The Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Employment Awards
Download the Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Employment Awards 2026 Digital Programme.pdf
The Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Employment Awards celebrate the achievements of students who are employed alongside their studies and recent graduates undertaking full-time work.
The awards provide formal recognition of the hard work, commitment and time management skills required to attain academic success and take active steps towards enhancing employability skills and preparing for a future career.
Get in touch
If you have any queries about the Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Employment Awards, or paid employment opportunities for Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ students and graduates, please contact Becs Lenthall at studentemployment@exeter.ac.uk.
Employment Awards gallery
Find out more
Whether employed through one of our managed internship schemes, such as the Student Campus Partnership or Student Business Partnership, a part-time role or an employability programme such as Green Consultants or Professional Pathways, we want as many students as possible who are undertaking meaningful, paid employment whilst studying, to be recognised for the great work they do.
The same goes for the graduate interns recruited through our Graduate Business Partnership Scheme, who deliver impactful change, provide fresh insight and improve business process for employers across Devon and Cornwall and beyond.
And of course, none of this would be possible without our network of employer partners, who deserve to be given recognition and thanks for the opportunities and support they provide for our students and graduates.
This is what the Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Employment Awards do; by providing a prestigious accolade and a yearly awards ceremony, the awards formally celebrate the successful partnerships taking place between the Âé¶¹Ö±²¥, its students and graduates and employer partners.
The categories for the Employment Awards are as follows:
Student & Graduate Categories:
- Innovation
- Business Impact
- Community
- Leadership
- Best International Intern
- Best Team Award
- Overall Student Winner
- Overall Graduate Winner
Employer Categories:
- Best Internal Employer at the Âé¶¹Ö±²¥
- Best External employer
Nominations for the 2026 awards are now closed and all submissions have been passed to our panel of independent judges.
All nominees and those who have nominated will be invited to the awards ceremony on Friday 22nd May where the results will be revealed. If you have any queries, please contact Becs Lenthall at StudentEmployment@exeter.ac.uk
The categories for the Employment Awards are as follows:
Student & Graduate Categories:
- Innovation
- Business Impact
- Community
- Leadership
- Best International Intern
- Best Team Award
- Overall Student Winner
- Overall Graduate Winner
Employer Categories:
- Best Internal Employer at the Âé¶¹Ö±²¥
- Best External employer
Huge thanks to our category sponsors for the 2026 awards:
- Innovation sponsored by
- Business Impact sponsored by
- Community sponsored by
- Leadership sponsored by
- Overall Student Winner sponsored by
- Overall Graduate Winner sponsored by
- Best Team Award sponsored by
Congratulations to the award winners for 2026!
2026 Categories:
- Innovation: Anya Morris
- Business Impact: Ella Kelynack
- Community: Sara Agbenro
- Leadership: Harry Coleman-Goriah
- Best International Intern: Blessing Jolayemi
- Best Team Award: Future Leaders and Innovators Team
- Highly Commended for the Best Team Award: HASS Success for All Interns
- Overall Student Winner: Ella Kelynack
- Overall Graduate Winner: Floyd Peach
- Best Internal Employer, Âé¶¹Ö±²¥: Louise Vennells
- Best External Employer: The Walt Disney Company
- Highly Commended for the Best External Employer: Darby & Darby Solicitors - Ordli
Congratulations to the award winners for 2025!
2025 Categories:
- Innovation: Eloise Cooper
- Business Impact: Fan Yang
- Community: Deborah Phan Huy
- Leadership: Becky Rowe
- Best International Intern: Berit Harwood
- Best Team Award: HASS Change Agents
- Overall Student Winner: Berit Harwood
- Overall Graduate Winner: Amani Gardner
- Best Internal Employer, Âé¶¹Ö±²¥: Dr Abby Russell
- Best External Employer: Joanne Manville
- Most Engaged Employer: Exeter Students' Guild
Congratulations to the award winners for 2024!
2024 Categories:
- Innovation: Matt Whitley, RJ Working
- Business Impact: Luke Noble, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
- Community: Laurel Brock, Royal Albert Memorial Musuem
- Leadership: Beth Lewis, Âé¶¹Ö±²¥
- Best international intern: Emma Alabi, Perfino Ltd.
- Best Team Award: The Career Zone Student Campus Partners (SCPs) -
- Overall Student Winner: Madelaine Barr, Joanne Manville Virtual Assistance
- Overall Graduate Winner: Oliver Prato, Devon County Council
- *Highly Commended* - Saskia Akermann-Clark, Exeter Innovation
- Best Internal Employer, Âé¶¹Ö±²¥: Clare Johnson and Sharron Curtis, Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ Career Zone
- Best External Employer: Nourallah Chakroun, Inspiring Women Network (IWN) Cornwall
- Most Engaged Employer: Exeter City Community Trust
A huge congratulations to our 2023 winners!
- Business Impact Category winner: Pooja Vijay
- Community Category winner: Harry Evans
- Leadership Category winner: Beth Fraser
- Innovation Category winner: Elizabeth Hedges
- Employer winner: Sophie Meadows, Âé¶¹Ö±²¥
- Overall student winner: Laura Daniela Perez Chaparro
- Overall graduate winner: Harry Evans
And of course, a special mention goes to our 'highly commended' nominees in each of our student and graduate categories:
- Highly commended – Business Impact: Isabel Dally, Jennie Linzell, Finn Horden and Laura Daniela Perez Chaparro
- Highly commended – Community: Sam Swinerd, Katelyn Wells, Amelia Grove and Rachel Fearn
- Highly commended – Leadership: Marley Pradieu, Pierre De Brosses, Abigail Addai and Abigail Lawrence
- Highly commended – Innovation: Olivia Williams, Eleanor Cook, Vishwanath Bhave Ravnishankar and Caitlyn Le Roux
We are so proud of all of our nominees and winners. Every single one of them is so deserving of their nomination, which speaks volumes as to the contributions they have made to their employers. Well done!
Click the links below to view and download photos from the awards:
We were honoured to have our awards trophies for 2026 made by local glassmaker, Laura Kriefman.
As an internationally exhibiting Stained Glass Artist, Laura combines exceptional technical delivery with a contemporary visual style that combines her love of colour and movement into the flow and precision of leaded stained glass work. From Geometric Architectural pieces and glass painting, to nudes in rare mouth blown glass - her glass work is playful, colourful and vivid.
Her work has been featured in Green Hill Arts Biennale, Devon Life Magazine and selected for the International Biennale of Glass, Bulgaria 2025.
You can contact Laura for commissions, restorations and courses at