Winners
Vidius Awards for council member Chiara Stam and Alcmaeon secretary Lotte Tuinenburg
Lotte van Tuinenburg, the second one from the right, won the board member of the year award. Photo: Ian Moerings
On Wednesday, the Vidius Awards were unveiled at Woolloomooloo, the nightclub of the fraternity Utrechtsch Studenten Corps, located at Janskerkhof square. The Vidius Awards are meant for the best student member of the university council and the best member of a student association board, which can include associations connect to UU and the university of applied sciences. The awards are part of Professors' Night, whose name is due to the fact that, in its first few years, professors acted as DJs.
More than six hundred students voted for their favourite student council member and board member. Chiara Stam, student of Media & Culture, won in the category ‘best university council member’. She was president of Lijst Vuur in the University Council this year.
The UU winners
The presentation said that, through hard work, Chiara has managed to put her stamp on the university this year. She fought for the university to hand out free menstrual products, use gender-inclusive language, and adopt policies against harassment. For some, Chiara is the face of the University Council.
This year’s best board member from UU is psychology student Lotte Tuinenburg, who serves as a secretary for the study association Alcmaeon. The presentation said she helped Alcmaeon remain stable throughout a hard post-Covid year.
Lotte worked on policies to improve the members’ mental health, wrote a protocol to prevent harassment, and worked on making the association more sustainable.
In the spotlight
Chiel Boot, chairman of the Union of Study Associations of the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences, was named the best board member for that institution. Idris in ‘t Hof, a member of the council of the university of applied sciences, was chosen as the best council member.
“We’re immensely proud to see so many students committed to each other,” says Vidius president Anna van Ommen. “As a local student union, we want to praise them and put them in the spotlight with these awards.”