The nominations are in, and it's now time to have your say on who should win the Spotlight Award at this year's event. The award aims to recognise peer to peer support and camaraderie, with clear evidence of going above and beyond to support other student groups on campus. The group will have acted as 'role models' for other groups, either through charity work or fundraising, or they may have overcome difficulty or adversity to achieve to the best of their ability.
Voting closes on Monday 2 March at midday.
Disclaimer: all nominations are printed as they were submitted, including any typos.
Nominations
Nominated by: Cheerleading
American Football has been an amazing club for years, yet has never been recognized as one. This year the American football team has made a cautious effort to collaborate with other clubs and societies, for example, mixed socials with Dance Society, Cheerleading, Lacrosse and more. The club has also managed to raise money for themselves with events like Super Bowl night and others. American Football has had an incredibly successful season this year. They have won 7 games already and only 1 loss, leading them to the playoffs. The American Football team should receive more recognition as they represent our university across the country and could be seen as role models for all male clubs, as they are rarely causing trouble.
Nominated by: Men's Football
As a committee, we believe that the club we would like to nominate for the spotlight award is Men’s Rugby. In previous years, the club has had some issues, however this year they have come back with renewed vigour. Their fundraising efforts have been superb, they raised an incredible amount doing the Egham 10k as well as their Movember campaign. Their campus presence has also improved this year with the name Men’s Rugby now synonymous with many for being friendly, welcoming and charitable. We believe that they are worthy winners of the award for the improvement seen as a club as a whole and for their fundraising efforts.
Nominated by: Netball
- The spotlight award is awarded to the club representing the unsung heroes of Royal Holloway and the Netball committee can think of no club more suitable and deserving of this award than Men’s Rugby.
- Throughout 2019/2020 Men’s rugby have gone above and beyond to make their club more inclusive to groups on campus through their multitude of charity and fundraising events and acted as role models to the Royal Holloway community.
- Most notably, the club has raised over £5,300 to date (14/2/2020) for The Magic Future Foundation 100 Schools Project. This charity was founded in honour of the late Oliver Wissenbach, the brother of one of Rugby’s committee members who tragically passed away in September 2019. Men’s rugby has consistently acted as ‘role models’ by using the passing of Oliver to raise money to build 100 schools in one year. The club did this with 25 members participating in the Egham and Thorpe 10k run on the 2nd of February and setting up the Just Giving page where people could donate and sponsor those taking part. By participating in this run, the Men’s Rugby Club have overcome difficulty both physically and mentally and raised an outstanding amount of money for an unbelievably sentimental cause.
- The Men’s Rugby club have further raised awareness and taken part in the Stand up to Prostate Cancer challenge by participating in the ‘Cycle 600’ project. Members of the club totalled up their miles, completing the ‘Cycle 600’ and raised £240 overall for Prostate Cancer UK.
- The Spotlight award is presented to any group which has maintained a strong social media presence and shown creativity in a variety of ways. Men’s Rugby have also fulfilled these criteria through their Movember campaign in which members grew moustaches over the month of November in hopes to increase awareness for men’s health; specifically prostate cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. The club successfully raised £307 for their Movember campaign. Their constant social media presence has thus shown their initiative to spread their charity work, making their campaigns accessible to all and subsequently increasing donations too.
- The Netball committee strongly believes that there is no club more deserving than Men’s Rugby for this award as they have excelled and gone the extra mile in terms of charity and fundraising events. Furthermore, they have been inspirational in terms of acting as role models for other sports groups and clubs across campus. Through this demonstration of strength and unity, Men’s Rugby have set an example for other clubs in how to deal with adverse situations, raising awareness and supporting each other. Therefore, the Netball committee would like to nominate the Men’s Rugby Club for the Spotlight Award, Colours Ball 2020.
Nominated by: Athletics & Cross Country
Trampolining are always highly active on social media, showcasing their success at competitions and advertising their numerous charity events. Last year they took part in a Pretty Muddy 5k run for Cancer research, raising £957. They have also raised money for Refuge – via innovative scrunchie sales - and co-ordinated food bank drops for the Runnymede food bank. They always seem to be raising money for charity. Despite being a small team and competing against larger, better-resourced teams they are successful at competitions, placed 2nd in their league, regularly winning medals at competitions. As a club they are supportive of other groups on campus and always want Royal Holloway to succeed, no matter the sport.
Nominated by: Riding
From the start of the year, Trampolining has consistently acted as a role model for student groups, putting on endless charity and fundraising events. Examples include:
- Donating 21 boxes to ‘Love in a Box’ • Running a food bank drop-in session (at which they filled an entire trolley!)
- Organising 2 scrunchie sales fundraise for the charity Refuge, raising £500 in total
- Encouraged members to wear festive clothes on their last training before Christmas holidays, raising £46.38
Despite being a more niche sport, Trampolining have definitely made their voice heard this year both actively around campus and through their engaged social media presence. They really are the unsung heroes and deserve to be recognised for all their amazing hard work.
Nominated by: Ultimate Frisbee
Their female is fierce campaign has been a really strong female focused campaign shutting down any myth that female isn't fierce. A lovely group that have been welcoming to lots of people and we have thoroughly enjoyed being involved with them this year.
Nominated by: Swimming
Swimming would like to nominate Women’s Rugby for the spotlight award. We think that they have held an incredible presence on social media throughout the year and have continuously been inspired by their posts. Being a team that has to compete off campus, the only way we find out about other club results in through social media – and we feel as though we have been constantly seeing Women’s Rugby throughout the year. Members of the Women’s Rugby team have been supportive of our posts reaching out to us when we needed drivers at the start of the year when we had difficulties, and they have personally liked and shared our posts regarding our fundraising efforts which we appreciate a lot! Lastly, we value that they have taken a different approach to Volunteering and Fundraising than we have by supporting as many different types of charities as possible through different means. It has been great to see another amazing year from the club and think they deserve to be seen as the unsung heroes of the sporting clubs.
Nominated by: Women's Football
Women’s football would like to nominate women’s rugby for the Spotlight award this year. Their support for England Rugby’s ‘Inner Warrior’ campaign and open training session promoted an inclusive environment for both beginners to the sport and a diverse range of people. They have made outstanding contributions to the local community, such as volunteering at Spelthorne disability sports club and community sports days, volunteering at the Hythe local primary school. They have also participated in numerous charity and fundraising events, including a pub quiz, sweepstake and charity match. The club radiates an inclusive and respectful atmosphere to the wider university campus and the values that their club stands for. Their passion and determination both on and off the pitch is second to none. They were keen to participate in joint sessions with other clubs such as netball, encouraging people to try new sports and meet new people. They are constantly active on social media, with regular updates on matches, stand-out players, providing a great sense of community amongst their club and its members. They had achieved great things for Royal Holloway this year and are so deserving of the Spotlight award.
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