News

Nominations open to celebrate ARU alumni success

Members of the public can nominate Anglia Ruskin graduates in seven categories

Winners of the 2024 ARU Alumni Awards

Winners of the 2024 ARU Alumni Awards, with Vice Chancellor Professor Roderick Watkins

Members of the public are being encouraged to nominate former Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) students who have made outstanding contributions to society or in their careers.

Nominations for the 2025 Vice Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumni Awards are open until mid-December, and there are seven different categories for which ARU graduates can be put forward:

  • Alumni Sustainability Champion Award: Recognising alumni whose innovative work, projects or actions have made a significant impact on addressing sustainability challenges.
  • Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year Award: Recognising alumni who have made a transformative contribution to the local, national or international community through an enterprising business venture.
  • Alumni Contribution to Culture Award: Recognising alumni who have made a considerable contribution to the local, national or international cultural community.
  • Alumni Rising Star Award: Recognising alumni who graduated five years ago or less, who have distinguished themselves professionally since graduating from Anglia Ruskin, and are likely to inspire the next generation of alumni.
  • Alumni Public Service Award: Recognising alumni who have made an extraordinary contribution through their role as a public-sector or private-sector employee whilst providing an essential service.
  • Alumni Voluntary Service Award: Recognising alumni whose outstanding voluntary work has made a positive impact regionally, nationally or internationally through community work, fundraising, or volunteering.
  • Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award: Recognising alumni who have distinguished themselves for their excellent and sustained contributions and achievements in their chosen field over their professional lifetime.

Among last year’s winners was Colonel Tim Symonds OBE, who won the Lifetime Achievement Award for his incredible career in the military, undertaking numerous operational deployments overseas which saw him peacekeeping in Macedonia and helping to rebuild critical infrastructure in Afghanistan and Iraq, before serving as Deputy Director of the Government Major Projects Tri-Service programme.

Hasa D Sesay won last year’s Voluntary Service Award after setting up The Hawa Trust in 2012 to support women and girls who have experienced female genital mutilation (FGM). Hasa now works with schools, the Metropolitan Police and charities, and has played an active role in Government initiatives regarding FGM.

Around 57,000 alumni still live in the Chelmsford, Cambridge or Peterborough postcode areas, although the awards are open to ARU graduates living all over the world.

“Our graduates go on to make significant contributions in their fields as well as in their communities and we are exceptionally proud of them. These awards are an opportunity for us to celebrate the ongoing success of our alumni, who will always be part of our ARU community.”

Professor Roderick Watkins, Vice Chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University

Nominations can be submitted here: https://www.aru.ac.uk/graduation-and-alumni/alumni-awards and close on Sunday, 15 December. The awards ceremony will take place at ARU’s Chelmsford campus on Thursday, 24 April 2025.

For more information, contact [email protected]