Leicester shortlisted for Guardian University Awards
The University of Leicester has been shortlisted for two categories in the prestigious Guardian University Awards 2016. Our HeForShe campaign is a contender in the Advancing Staff Equality category and the reinterment of King Richard III is a contender for Best Marketing and Communication Campaign.
We were invited by the United Nations to be one of just ten universities in the ‘10x10x10 IMPACT Champions’ programme. HeForShe was formally launched in the UK with a bus tour in September/October last year which started in Leicester. As part of the launch we unveiled our HeForShe video which has to date had more than 10,000 views on YouTube. Some of the ideas which we came up with, such as commitment cards, have now been formally adopted by the UN’s HeForShe campaign.
King Richard III was reinterred in March 2015, having spent longer at the University of Leicester than he did on the throne. At a dignified ceremony on the Sunday morning, the King’s coffin emerged from our Fielding Johnson Building. A selection of religious and secular texts were read and white roses placed on the coffin by representatives of the University, the Richard III Society and the King’s surviving relatives. The coffin then went on a tour of the county and city before the King was officially passed into the safekeeping of the Diocese of Leicester.
The Guardian Awards winners will be announced at a ceremony on 16 March.
This is not the only success that Richard III has brought to Leicester - other awards are cited here.
Watch our HeForShe video: