That’s a wrap! A look back on AUB students’ 2023 summer successes

Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) has enjoyed an highly successful summer as its students and graduates racked up an overwhelming list of awards and prizes over the season.

A number of these accolades were picked up during the programme of London showcases, exhibitions and industry events that AUB students attended across June and July.

BA (Hons) Modelmaking students brought home a massive 12 awards following the 29^th New Blades recruitment fair at Holborn Studios, which featured the work of nearly 80 students from six UK universities and colleges.

Seven third-year students came away with victories for modelmaking work. Four of the 12 awards went to Maddie Fuggle, including Best in Show. Her models included a large-scale model of a Nintendo DS, a model yacht, a beetle and a telephone.

Jamie Lord was runner-up for Best in Show, and also won Best Use of Creative Materials. His models included scenes from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

Holly Bignell also took home more than one prize – the Model Maker Group Fine Scale Model Award and Asylum Best Modelmaking.

The Business Design Centre in London played host to the two-week New Designers show from the end of June to the start of July.

During the first week of the show, AUB’s BA (Hons) Textiles third years came away with a massive haul of awards in a variety of categories.

Some students also won exhibition opportunities – Issy Hamilton and Emily Garbutt have exhibitions at the Festival of Quilts NEC – while others even won scholarship prizes. Zara Linsley won the Fashion Portfolio Competition from Domus Academy Milan, which came with a scholarship prize to study a Master's in Fashion Design.

These victories for the Textiles course add to those of students Ben Fell and Evie Watson from earlier in the year, who won two Hand & Lock Prizes. Ben took away the Wilcom Prize for Fashion, while Evie won for Textiles Art.

Students across three courses in AUB’s Arts and Communications School brought home prizes, or Pencils, at D&AD’s New Blood awards.

Four third-year students from BA (Hons) Graphic Design picked up awards: Eve Sawyer and Sara Hunt for their Penguin and Neurodiversity entry, and Jessie Denyer and Robert Pearce for their campaign Find Your Fellow Sharks.

Furthermore, BA (Hons) Illustration’s Ben Angel won a Wood Pencil for his entry Scotch Splotch, and three students from BA (Hons) Visual Communication – Nayumi Suyama, Megan White and Evie Binns – earned a Yellow Pencil for GLOW.

The BA (Hons) Visual Communication course also won Best Stand at the New Blood festival event.

The National Association for Higher Education in the Moving Image (NAHEMI) hosts the NAHEMI-Kodak Awards, to which all film schools in the UK are invited to join.

Entering the competition is part of a module in the final year of AUB’s BA (Hons) Film Production course, and this year, students racked up a total of six awards, including Overall Winner and Best in Brief.

18 film schools competed in this year’s contest, with nearly 60 entries produced.

This haul of prizes for BA (Hons) Film Production came only a couple of months after its successes at the 2023 RTS Southern Awards, which also saw its Animation Production counterpart take up the entire shortlist in the Student Animation category. Ultimately, this award went to Dadaland, while fellow nominees Moonseeker and Undertaker received glowing reviews from the judges.

In addition, the Film Production course won two out of the three awards it was nominated for. The Cubicle won Best Student Drama, while P Is For Paradise took home the Best Student Factual award.

Beth Lacey was named winner of The Costume Society’s Patterns of Fashion Award, becoming the latest in a long list of AUB students to win the prestigious and internationally recognised competition.

For her entry, Beth re-created a 1610s jacket owned by one Margaret Layton, the original of which is housed at the V&A Museum. Comprised of over 500 hours’ worth of work and utilising intricate embroidery and detail.

The competition was judged by Emmy award-winning designers Michele Clapton and Alex Fordham.

Beth was not the only BA (Hons) Costume student to make the Patterns of Fashion final this year. Her classmate Remi Gene Lever was also a finalist and came away with Highly Commended status for a 1660s bodice.

Several other courses took part in London-based showcases and events across the summer months. Starting with Graduate Fashion Week (GFW), where BA (Hons) Fashion Branding and Communication graduate Ed Earl earned a stand of their own with their upcycling non-profit Salvage Collective.

Ed and Salvage Collective were shortlisted for GFW New Business Award and were also selected for the Vivienne Westwood exhibition.

Also at GFW, BA (Hons) Fashion graduate Lucy James was named winner of the AUB catwalk.

In addition, Honor West from BA (Hons) Commercial Photography won a prestigious EIZO UK Student Award for the fashion video PARADE. The short film was produced as part of Honor’s final major project

Other showcases and exhibitions include BA (Hons) Illustration’s stands at the Business Design Centre for the second week of New Designers, where the Class of 2023 exhibited a wide variety of illustrative print and animation work; and BA (Hons) Photography’s exhibition Gazer, which was installed at the Copeland Gallery at the end of July.

A lot of these award-winning student projects were also exhibited at this year's on-campus Undergraduate Summer Shows, and can still be viewed at the Online Shows.