The Guild Awards! O Frabjous Day!

"O Frabjous Day! Callooh! Callay!" - Lewis Carroll

Yes, that's right - the Guild Awards are back and bigger than ever!

Hosted in the Great Hall for the first time ever, the Guild Awards is a night of celebration and recognition for our most innovative, engaging and exciting student groups and members!

We are currently busy judging the mountains of nomination forms in preparation for the evening but you don't need to worry about that...

All you have to do is go buy your ticket and get your finest 'Rainbow Formal' dresswear ready!

One week to go!

Sound Impact -> We Got a Bronze Minimum!

Whoop!

We were contacted by NUSSL last week who confirmed that all of our 21 Essential Criteria have been approved and therefore we have a achieved a minimum of a Bronze Award!

We won't find out if that will get bumped up to a Silver or a Gold until NUSSL Convention (next Tuesday!) but fingers are crossed throughout the organisation!

Our total criteria count of 307 out of 466 is a very good final score (and would have earnt us a Gold last year) but obviously everyone has upped their game.

But the other good news is that we could gain between 1 and 10 bonus points based on miscellaneous criteria that we submitted. Bonus points won't be assessed until NUSSL Convention also so the waiting game continues...

But to reiterate: whoop! We're guaranteed a Bronze!

Blog to the Future!

I thought I should share Shaz Greene's blog graph (previously seen at February Guild Council) with everyone by blogging it!

As you can see, more and more of the Officers are becoming familiar with their blogs and using them to talk about their plans and activities.

At the end of this year, the Independent Chairs will need to decide whether to permanently exchange the Guild Council reports for the blogs, as the original motion stated.

I guess we will have to see how this graph progresses over the next few months.

What are you thoughts?

Exec Elections -> The Results!

Amidst much applause, screams, cheesy walk-up songs and cleverly edited YouTube videos, the results of the Exec Election were slowly revealed.

And here are the results:-

President - Jennifer Larbie
VPDR - Hannah Lazell
VPEA - Tom Marley
VPS - Mark Smith
VPSAD - Rich Walker
VPW - Hollie Jones
VPHC - James Ogden

EEO - Philippa Calver
ARAFO - Suzy Railly
CAO - Laura Sterling
HSO - Siobhan Dunne
SSO - Chris Nash
LGBTQ - Emma O’Dwyer
BMEO - Yasmin Patel
WO - Domeneque Di Ciacca

Congratulations to all of the Elects! You have a very rewarding and very exhausting year ahead - but each of you will make a very real difference to students' lives across campus and of that you should be very proud.

Roll on the 1st of August!

Exec Elections -> Results Night Awards!

Results Night was the usual mix of nerves and excitement last Saturday!

The evening began with a very formal opening from myself:

"Welcome to the Executive Elections 2008 Results Night.

This is an evening to celebrate and thank all of you, both candidates and campaign teams, for your hard work and enthusiasm on behalf of the Guild. Over the past two weeks, you have been out there engaging with students, speaking about your plans for next year and no doubt wearing some ridiculous fancy dress – and all with the same aim: to make life better for our students.

Regardless of the outcome of tonight’s results, each candidate has achieved what few students can lay claim to – they have all led a campaign across campus. This is no small feat, especially in the rain. We are all extremely proud to have such active students representing us and you should be equally proud of yourselves. Therefore, before we go nay further, please give yourselves an epic round of applause."

This was followed by thanks to Josh & Burn FM, Elections Committee and our invaluable staff team who all helped the Exec Elections happen.

I then presented awards to candidates for their creativity, innovation and sportsmanship. The winners of the awards are listed below:-

• Best Gimmick - Hollie Jones for the Well-Fairy campaign.
• Best Fancy Dress - James Ogden for his Incredibles costume.
• Best Banner - Lizzy Bell.
• Best YouTube Video - Harry Britten.
• Innovation - Steven Johnson for his 'Steve for Sport' arrows and Rich Walker for his jacket made of crisp packets.
• Sportsmanship - Rob Schilling and Mark Smith for shaking hands and swapping shirts after the ballots closed.

Creme Eggs went to all of the above (you lucky people)!

And after this, I handed over to Geoff Pringle, the nominee of our Returning Officer, who read out the results...

Exec Elections -> The Dreaded Exit Polls...

The relief didn't last for long because for the second year running, Josh Bloom of Burn FM fame, hosted the dreaded exit polls - this time live from Joe's!

Following a short Richard & Judy-style interview between myself and Josh, the exit polls were revealed one-by-one and led to much speculation and gossip over the next 24-hours.

A big thank you to Josh and Burn FM for their efforts during the week!

Exec Elections -> When the Ballots Close!

Last Friday, the online ballots closed at noon after a long, hard week of voting & campaigning.

As is Guild tradition, all of the candidates gathered on the library steps with their campaign teams and wearing their best fancy dress for the final election photo - just look at the relief!

And I very nearly missed it again!

But I pegged it across campus and somehow managed to slide into the photo frame at 12.01pm.

Phew!

Contratulations everyone! The photo captures what every campaign should be: colourful, engaging and enjoyable.

Hope to see you all on those steps next year :)