The Stars Are Out Tonight | Emmet Curtin
The annual UCC Society STARS Awards took place last Thursday evening in the Vertigo venue located in the County Hall. The STARS Awards recognize the best in UCC Societies through a number of categories for both individuals and Societies themselves.Over 270 people attended this year’s awards to see who would be awarded for their hard work in Societies. This year saw the Societies Guild receive a staggering number of entries for the STARS Awards with 479 applications totalling 1011 pages worth of submissions.While it is customary for some awards to remain unannounced until the Clubs and Societies Ball, the following is a list of the some of the Society award winners that were announced on Thursday: Best Financial Management (Friends of MSF), Best Week-long Event/Campaign (Zombie Outbreak – Physics), Best Collaborative Event (Homeless Week – Simon/SVdP), Best Charitable Event (Relay for Life – Cancer), Best Promotion and Online Presence (Philosophical), Best Poster ('Marcus' – Ian Byrne/Dramat), Outstanding Academic Society (Law), Outstanding Charitable/Religious (Cancer), Outstanding Political/Debating (Envirosoc) and Outstanding Social Society (E&S).Aidan Murphy, Auditor of the BIS Society said “It was great to see all the hard work and dedication of the committee during the year was recognized and to win the Most Improved Society was definitely something that showcased the hard work and dedication of the Society during the Year.” BIS were also runner-up Outstanding Academic Society, took away two individual achievement awards and are shortlisted for Best Society Event, Best Civic Contribution (with E&S) and Society of the Year.DJ Society Auditor Kevin Egan outlined his plan for the past year: “Trying to rebuild the Society, get new equipment and making sure there is a future for it were my intentions this year.” He spoke on how difficult it was for DJ Society saying how he had to rebuild connections that the Society had lost over the last few years and upgrading their old equipment. “We collaborated with National and International companies and worked with Felix da Housecat in Savoy earlier this year. The money from our events has gone back into buying the Society new equipment.”Kevin won a Society Achievement Award for his work and DJ Soc won Outstanding Creative Society and are shortlisted for Best Small Society.In addition to society awards, this year also had the largest number of individual awards given out with 12 Society Achievement Award (Star Awards) and 7 Bene Merenti winners. Jamie Hooper, the Societies Guild President, spoke on this saying it was the highest quality of applications this year from Society members. Bene Merenti winners included Olga Dennehy (Choral), Tommy Dunton (E&S), Annie Hoey (LGBT), Aidan Murphy (BIS), David Naughton (Dramat), Lauren Ronan (Musical) and Aisling Ryan (Law). The seven Bene Merenti winners are eligible for Society Person of the Year which will be announced at the Clubs and Societies Ball on the 21st of March.Awards which will be announced that night include Best Society Event, Society of the Year and Society Person of the Year. This year’s Clubs and Societies ball takes place in the Silversprings Hotel this coming Thursday and a limited number of tickets are still available from the Accommodations Office.