Winner
Larry Achiampong
Mixed Media Arts BA, 2005
Larry is a Jarman Award nominated artist who has exhibited nationally and internationally. His artistic practice involves the use of moving image, sculptural installation, photographic and painted collage, audio and visual archives, live performance, spoken word, recorded sound bites and composed scores. His work often explores postcolonial themes and the idea of a post-human existence.
He is known for major public commissions for Somerset House and Transport for London. Both works focused on Pan-African histories and futures with a thematic focus on the ideas of Pan Africanism in the form of flags that utilise symbols and colour representation. His most recent project, a permanent sculpture at Westminster station in London, re-imagines the iconic London Underground roundel logo which for more than 100 years has been both a navigation tool and a symbol for London.
Finalists
Chris Banks and Wag Marshall-Page
Commercial Music BA, 1999
Banks & Wag are award-winning music composers for TV and radio. They met on the Commercial Music BA degree where they performed in bands and wrote music for student projects together. They both enjoyed stints post-graduation as touring musicians with Busted, Sugababes, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Infadels, though it was as TV composers where they scored the most success.
Their diverse list of credits range from children’s TV favourites, Go Jetters, Blue Peter, Something Special and Mighty Little Bheem through to The X Factor, National Lottery, The Mummy Diaries, and The Answer Trap. Their music has been performed far and wide from the Royal Albert Hall to the Sydney Opera House (via two weeks at #1 in the Billboard Japan 100), and they have written for Julian Lloyd-Webber, Nicola Benedetti, Dame Cleo Laine, and The Darkness, to name but a few.
Noreen Naroo-Pucci
Fashion Design BA, 1993
Noreen is a veteran of the retail industry, and is Chief Design Officer at menswear brand Mizzen and Main. She is also Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of KIK Axion Sports, a martial arts uniform start-up brand. Prior to this she was the SVP of Menswear Design at Calvin Klein. A large part of her time was spent at Under Armour where she was Senior Creative Director and then VP of Global Design from 2008-2019. The role oversaw growth from $600m to $5bn in global revenue. Other roles have been at Fila Sport and Champion Europe.
Noreen supports the next generation of designers, having held teaching posts at Mica/Hopkins, Parsons/The New School, and FIT as well as serving on two design school boards. She was also involved with the Pelham Union Free School District NY.
Brian Willoughby
Modern Languages, 1971
Brian began his career playing guitar for Beatles' protégée Mary Hopkin. He worked with New World, Joe Brown and Roger Whittaker, before joining No Sweat. From 1978 to 2004, he was lead guitarist with Strawbs. In 2019, he was presented with a Proclamation from The Legislature of New Jersey for his services to the music industry.
Brian has worked as a recording session musician with Monty Python, The Sweet's Brian Connolly and Nanci Griffith. He won a gold award for the Canadian release ‘Suspended Animation', an album by ex-Strawbs members The Monks. 'Alice’s Song' with his wife Cathryn Craig was an Aled Jones Highlight of the Year on BBC Radio 2. The Telegraph’s Martin Chilton named their duo as his Folk Gig Pick of the Year.