Plenty Of Engagement At The DODOs

Loughborough Students’ Union held their first ever Engagement Awards in Room 1 last night, celebrating the work of the Development Officers by having a big do, hence ‘The DODOs’. Each section was well represented by some of their most dedicated volunteers throughout the night.

Following a performance from the LSU Dance society, the first round of awards kicked off by recognising the work of the E&E department. The first award of the night was ‘FREEC Rep of the Year’, awarded to the committee member that has gone above and beyond in their duties as a FREEC Rep. Robert Bakewell hall’s Oliver Pilkington was crowned the first winner of the night. Following a meteoric rise up the FREEC leader boards since their near bottom finish last year, Harry French hall were awarded ‘Most Improved Environmental Hall’. Robert Bakewell went on to win ‘Environment League Hall Of The Year’, capping off what has been a strong year from the hall within the section.

Jonti Davies, current E&E Officer, had this to say for The Epinal:

“It has been a fantastic year for the FREEC section with more halls getting involved than ever before. Tonight is a great opportunity to reward all our reps for all the hard work they’ve put in over the year and I hope they’ve all enjoyed it”!

The next section to be recognised was Postgraduate, presented by PostGrad Development Officer Gasim Ibrahim. ‘PostGrad Of The Year’ was the first award of the section, going to Henry Shiplee. James Carroll then went on to win the ‘PostGrad Champion Award’. The final PostGrad award of the night, the ‘PostGrad Experience Award’, went to Henry Totterdell.

The coveted ‘Campus VS Off-Campus’ came next, awarded to William Morris hall in a win that signalled the start of a very successful night for the hall. William Morris then went on to win ‘Affiliates Hall of the Year’. The award for ‘Most Outstanding Funded Project’ went to Robogals, an Action initiative designed to encourage young women to develop skills in engineering. The project has had an incredibly successful first year. ‘Alumni Hall of the Year’ was then awarded to Falkner Egginton hall, with particular attention given by popular hall member Tommy Allen to their continued success with their Old Boys weekend.

The final Alumni award of the night, the ‘LSU Alumni of the Year’, proved to be one of the closest of the night. Stuart ‘Charlie’ Brookes was awarded Highly Commended for his fantastic work with the Rag section. Together Jack Connor Richards and Andy Clark won the award for their continued success within the media section.

Speaking to The Epinal, Alumni Officer Dave Tingle told us:

“I’m very proud of our alumni groups this year, they’ve been doing a whole range of things such as raising lots of money for charity and arranging fantastic get togethers. On an individual basis some members of the alumni have really gone above and beyond and I’m really glad we were able to recognise the work that Andy Clark, Jack Connor Richards and Stuart ‘Charlie’ Brookes still do for LSU”.

Global Development Officer Natasha White then presented the award for ‘International Society of the Year’. The award was won by the Hindu Society. Robert Bakewell enjoyed more success as they went on to win ‘Hall of the World’.

William Morris went on to win the final three awards of the night. William Morris’ Calum Wickham won ‘AAIR Rep of the Year’. William Morris then went on to win the ‘AAIR Cup’ and the much anticipated ‘DODO Award’,  complete with a towering trophy featuring the extinct bird perched atop a pedestal. As the first awards ceremony to solely celebrate the tireless work of the Development Officers, the night was a huge success.