Milkround Society Awards
Want to network with a talented group of individuals and expose your brand to thousands of students?
Become a sponsor and judge of our annual Society Awards.
Discover:
- How the Society Awards work
- Why your company should become a sponsor and judge
- How to get involved
Milkround’s Society Awards take place each year, providing employers with the opportunity to network with individuals who have shown dedication and commitment to both a society and university, gained huge amounts of experience, taken on leadership roles and improved their skill set as a result.
At Milkround, we want to support students and graduates and ensure they are equipped for life after university. Our Society Awards provides a platform for young people, where they can use their involvement in a society as leverage in the world of work. Not only this, it is an excellent way for them to build connections, enhance their presentation skills and hear about opportunities at our sponsors’ organisations.
Previous judges have included Mondelēz International, Enterprise Rent-a-car, Fidelity International, Lloyds of London, Merkle, Sponsor My Society, One Young World, AstraZeneca, IBM, and UpRising.
How the Society Awards work
Award categories
Students are invited to nominate either themselves or their society for one of two awards:
Individual to have made the biggest contribution to a Society
£1,000 sponsorship prize
Outstanding contribution to a Society
£250 voucher
Application process
- Entries are open from April each year
- Entries close in May
- All entries are then read and deliberated, before narrowing this down to 10 for each of the two categories
- In 2019, we had over 140 strong applications for our awards
Judging process
In June, we host our Milkround Society Awards Finalist Day, where we invite 4 sponsors along with our 20 finalists, to a day of workshops, networking and Q&As.
This gives our sponsors the chance to judge the awards and deliver a workshop to the students – which anything from speaking about your organisation and any insight days students can attend to the application process and roles available.
The finalists are then able to deliver a presentation, covering their contribution to a society and what they would do with the prize – after hearing the presentations our sponsors have the difficult task of selecting a winner for each award.
Finally, we present the winners with their awards and finish with some further networking to end the day.
Why should you become a sponsor and judge?
1. Network with a talented group of individuals who have a strong extracurricular background
Headhunt and recruit for those hard to fill roles.
2. Expose your brand to over 700,000 students and graduates
We promote the awards across our email, social and our popular candidate advice site channels.
3. Position your employer brand as one that invests in the future workforce
Coach and mentor the next generation of talent when engaging with finalists.
How to become a sponsor and judge
If you are interested in being part of events such as our Society Awards, to not only increase your brand awareness among the student demographic, but to also grant recognition of truly unique student talent found through Milkround, give us a call on 0333 0145 111, or email milkroundmarketing@milkround.com.
Feedback from previous sponsors
The nominees were exactly the kind of students we’re looking for
Adam IsleRecruiter for the Innovative Medicines & Early Development Graduate Programme | AstraZeneca
An inspiring event where you get to see the current students and societies going above and beyond to help their fellow students and their surrounding communities not just excel and exceed but, in many cases, survive and thrive!
A complete privilege to see so many wonderful initiatives deliver so many tangible results.
Brian SinclairEarly Careers Talent Acquisition Manager UK & Ireland | Fidelity International
It was great to see the drive and passion the students had for their societies – some really inspirational things happening and it’s great to have an event like this to highlight and celebrate the successes.
Sian CarterEmerging Talent Programmes Manager | Lloyds of London
The level of ambition, motivation and entrepreneurial spirit in the room was unmatched, and choosing a winner was a very difficult decision.
I am sure that all the attendees will go on to do great things!
Jack CulpanFounder | Sponsor My Society
I was overwhelmed by the creative ways they were solving problems they faced and could see how all the skills they were learning could directly help them in future careers.
It was also inspiring to hear about the amazing work they do for local and global communities, both within university boundaries and beyond.
Isabella LubaHead of Early Careers | Merkle
Previous winners
Outstanding Contribution to a Society Award
2019 winners
We were very happy to crown Greater Manchester Nightline as the winners of the award and £1,000 sponsorship prize, a student-run listening service for students across Manchester, covering six universities and supporting 101,000 students.
Their dedication and hard work through a confidential phone and IM service, publicity events – such as delivering care packages during exam time – and plans to extend their support and further improve the infrastructure and publicity of their services, highlighted their dedication and support to the student community and clear plan for the future.
The Milkround Society Awards finals were an incredible opportunity for both us individually and the organisation as a whole. We found out about the great work societies are doing across the UK and learned a great deal from how other groups overcame challenges this year. We also discussed volunteering opportunities with our fellow nominees and the Lancaster University Computer Science Society have offered to re-design our website!
We also got some great opportunities from networking with the amazing judges! Sian from Lloyds of London has already put us in contact with a mental health first aid training provider!
Greater Manchester Nightline
2018 winners
Handprints were awarded with the ‘Outstanding Contribution to a Society’ award for their selfless contribution to local communities, creating prosthetic arms for those most in need. They were passionate about changing people’s lives – working on projects for hospitals and vets where funding was lacking
Individual to have made the Biggest Contribution to a Society Award
2019 winner
Our judging panel was pleased to award Kate Hassall from Team Surrey Squash as the winner. They were impressed with Kate’s dedication to charity work, hard work in making sustainability a key importance for Team Surrey Squash – removing all plastic waste from their social events – and creating a Blood Drive, to encourage those in the society to give blood… resulting in 36 pints of blood being given!
I had such an amazing day at the awards, it was really well organised with a really relaxed and friendly atmosphere! I loved being able to meet the judges from an array of companies and fellow students from across the country. All the finalists had done some incredible work and it was a great way to discover different initiatives and ways we can improve our societies further!
Kate HassallTeam Surrey Squash
2018 winner
Mima Markicevic won ‘Individual Contribution to a Society’ after demonstrating her dedication to The Holdsworth Club. In just one year, Mima transformed this declining society into one with clear goals and great support.
