UK Student Archery Association

What's your favourite season? Awards! [27/Sep/22]

Article copy written by Bethany Dexter

The ArcheryGB Volunteer recognition awards took place on 24th September 2022 at Lilleshall. There were several people from the student community shortlisted, and on closer inspection more were nominated.

Upon arrival there was a small buffet and a chance to mingle and chat, with those who knew each other rapidly commandeering a table. We then proceeded into the ceremony room, and kept our table group. The cupcakes provided by ArcheryGB on each table were a nice touch (and they were delicious too!).

The awards ceremony commenced and, despite some technical issues bringing people in online, it all seemed to go smoothly enough. For anyone who wants to view the ceremony it is still up on the ArcheryGB facebook page.

The first category of note for our table was the OnTarget Club of the year, which the University of Warwick were nominated for. Sadly it wasn't a win for Warwick, but the winner from Wymondham gave a fantastic acceptance speech complete with props, so it was felt, with that amount of prep work, they deserved the win.

Next up was the participation project of the year. The BUCS Archery EMG had been nominated for this one due to their running of the BUCS Championship events, continuous signposting of opportunities via UKSAA and continual developments in student archery. The EMG were declared the winners and Bethany regretted not delegating the speech making duties to someone else especially given her choice of footwear.

The Disability Award (or Gussy Trophy) was the next to be awarded, and quite deservedly went to Phoebe Patterson Pine for her fantastic performances over the last year alongside her openness about bullying and mental health.

Up next was the Volunteer of the Year. Malcolm was nominated for this one. Again, sadly it wasn’t a win, but I think we should make a note here to thank Malcolm for risking trench foot at many BUCS Outdoors events and for his continuous support and photographs at Student Archery competitions!

The final nomination for our student community followed, and it was back to the EMG, although this time for one of its individual members rather than the group as a whole. Ben Horner was declared the winner of the Young Volunteer of the year thanks to his work supporting the BUCS Championship Events, the Student Archery Virtual Competitions, Liaison work with ArcheryGB and his continual coaching commitments. Sadly, due to work, Ben wasn't able to be at the ceremony to collect his award in person, but he joined via video link to give his acceptance speech.

All in all, it was a very positive evening (and thankfully not a very long one).

Please keep an eye out for the nominations being released next year so we can have more of the student archery community recognised for their work. Also, if you are able, have a look into the ArcheryGB OnTarget specialisms as they are a great tool for club development.

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