civic Centre. You can view all of last year’s winners for the Pride of Newcastle University Awards on the 2022 Winners page.
Any current Newcastle University student can enter or be nominated for the Celebrating Success Awards, either as an individual or as a member of a group. If the activity you have been involved in was accredited (eg a module or placement as part of your degree), you must demonstrate how you have gonebeyond the expectations and requirements of the activity to be considered for a Celebrating Success or Pride of Newcastle University Award.
Winners from the Celebrating Success Awards will be considered for shortlisting for the Pride of Newcastle University Awards, where they could potentially win any of the 'Outstanding Contribution' categories. Visit the Celebrating Success Awards website for more details.
If you aren’t sure how your activity might fit into the Celebrating Success Awards, please contact the Students' Union.
Nominations for the Celebrating Success Awards open Monday 6 February 2023 and will close on Friday 31 March 2023.
Entry requirements and judging criteria
Entry requirements
To be shortlisted for the Pride of Newcastle University Awards:
you will have nominated yourself, or been nominated by someone else, for a Celebrating Success Award
you will have won a category at a Celebrating Success Awards level as an individual, part of a group or society at any Newcastle University campus, including our campuses in Malaysia, Singapore or London (special arrangements will be made for students outside of Newcastle to celebrate their success locally). Alternatively, you will have been put forward from affiliated University awards.
your contribution to the University or our wider community should be demonstrated
your activities must have taken place during the last 12 months
you must not have received academic credit for any part of this achievement, including those relating to work you have done on behalf of a business, whether employed, working as a volunteer, on placement, or setting up or running your own business (excluding The Contribution to the Workplace Awards)
students involved in the judging panel or organising the awards cannot be nominated for an individual award but can be part of a wider team that is nominated
The decision of the judging panel is final and no feedback will be given on individual nominees.
Winning students, societies or projects cannot enter the same category of the following year.
Judging criteria
In assessing nominations, judges will be looking for evidence of how the nominee has made Newcastle University particularly proud within one of the category areas. This will be through outstanding:
innovation
effort
contribution
skill development
enterprise
impact
Prizes
Prizes
For each 'Outstanding Contribution' award, the winning entry will receive £250 and the runner up will receive £50.
All Undergraduate and Postgraduate Taught winners will also receive recognition of the award on their degree transcript.
For any society winners, prizes will go to the winning societies, not to the individual who completed the form.
For 2022/23, there are 11 different award categories to recognise our students' outstanding contributions through extra-curricular activity. Click on each category below to see the context and criteria for each award.
For details about eligibility, judging and prizes, see how to enter.
The Newcastle University Alumni Achievement Awards (Rising Star and Alumni Impact) are presented to former students as an acknowledgment from the University of their achievements and successes. The award recognises alumni who have made an impact on industry, society and their community. Winners are presented with a Vice-Chancellor and President’s Medal and a framed certificate.
This award is for those students who have used their skills and enthusiasm for arts, media and culture as an expression of their passion or to communicate ideas or ideals.
It could be through organising events, exhibitions, journalism or working with groups within the University or the local community. Whether the medium was film, writing, radio, music, photography, fine art, print journalism, digital or street performance, this award is for students who have used their talents in a positive way.
This award is for students who have worked with community groups or voluntary organisations to help them achieve their goals. This could include volunteering, fundraising, campaigning, educating or training.
It recognises students who actively contribute to their wider community, and through this make a difference. They could have helped a community of people through inspiring or developing their skills to achieve aspirations, make healthy life changes or learn new skills.
This award is for those who have encouraged integration of people in the University or wider community who otherwise might have felt or been isolated for reasons such as race, culture, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability or social class.
Nominations demonstrated the positive ways in which they have gone out of their way to be inclusive.
The Global Outlook award is for individuals or groups who have engaged in international activities which have subsequently increased their global perspective and ethical awareness. This could be through study abroad, global internships, volunteering, case competitions or working with international students to improve inter-cultural relations.
Nominations included students who have participated in international opportunities themselves or who have inspired others to do so, whether to enhance their subject knowledge, employability or contribute to the global community.
This award is for those who have actively promoted or encouraged lifelong healthy living and wellness through campaigns or activities to raise the awareness of the benefits, for example, stopping smoking, eating healthily, and widening access to health provisions.
This award recognises those who have dedicated time, energy and commitment to enhancing the student experience, be that through a well-run and inclusive student society or independent action.
This could include raising funds, organising amazing events, helping others develop new skills, or increasing inclusivity within the student community.
This award recognises those who have developed skills while working on behalf of the wider student community on issues that matter to students. The award is in recognition of excellence in academic and peer representation where students are often providing a voice and driving change for their peers.
This is a major part of student life, including roles such as Course Rep, Hall Rep, Community Rep, Part time Officers (PTOs) and Campaign Volunteers.
This award is for students who have made a positive difference to sustainability or the environment. Whether through volunteering, campaigning, running competitions or creating new inventions, they are passionate about the issues currently facing us on a local, national and global scale and their activities will have involved inspiring others to become more environmentally aware, or encouraged behaviour change.
Examples could include developing sustainable projects, creating green spaces, reducing energy consumption, encouraging recycling or supporting green travel.
This award celebrates the impact that placement students, interns and on-campus student have had on an organisation. Nominations illustrate students who have gone above and beyond, or who have brought innovative ideas to the organisation to inform positive change.
We are delighted to announce that our Pride of Newcastle University Awards will be hosted in-person on Thursday 8 June 2023 at 18:00 at Newcastle Civic Centre.
The Awards will recognise the achievements and contributions that our students and alumni have made to university life, extra-curricular activities and the wider community.
Details of all our shortlisted student nominees for 2023 will appear here in May following the selection of our student winners as part of the Celebrating Success Awards and judging panel.
Congratulations to all of our students and Alumni who were shortlisted for the awards in 2022.
As always, so many of our nominees have gone above and beyond, demonstrating huge commitment and passion for their extra-curricular activities, the University and the wider community.
