What is the Arts Awards?
The Arts Awards is a joint endeavour between Arts SU and UAL's Teaching and Learning Exchange. This annual collaboration recognises and celebrates the impact that all UAL students and staff have on teaching, learning and the student experience via a range of award categories.
It's an opportunity for UAL staff to recognise those students who have done outstanding work to improve their peers' university experience, build communities and advocate for change; it's also an opportunity for UAL students to recognise and celebrate the teachers, technicians and student services staff who positively shape their university experience.
All UAL students can nominate tutors, lecturers, technical staff, student services staff and their peers, while all UAL staff can nominate students. A panel of Arts SU staff members, student representatives and UAL staff work togehr to shortlist the nominations and select winners, who are then announced at a celebratory event on Wednesday 21st May 2025.
The Arts Awards look a little bit different each year. For 2025, we have responded to your feedback by adding a new award category: Excellence in Student Services. This award will recognise and celebrate the brilliant work that non-teaching staff and teams make to the student experience. We're also relaunching one of our existing categories as two separate awards: Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice and Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability. This will ensure that students who nominate a staff member and/or team in both these categories can recognise and celebrate a wider range of individuals doing great work in these areas.
The current elected SU College Officers determine the award categories and a student is brough onboard to conceptualise, design and create the physical trophies and certificates for the winners.
We hope you’ll take part by nominating a member of the UAL community for an Arts Award, spread the word to your peers and fellow staff members and join us on Wednesday 21st May 2025 to celebrate all your brilliant work.
The Ceremony
Arts Awards 2025 will take place at 17:30 on Wednesday 21st May, at Central Saint Martin's LMVH Lecture Theatre (Granary Square campus).
Tickets will be available to book in April
The awards
Outstanding Teaching Award
For the staff members who:
- inspire students to develop their knowledge, understanding, and passion of their subject area;
- are imaginative and creative in their teaching, and empower students to be the same;
- are engaging, informative and knowledgeable, and encourage students’ creative development;
- apply cutting edge developments in their field to their teaching;
- surpass traditional ways of teaching to make their subject accessible, diverse, inclusive, and sustainable.
Outstanding Technical / Operational Support Award
For the staff members who:
give and enable outstanding technical and/or operational support by working with students and staff;
exceed expectations to equip students with expertise in and aside from curriculum;
use innovative methods to find creative solutions, and enhance the student experience;
foster a sense of community.
Outstanding Post Graduate Supervisor Award
For the staff members who:
actively supports postgraduate students throughout their postgraduate journey;
supports postgraduates with their personal and career development, as well as with research projects;
has a pioneering approach to supervision;
goes the extra mile to help postgraduates navigate their student experience and get involved with the student community.
Advocate for Student Voice Award
For the staff members who:
- facilitate positive conversations with students’ online and/or in-person to understand and act on their feedback;
- work with students, Course Reps, School Reps and/or College Officers to continuously review and adapt creative, academic and/or technical practice to improve the student experience;
- liaise with fellow staff to investigate challenges and implement improvements to UAL systems and processes to enhance the student experience.
- demonstrate to students that they understand their individual as well as collective needs.
- provide opportunities for students to contribute their own ideas, reflections and insights into course content for co-developing aspects of the curriculum.
Making a Difference Award
For the staff members who:
- have truly exceeded expectations within their role and are therefore recognised outside of the other categories.
Staff/Student Collaboration of the Year Award
For the staff and students who:
- have collaborated on a project, campaign or event, which could be related to teaching, wellbeing, community, or something else that has contributed to improving the student experience;
- used formal or informal student feedback to inform the direction and aims of their project;
- created a positive change for students as a result of their joint efforts;
- set an excellent example of a positive working relationship between staff and students and what can be achieved in collaborative working.
Outstanding Student Contribution to Community Award
For the student who:
- champions community building at UAL to develop communication and collaboration that meets pre-covid levels;
- develops new or continuing communities in either their course, school, college, or liberation group;
- fosters an inclusive and accessible environment in their community;
- establishes creative ways to bring their community together and foster a collaborative environment.
Student Rep of the Year Award
For the student reps who:
- go above and beyond to champion the views and interests of students in the school or on their course;
- work with staff and students collaboratively to escalate and resolve issues affecting the student experience;
- communicate updates and information to students to close the feedback loop;
- consult a variety of students in their school or on their course to ensure they can represent the whole student voice.
Student Campaigner of the Year Award
For the student or group of students who:
- Identified a key issue affecting a particular group of students and initiated a campaign to resolve it.
- Organised and led their own campaign, mobilising their fellow students by coordinating activity that advocates for change.
- Raised awareness of an underrepresented issue and took action to bring it to the wider attention of UAL staff and students.
- Embeds inclusivity, accessibility, and sustainability into their campaign.
Students’ Union Special Recognition Award
This award does not have any set criteria, and will be awarded to a member of staff, or team, at the discretion of the Arts SU elected officers.
Excellence in Student Services Award
For the staff member or team who:
- Make a positive impact on students’ daily experience by providing insightful, practical and/or empathetic support, either digitally or in-person.
- Respond to students and/or student representatives feedback, to review and adapt university services to improve the student experience.
- Communicate with students by proactively signposting them to opportunities, services and systems of support that add value to their university experience.
- Are friendly and welcoming, making students feel comfortable to approach them.
- Empathetic to the challenges and pressures students face and/or recognising students’ individual needs.
Outstanding Contribution to Social Justice Award
For the staff member who:
- demonstrate their commitment to social justice within and beyond their academic and/or creative practice;
- challenges the status quo within their discipline by developing accessible, inclusive and equitable working practices;
- embeds social justice (e.g. decolonisation, gender justice and/or anti-racism etc.) into the core curriculum.
- supports students to advocate for social justice causes and/or campaigns at a college and/or university level.
Outstanding Contribution to Sustainability Award
For the staff member who:
- Demonstrate their commitment to addressing the climate crisis within and beyond their academic and/or creative practice.
- Promotes and/or implements sustainable approaches within their discipline by developing environmentally ethical working practices that surpass expectations.
- Embeds sustainability and/or climate justice into the core curriculum.
- Supports students to advocate for sustainability and climate justice causes and/or campaigns at a college and/or university level.