BMEc Awards 2017 hosts Madina Tash, Frank Brouwer and Georgia Ambrose

Students, academics and Professional Services staff from the School of Business, Management and Economics (BMEc) came together for a night of celebration at the fifth annual BMEc Awards on Thursday 6 April 2017. 

The BMEc Awards, hosted for the first time this year at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA), gives members of the School community a chance to celebrate their successes over the past year. 

Following a drinks reception, this year's event kicked off with a rousing musical introduction from the Sussex Show Choir, before Head of School Steve McGuire welcomed attendees to the event. 

Just half an hour until showtime, doesn't everyone look lovely at the #BMEcAwards drinks reception ?? pic.twitter.com/RqQgFCcI2N

— BMEc Sussex (@BMEcSussex) April 6, 2017

It didn't take long for the @AttenboroughCtr auditorium to fill up for #BMEcAwards 2017! Welcome to all of you and have a great night ? pic.twitter.com/QkJYQ8h328

— BMEc Sussex (@BMEcSussex) April 6, 2017

BMEc Awards hosts Frank Brouwer (Director of Student Experience and Senior Teaching Fellow, Economics), Madina Tash (Teaching Fellow, Business and Management) and Georgia Ambrose (1st year Business and Management student and Student Rep Chair) then took to the stage to start handing out awards, with help from guest presenters from across the School. 

The evening's special guest was BMEc alum and founder of the world's largest anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label, Liam Hackett, who gave an inspiring talk describing his time as a BMEc student and his earlier experiences that led to the creation of the charity. 

It was so refreshing and touching to listen to Liam Hackett from @DitchtheLabel at the #bmecawards pic.twitter.com/bIjybk3VST

— Sandra Kole (@sandra_kole) April 6, 2017

The Awards ceremony was followed by an exhibition of the School's highlights over the last year, fairground games, food and drink (including a special cocktail created for the event, the BMEc gin sling), and a raffle prize draw to raise money for Team Kenya, a charity working to educate girls, empower women and reduce extreme poverty in the rural western Kenya.

BMEc students and staff will be further supporting the charity by climbing Mount Kenya this summer - find out more about our Team Kenya fundraising efforts. 

Thank you to everyone who attended this year, and congratulations to all of our deserving winners!

2017 BMEc Award winners

• Undergraduate Year 1 Student of the Year
  Anton Dusak 
• Undergraduate Year 2 Student of the Year
  Joshua David Ricci 
• Undergraduate Finalist Student of the Year
  Claire Ahlborn 
• Postgraduate Taught Student of the Year
  Edward Whiley 
• Postgraduate Research Student of the Year
  Marta Schoch 
• Outstanding Placement Student 2016
  Sam Taylor 
• Outstanding Teaching Contribution (Business)
  Fraser Hamilton 
• Outstanding Teaching Contribution (Economics)
  Julie Litchfield
• Outstanding Teaching Contribution (SPRU)
  Paul Nightingale
• Outstanding Contribution to the School Community (Student)
  Georgia Ambrose 
• Outstanding Professional Services Support
  James Pelling 
• Special Recognition 
  Front Desk team (Mailea Harding, Victoria Haynes, Kitz Gulliford, Kate Cheetham, Frankie Dennis)
• Most Supportive Academic Advisor
  Ben Everly
• Most Likely to Succeed
  Andreas Georgiades 
• Inspirational Staff Member of the Year
  Isabel Fischer
• Inspirational Student of the Year
  Yiheng Yu
• Special Recognition
  Joanne Tsang, Ali Johnstone-Mackie, Jasmine Slade, Sandra Kolerzynska

Photos and tweets from the event

• A full gallery of photos from the evening will be coming soon - for the meantime, enjoy a sneak preview on Facebook!
• View tweets from the event: #BMEcAwards