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Students celebrate success at UJS’s flagship awards night
JSocs and individual students from around the UK received recognition for their achievements at the annual event.
April 7, 2017 11:06
JSocs and individual students from around the UK received recognition for their achievements at the annual event.
April 7, 2017 11:06The Union of Jewish Students’ annual awards night has honoured Jewish societies and students from across the country.
Izzy Lenga, who sat on the National Union of Students’ National Executive Committee, won the Alan Senitt Award for Outstanding Contribution to Campus Life.
Ms Lenga, who has spoken of her struggles to defend Jewish students from antisemitic and anti-Israel activism on campus, was presented with the award by Mr Senitt’s sister, Emma.
Josh Seitler, UJS president, told attendees at Thursday night’s ceremony in central London: “Tonight is about saying thank you to the students for all that you do.”
JSocs from around the UK received awards recognising their efforts.
The Aberdeen and Exeter University societies were jointly honoured, sharing the Developing JSoc of the Year award.
The University of Edinburgh’s JSoc Burns Ball scooped the award for event of the year, and Liverpool JSoc was honoured for running the education project of the year with its Holocaust Memorial Day event.
The award for JSoc of the year was decided on the night with diners at the event voting. Two societies were honoured, with the JSocs of the University of Birmingham and the London School of Economics receiving 52 votes each.
Individual students also won prizes for their efforts over the course of the year. Nina Rauch, at Cambridge, received an award for Social Action Project of the Year in recognition of her work promoting Pink Week, a breast cancer fundraising initiative begun by her mother, journalist Dina Rabinovitch, who died from the disease in 2007.
Yoni Stone, at Oxford, won the Communication Project of the Year award for his DJing as part of his duo, Yoelling Stones.
Meanwhile, Daniel Voignac, of Imperial College, won the Alan Webber Israel engagement award for securing funding to organise a trip for 40 non-Jewish entrepreneurs to visit Israel in order to see technology developments in the country.
Rebecca Filer, from Bristol University, won an award for her efforts to help minority students.
“I'm really proud to have won the Dedication to Liberation Activism Award,” she told the JC.
“UJS's work on Liberation is groundbreaking within the Jewish community. We can always do better to empower and fight for women, LGBT+ and disabled people within our community.
“The evening showed and celebrated the vibrancy of Jewish campus life across the UK and it's a real credit to the incredible work of the UJS team and JSoc committees throughout the year.”
