The University of Exeter Enactus Society has beaten off record levels of competition from other societies nationwide to win £1,000 in the Best Social Impact category at the RBS ESSA awards, which recognize the country's most enterprising students.
The RBS ESSA (Enterprising Student Society Accreditation) is designed to recognise and reward the enterprising work being done by students who are members of societies and illustrate how everyday society activities such as marketing, driving new membership, managing accounts, hosting events and raising funds are demonstrations of entrepreneurship.
Enactus Exeter are dedicated to running social and commercial projects which transform the lives of people in need in local and international communities whilst empowering students to become entrepreneurial.
University of Exeter Enactus Society received their accolade at a glittering gala awards in London. More than 300 students from more than 30 universities attended the awards, which were hosted by former Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt and presented by the world's leading male supermodel David Gandy, Britain's first medalist at the Winter Olympics in snow sports Jenny Jones and Top Gear's original Stig, Perry McCarthy.
This year's awards, which offered a total prize pool of £61,000 received a record entry with more than 200 societies entering.
James King, chairman and founder of Find Invest Grow (FIG), which launched the ESSA initiative in 2011, said: "With such a huge entry for this year's RBS ESSA the competition was incredibly tough so many congratulations to Exeter for the innovation and all the hard work they put in to such a successful programme and making such a great social impact.
"The quality of the enterprising work conducted by societies across the country is quite outstanding and shows what an incredible pool of talent there is among the student body in the UK."
Thom Kenrick, head of sustainability programmes at RBS, added: "RBS has supported the ESSA for three years as part of RBS Inspiring Enterprise, which is dedicated to encouraging people to explore enterprise and build their skills. Between 2013 and 2015, RBS has committed to helping 100,000 young people explore enterprise and develop their skills.
"We are once again delighted by the quality and variety of enterprise activity going on in university societies right across the UK. This year's winners are highly impressive and we hope their prize money will spur them on to even greater success."
Now in its third year, the RBS ESSA received record levels of entries with more than 600 societies from over 120 universities having applied for the RBS ESSA accreditation.
The awards were judged by an independent panel of entrepreneurs, journalists and representatives from RBS, who were looking for demonstrations of outstanding best practice in how students apply a range of enterprising skills throughout the year in order to further the progression of their societies.
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