Students and members of staff can now congratulate key members of their students’ union and university as LUSU begin an award scheme initiative.
The LUSU Awards, launched this year, “aim to recognise the hard work and commitment of students, staff and student staff who continually help to improve the student experience at Lancaster.”
The process is designed for officers and members of staff to be nominated for particular achievements or moments of excellence in their time in their position. The structure of the voting process is spaced over a large amount of time to give the students and staff a chance to have their say.
Andy Johnston, LUSU Vice President for Finance, Events, Democracy and Societies (VP FEDS), described the Awards as a move forward, stating that among all the awards run at the University in LUSU there had been “not a gaping hole, but [it] never had an official recognition process.”
The nominations for each category opened this month, and will close in November. Anybody can nominate an individual or group for an award they feel the party deserve. Once nominations close, the Awards Panel will select the winners in December based on who they judge out of the nominees to have fulfilled the criteria of the category to the fullest.
The Awards will be given out to the winners at the annual LUSU Gala Dinner held at the Winter Officer Conference (WOC), a series of training sessions and introductions to their roles for newly elected college JCR and LUSU officers.
Sir Christian Bonington, the famed mountaineer and expeditionary for the awards agreed to be involved with the formation of the award scheme. His involvement, including the seventh category of award bearing his name as the Sir Christian Bonington Outstanding Contribution Award, has lent a degree of distinction to the scheme.
Sir Christian’s involvement with the awards began at last year’s WOC when he attended as the key-note speaker for the event. While attending he presented a self commisioned award to the Lancaster University Mountaineering Club after they hadn’t received one at the previous year’s Roses. The decision was then made to name the last award after Sir Christian given his contribution to the University.
The Awards Panel is unconfirmed at present, but it is likely to include the LUSU President, the VP FEDS, the General Manager and the Pro-Vice Chancellor. LUSU President Michael Payne aso said that due to time constraints Sir Christian cannot confirm holding a position on the Panel, bu will be involved as far as he can be.
There are seven categories in all, with awards for Union Officer Initiative; Union Officer Campaign, which can be offered to an individual or a group; College Officer Initiative; College Officer Campaign, again available to an individual or group; LUSU Staff Employee of the Year; LUSU Student Employee of the Year; and the Outstanding Contribution Award already mentioned.
If any student wishes to nominate an individual or group, they can collect a form at the LUSU Info Desk, fill it in and return it to the desk. Alternatively, electronic forms can be downloaded, filled in and submitted on the LUSU website- bubble.lusu.co.uk.
