Finalists announced and public vote opens for the Westminster Alumni Awards

The Westminster Alumni Awards are an annual event to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of graduates from the University of Westminster, as well as from the University’s predecessors. Alumni are invited to apply for the awards or can be nominated by students, staff, alumni or members of the public. 

This year, the Awards received a record number of applications and due to the quality of applications, the Awards are recognising four alumni per category for the first time.

The Contribution to the Creative Industries Award recognises a graduate who has excelled within the realm of arts and culture. Finalists for this award include Modern Languages BA graduate Alice Childs, who restored the Van Gogh House London; Head of BBC Radio 6 Samantha Moy who graduated from the Media Studies with Radio BA in 1998; film director, writer and creator Adam Randall who graduated from the Film and Television BA in 2003; and Kadri Mahmoud, Kiran Mandla and Chris Toumazou who graduated from the Contemporary Media Practice BA Honours course in 2012 for their entertainment brand ‘COMPULSORY’.

The Entrepreneurial Award is awarded to a graduate who displays an entrepreneurial spirit in their endeavours. Finalists include Psychology MSc graduate and founder of The Positive Birth Company Siobhan Miller; Paul Vincett, who graduated from the Illustration BA course in 2007 and is also Creative Director of his company Stitches and Glue which was first conceived during his degree at Westminster; David Wall, who graduated from the Graphic Information Design BA in 1992 and is Director and Co-Founder of award-winning B2B branding agency Dusted is also a finalist, alongside Raveen Wijetilleke, Information Systems with Business Management BSc graduate, CEO and Founder of Eyeris Private Limited.

Four alumni have been nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognises graduates for their ongoing and significant contributions over a number of years. These include Diplomatic Studies MA graduate Iruthisham Adam, who has served as Minister of Health and Minister of Youth and Sports for the Republic of Maldives and Bruno Aziza, Diploma of Special Study graduate and Head of Data and Analytics at Google. David Buchanan, Vice-President of Strategic Partnerships at Salesforce who graduated from the Computing BSc in 2009 has also been nominated, and Anis Rahman OBE, who graduated with a Law Diploma and is a senior practicing Barrister, former Magistrate and was Adviser to the Home Secretary on Race, Equality and Community Affairs.

For the Outstanding Achievement Award, which recognises a graduate who had had notable personal or professional successes, finalists include Radio Production BA graduate Darby Dorras who won the prestigious Gold Award at the Audio Production Awards for the Mental Health Minute initiative. Other nominees include International Planning and Sustainable Development MA graduate Dr Nuha Eltinay who was a Senior Urban Development Specialist at the World Bank; immigration human rights lawyer and Legal Practice PgDip graduate Naveen Galal; and Rajinder Tumber MBE, who graduated from the Computer Science BSc Honours in 2005 and is an award-winning cyber security specialist.

Finalists for the Recent Graduate Award, awarded to a graduate who has achieved something extraordinary within three years of graduating, include Kaylee Golding who graduated from the Radio and Digital Production BA course in 2019 and is an award-winning radio producer and presenter. Other nominees include Business Management BA Honours graduate Trevor Gomes who launched his own youth mentoring programme ‘ELEVATE’; Sian Meades-Williams, who graduated from the English Literature: Modern and Contemporary Fictions MA in 2018 and made a business out of helping other freelance writers; and Journalism BA graduate Rituja Rao who is an award-winning IT consultant and emerging thought leader.

The final award for Social Impact recognises a graduate who has made a positive contribution to the lives of others. Finalists for this category include Shivani Dhillon, Diplomatic Studies MA graduate who is the founder of Down Syndrome Support Group in India and Markus Grupp, who graduated from the Hypermedia Studies MA in 2003 and is Co-founder and Chief Facilitator at social enterprise The Prosper Lab. Other finalists include Visual Culture MA graduate Thiago Jesus, who manages the cultural exchange programme People’s Palace Projects (PPP), and James Musisi and Dr Lem Ngongalah who graduated from the Global Public Health Nutrition MSc in 2015 and are both Directors at CORE Africa.

Learn more about the Westminster Alumni Awards finalists and cast your vote.