From our last post, you can see that the Sustainability Team are award winners on our own turf – but send us to the big smoke and you get a lot of very stiff competition!
When we entered the Business Green Leaders Awards 2011, we thought we’d be very lucky to even get through to the next stage – in a nationwide hunt for the Sustainability Team of the Year, it would be challenging for us to get noticed amongst large corporations. But the efforts of the team, the ECs, and all University stakeholders in reducing our environmental impacts impressed the judges, and we were shortlisted for the award.
It was such an honour to have been recognised as one of the top 6 Sustainability Teams in the UK. But now we had that thirst for glory – could we win?! We had very worthy competition in the form of the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Archant, BAE Systems, E.ON UK, and RS Consulting.
The awards evening was held in London, and was an ideal opportunity for Newcastle University to network and promote their efforts, raising the University’s profile in the sustainability and environmental sectors.
As it was a team award, as many members of the 8 strong Sustainably Team attended the event. Off to the big smoke we went, five of us cramped into a car (car sharing – sustainable method of transport!). The black tie awards event was a great evening, hosted by Jeremy Hardy, from Radio 4, with a lovely three course meal.
Lucy Latham, Carbon Emissions Officer, and Kay Gregory, EC Support Officer, sit down to dinner, with the stage in the background.
With Daniel ‘Waste Manager’ O’Connor practicing his W sign (W for Winner! see pic below), how could we lose?! But, despite Lucy ‘Carbon Emissions Officer’ Latham’s pre-written acceptance speech, we were unsuccessful. We lost out on the award for Sustainability Team of the Year to Yorkshire Ambulance Service’s Carbon Management Team.
Many congratulations to all the winners. You can find out more about the other awards, at http://ev785.eventive.incisivecms.co.uk/static/shortlist
Kay, with Dan O’Connor, Waste Manager (making the W sign!), Hannah Munro, Sustainability Support Officer, and Matt Dunlop, Energy Manager.
Regardless of the evening’s outcomes, we’d like to thank all the University’s Environmental Co-ordinators, and all University staff and students for their continued efforts in assisting the Sustainability Team to reduce the impact of the University’s operations on the environment. To be shortlisted for the award means the University as a whole has been recognised as achieving success in its aim to become environmentally sustainable, and that achievement would not occur without the help and support of ECs and University staff / students.
Many thanks.