On Wednesday 31 July The National Student Fundraising Awards took place at the University of Birmingham, as part of the wider National Student Fundraising Conference. The Students’ Union at UWE were shortlisted for three categories at the awards, including:

• Event of the Year: Sports Does Strictly 
• Campaign of the Year: UWE Movember Campaign 
• Most Improved Student Group: UWE LGBT+ Society

We are delighted to announce that The Students’ Union at UWE were awarded ‘Campaign of the Year’ for our Movember campaign. Movember ran throughout November 2018, and numerous awareness and engagement events were held, in support of The Movember Foundation.

The campaign, led by Freddie Gough, The Students’ Union’s 2018/19 VP Societies and Communication, was a collaboration between societies, UWE RAG and the HallsLife committees. Events ranged from healthcare related talks on male cancers and mental health awareness to general fundraising events like Movember Speed Dating and The Movember Pub Quiz. The campaign sparked new conversations around the importance of self-examination and self-care, with the intended goal of improving student wellbeing.

We felt strongly about supporting the Movember Foundation, as we wanted to raise awareness and funds for prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men’s mental health. We lose 60 men to suicide each hour, the Movember Foundation provide vital funds to help give support to those who are suffering, and we were delighted to raise an incredible £4,000 to help them continue their work.

It was a real honour to stand with so many inspirational campaigns at the awards. Other shortlisted campaigns included Loughborough RAG’s Lumps and Bumps campaign. This is a campaign which raises awareness on the importance of checking yourself for the signs and symptoms of life-threatening diseases.

We cannot wait to build on the legacy of last year’s success and are already working to make Movember 2019 even better!