Winners of UCD Society Awards 2017
Last Thursday 4th May, UCD Societies hosted its annual Society Awards. The awards celebrate the successful events and extra-curricular activities held by over 80 societies on campus that occurred in the last academic year.
The event saw the students rewarded for the hard work and dedication that went into the weekly running of the societies for the students of UCD, and was attended by the various student committees.
Richard Butler, University Societies Officer, began the ceremony by highlighting the importance of interpersonal relationships and personal development that have developed from involvement within the societies of UCD. Further going on to say that societies were just as integral to the college experience as lectures and exams.
The eight categories saw societies commended in a variety of areas, from social media presence to publishing to event management.
UCD LGBTQ+ and UCD Musical Society were honoured with the joint award for ‘UCD Society of the Year’. Both societies have shown great activity throughout the year. LGBTQ+ hosted weekly Tea Mornings and workshops in conjunction with PleaseTalk, they also co-hosted the first ever Drag Show with UCD Dramsoc, organised their annual Illumination Ball and presented the Foy-Zappone Award to Senator David Norris. The Musical Society presented three full-scale musicals, hosted an intervarsities weekend, and offered a weekly Vocal Group for its members, culminating in many shows for members with varying degrees of experience to get involved.
The award for ‘UCD Small Society of the Year’ was presented to the Electronic and Electrical Engineering Society. This year, ElecSoc offered its members weekly workshops in soldering, programming, 3D printing, and virtual reality software along with a weekly robotics club.
UCD Horticulture Society received the award for ‘UCD New Society of the Year’. Founded in 2014, the Horticulture Society has hosted Earth Week in mid-April to promote Climate Change Awareness. Earth Week held many events from tours of the National Botanic Garden and Dublin Zoo, to inviting guest speaker Dr Jane Stout to discuss “The Role of Urban Gardens in Pollinator Conservation”.
UCD FilmSoc was awarded the ‘UCD Society Social Media Presence of the Year Award’ for their promotion of the society’s events and film screenings in the UCD Cinema throughout the year. Public Relations Officer Aoife Ridgway accepted the award on behalf of the society.
The award for ‘UCD Society Poster of the Year’ was presented to UCD Dramsoc for their poster of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. The poster, designed by Katie O’Byrne and Rosa Torr, was featured in the show’s programme as well as online. The Shakespeare show, which ran in January, was attended by over 100 secondary school students all over Ireland.
UCD Dramsoc was also awarded with ‘UCD Society Publication of the Year’ award for the Dramsoc Anthology of Plays: Vol.1. This collection of plays celebrates the original writings of many Dramsoc alumni and was created under the guidance of ex-Auditor Seán Mac Dhonnagáin. The book was launched in October of last year.
Joanna O’Malley, a third-year Zoology student, accepted the award for ‘UCD Society Photograph of the Year’ for her photo album on UCD Musical Society’s production of Lin Manuel Miranda’s hit Broadway show In The Heights which ran in February.
Matthew Sexton and Des Johnston were awarded ‘UCD Society Event of Year’ for their work on the Fresher’s Juggling Convention with UCD Juggling Society. The event, which took place in October of last year, was the first convention in Ireland aimed specifically at Fresher’s and included workshops, games and a Gala show for both new-comers and experienced jugglers of the circus scene.
Original article posted May 10, 2017 on www.universityobserver.ie by UCD University Observer
For more on UCD Society of the Year Awards visit www.ucdsocieties.com/societyawards.