The Student Room the world’s largest online student community, has announced the winners of its inaugural ‘Student in a Million’ awards.
TSR’s readers and a panel of judges have chosen a winner in each of three categories: with the winning stories ranging from a student who has excelled in her studies while fighting cancer to a schoolboy who runs a charity single-handed.
Jamie O'Connell, irector of product and partnerships at The Student Room, said: “We’ve been utterly amazed by the student stories we’ve been hearing. What’s been truly inspirational about these awards has been the constant reminders of the drive, determination and ability of the UK’s students.
“These are worthy winners, but we’re enormously proud of the achievements of every one of the students who were nominated.”
The Student in a Million competition was launched in the summer of 2012 to celebrate the stories of the UK's most inspirational students.
TSR asked its readers to nominate amazing students - people who, along with their studies, do incredible things.
From all entries, a shortlist was chosen that included five nominees for the ‘Against All Odds’ award, and three nominees in each of the ‘Greatest Achievement’ and ‘TSR superstar’ awards.
That shortlist was opened up to a public vote, the results of which were added to the decisions of the TSR internal panel of judges.
THE WINNERS
Against All Odds (The winner of this award will be a student who has defied adversity. It will be someone who - when an obstacle is placed in their path - does not give in but works even harder)
Winner: Lana Jennifer Maartens
Lana has faced a constant battle since being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the second year of her English and Creative Writing course at the University of Salford. Yet, not only has she maintained her studies, she has also received excellent grades.
Runners-up:
Dan and Michael Smith
Jake Haven
Ria Sarrington
Greatest Achievement (The winner of this award will be a student who has achieved something very special; someone who has gone above and beyond the norm)
Winner: Thomas Bleasby
Tom stepped in to run The Forgotten Children's Foundation charity when its founder became extremely ill. He has juggled fundraising work with studies and exams and aims to become a politician.
Runners-up:
Jake Harvey
Tahmina Hadi
TSR Superstar (The winner of this award will be a member of The Student Room who used the site to make a positive difference to the lives of others)
Winner: DaisyDaffodil
TSR moderator DaisyDaffodil is a young carer who looks after her mum and sister at home. She also struggles with anxiety, but volunteers her time to help others on The Student Room.
Runners-up:
Minerva Vulpes
For full details on the stories of winners and nominees, see http://bit.ly/TSRSIAM.
The winners will be formally presented with their awards in early 2013, details to follow.
Every month, The Student Room reaches more than 6 million unique users, and it has more than one million registered members.
The Student in a Million judges
Jason Geall: managing director, The Student Room
Jamie O'Connell: director of product and partnerships, The Student Room
Chris Newson: group chief executive, The Student Room Group
Pete Langley: director, Get Revising
