Alumni Awards criteria and guidelines

About the Alumni Awards

The University of Leicester Alumni Awards are an annual celebration of special achievements made by alumni of the University of Leicester. They are presented at the Alumni Awards Dinner, the premier event in the University's social calendar, which is organised by the University’s Alumni Engagement Team within the wider Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO), with support from the Alumni Association Committee.

Nominations now open

Nominations are now open for the Alumni Awards 2025. You can nominate a Leicester alum for one of three awards: 

• Dr Mark Sims Memorial Award for Public Service
• Alumnus/Alumna of the Year Award
• Future Leader Award

Submit a nomination

Please read the Alumni Awards criteria and guidelines (found below) carefully before making your nomination.

Need some inspiration? Take a look at our past winners.

You can make a nomination for our 2025 awards via our online nomination form. Nominations close at 11.59pm on Friday 7 February 2025.

Award categories

There are seven award categories:

• Alumni Association Graduating Student of the Year Award
• Mary Attenborough Volunteer of the Year Award
• Rhoda Bennett Philanthropy Award
• Lifetime Achievement Award
• Dr Mark Sims Memorial Award for Public Service
• Alumnus of the Year Award
• Future Leader Award

Of the awards above, the following are open to external nominations:

• Dr Mark Sims Memorial Award for Public Service
• Alumnus of the Year Award
• Future Leader Award

The other four awards are not open to external nominations. Nominations for these awards are instead made internally and collated by DARO.

The Alumni Awards shortlisting process

Individual eligibility for awards

Unless stated otherwise in the awards criteria, the following conditions must be met by all award nominees:

• Nominees must have graduated from the University of Leicester, having completed an undergraduate or postgraduate degree. Honorary graduates will not be eligible unless they have completed a separate undergraduate or postgraduate degree at the University of Leicester.
• Current members of the Alumni Association Committee and DARO staff will not be eligible for nomination for any award.

Winners of awards at the previous Alumni Awards ceremony are ineligible for nomination for any award the following year, but may be considered for a different award in subsequent years after that. Unsuccessful finalists may be nominated for the same or a different award for next Alumni Awards ceremony.

Nominees are unable to win the same award more than once; this applies even if an award changes name over time. For example, past winners of the Outstanding Alumni Achievement Award are ineligible for nomination for the current equivalent award, the Alumna/Alumnus of the Year Award.

Shortlisting for awards

Nominations for the awards listed below, with the exception of the Alumni Association Graduating Student Award, are made externally by students, staff, alumni and members of the general public. These nominations are collated by DARO and considered by members of the Alumni Association Committee.

• Dr Mark Sims Memorial Award for Public Service
• Alumnus of the Year Award
• Future Leader Award
• Alumni Association Graduating Student of the Year Award

Nominations for the awards listed below, as well as those for the Alumni Association Graduating Student of the Year Award, are made internally by University staff. These nominations are collated and considered by DARO.

Sponsors of the Alumni Awards Dinner do not have a role in considering nominations for any awards, not do they contribute to selection of the finalists or winners, but may be invited to present an award to a winning alumna or alumnus at the Alumni Awards Dinner.

The shortlisting process

Two shortlisting panels are created to consider nominations for Alumni Awards as outlined above; one panel is made up of members of the Alumni Association Committee, while the other is made up of DARO staff. Members of either panel are asked to declare any conflicts of interest before consideration of nominations begins.

For the Award nominations being considered by the Alumni Association Committee, the scoring system outlined below will be used:

• Each member of the panel will judge nominations for each award category based on how well they meet the specific criteria of that award, and rank them numerically, with 1 being considered the 'best fit' for the criteria.
• Following this, the scores assigned by each member of the panel for nominees in each award category will be added together
• For each award category, the three nominations with the lowest scores will be shortlisted as finalists for that award category. Of the three, the nominee with the lowest score will be considered the winner of the award.
• If two or more nominees have equal scores for a particular Alumni Award, the decision of selecting an overall winner and/or finalists will be made by the Chair of the Alumni Association.

Generally, three applicants will be shortlisted for all awards, with the exception of the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Philanthropy Award, for which there will be only one overall winner. However, the shortlisting panel have the right to shortlist fewer or more candidates at their discretion if they deem it necessary to do so.

If a suitable candidate is not identified for an award, then there will be no winner presented on the night for that award category.

Notification of shortlisted finalists

Once the finalists for the Alumni Awards are determined, they will be notified as soon as possible. The overall winner of each Alumni Award will not be announced prior to the Alumni Awards Dinner, except where there are no finalists and only one winner for a particular award category. The DARO team reserve the right to contact finalists in advance of the Alumni Awards Dinner to confirm their availability and attendance.

Finality of decisions

The decision of the judges is final. No communication will be entered into with any person in relation to any decision by the judges.

Commendations

At their discretion, the University Alumni Awards judging panels may make additional commendations within the scope of the Alumni Awards in the case of more than one outstanding candidate in any category.

Making an Alumni Award nomination

All nominations must be made through the online submission form. No other method of nomination will be accepted. All applicants are advised to read the awards criteria carefully before submitting a nomination.

External nominations are accepted for the following awards:

• Dr Mark Sims Memorial Award for Public Service
• Alumnus of the Year Award
• Future Leader Award

Nominators may nominate themselves or another person for an Alumni Award, provided the nominee fits the specific criteria of that particular award category. Nominees may be nominated for more than one award category.

The deadline for receipt of nominations for all award categories mentioned above is 11.59pm GMT on Friday 7 February 2025. Nominations made after this date will not be considered.

Nominations may be amended or withdrawn up until this deadline by emailing the Alumni Engagement Team at alumni.relations@leicester.ac.uk.

The University reserves the right to discount nominations that do not uphold the values of the University without notice or reason.

Before making a nomination, please consider the guidelines to Alumni Awards nominations section below.

Guidelines to Alumni Awards nominations

• Please consider the specific criteria of an Alumni Award category before making a nomination. Specific criteria for all award categories can be found below
• All nominations must be made in English
• It is the responsibility of the nominator to ensure that their nomination contains, to the best of their knowledge, true and accurate information about the nominee. Nominations found to be purposely false or inaccurate will be discounted as invalid nominations.
• Incomplete nominations, or those that do not fulfil the Award criteria will not be considered.
• The detailed content of a nomination will be treated as confidential, but will be shared with the relevant judging panel to enable them to consider the nominee for an Alumni Award. In the event that a nominee is selected as an award finalist, information within their nomination may be used as part of the Alumni Awards event and/or in pre- and post-event publicity. It is the responsibility of the person making the nomination to ensure that no material that the nominee would object to being used in this way is included in the nomination. Wherever possible, we encourage nominators to seek the consent of their nominees before making a nomination.
• No additional credit will be given to a nominee on the basis that they received two or more nominations; it is the quality of the content of nominations that count, not the quantity received. Duplicate nominations (nominations that are evidently close copies of one another, with only few details changed between them) will be discounted as invalid nominations, and considered spam nominations sent to the Alumni Awards nomination form. Anyone found to be sending spam nominations, or encouraging other to do so, will be disqualified and all of their submitted nominations discounted as invalid. In this instance, the DARO team reserve the right to take further action against those involved.

Media exposure and promotions

It is a condition of nomination (and acceptance of the award) that winners agree to have their image and story used on University of Leicester social media channels, our website, our bimonthly e-newsletter the Alumni Citizen, and the Gryphon alumni magazine, as well as in any other marketing channels the University requires. Winners may also be asked to make themselves available, within reason, for marketing and communications activities at no cost to the University for a period of 12 months after receiving their award wherever possible.

Verification

The University of Leicester reserves the rights to verify the identity of nominees at any time and may disqualify any person whose nomination is not in accordance with these terms and conditions. The University of Leicester reserves the right to discount nominations at its discretion without notice or reason that do not uphold the values of the University. This information will be gathered through basic background checks.

Awards criteria for awards open to external nominations

The criteria for each Alumni Award category are outlined below. Nominators must ensure that nominees meet eligibility criteria for the award in which they are being nominated.

Dr Mark Sims Memorial Award for Public Service

• Must be a graduate of the University of Leicester
• This award recognises outstanding public service. Nominees will have made a positive impact regionally, nationally or internationally through community work, fundraising or volunteering

Alumnus of the Year Award

• Must be a graduate of the University of Leicester
• Nominees must have made a significant impact in their field or to society, and ideally will have received formal recognition from their peers and/or the community. Successes may include but are not limited to research excellence and impact, leadership and innovation in industry or enterprise, or achievements in the arts and humanities

Future Leader Award

• Must be a graduate of the University of Leicester
• This award recognises exceptional recent achievements by an alumnus or alumna. Ideally nominees will have accomplished these achievements in the past twelve months, but this can be expanded out to a maximum of the past three years.

Awards criteria for awards open for internal nominations only

The criteria outlined below will be considered by University staff when making nominations for the following awards:

Lifetime Achievement Award

• Must be a graduate of the University of Leicester
• This award recognises a sustained achievement over a long career. Nominees will have a lifetime of outstanding contributions and achievement in one or more fields of endeavour, will be recognised within their community or field as a strong leader and will be an exemplary role model.

Rhoda Bennett Philanthropy Award

• Must be a graduate of the University of Leicester
• This award recognises the exceptional philanthropic support a graduate has given to the University. Nominees must have demonstrated a sustained track record as philanthropic champions for the University, devoting their efforts to furthering the University’s philanthropic fundraising goals.

Mary Attenborough Volunteer of the Year Award

• Must be a graduate of the University of Leicester
• This award recognises exceptional dedication to volunteering. Nominees will have made a positive impact regionally, nationally or internationally through volunteering linked to the University.

Alumni Association Graduating Student Award

• Must be a final year student at the University of Leicester
• This award recognises an individual who has demonstrated exceptional commitment and success in raising the profile of the University and/or improving the experience of other members within the University community. This may include but not necessarily be limited to: Fundraising for the University or a student group, mentoring other students on a voluntary basis, volunteering at key University events such as Open Days and visit days or undertaking research above and beyond that expected as part of their degree that has had a positive impact on the University and wider-community.

Terms and conditions

Change of terms and conditions

These terms and conditions may be amended at any time. The amended terms and conditions will be effective immediately upon being posted on the Alumni website.

Issues outside the terms and conditions

The organising group may determine any issue relating to the Alumni Awards not specifically covered by these terms and conditions. All decisions will be final and no communication will be entered into.

Liability

The University of Leicester will not be liable for any loss, expense, damage or injury sustained by a nominator or nominee in connection with these awards, except for any liability which cannot be excluded by law (in which case the liability is limited to the minimum allowable by law).

Personal information

Any personal information you provide to the University of Leicester will be dealt with in line with the University’s Privacy Policy.