Equality Champions Awards for Clubs and Societies

Trinity recognises the vital role that clubs and societies play in the student experience and in making strategic goals for equality, diversity and inclusion into reality. Through the Equality Champions Awards, clubs and societies have the opportunity to have their achievements in this arena publically recognised by the University.

Prizes

• 1st prize €500
• 2nd prize €300
• 3rd prize €200
• Highly commended – two prizes of €100 should the adjudication panel feel they are merited.

All winners will also be awarded the digital Trinity Equality Champion emblem which they will be free to use on all club/society publicity material. The winning clubs/societies will be invited to an award ceremony at the end of Hilary term.

How to Apply

The Equality Champions Awards are on hold for 2020/21 but you can read about former award winners below.

Conditions of Entry

• The application must be made by a club or society who are registered in Trinity College Dublin for the current academic year
• The application must be made by a member of the club or society committee
• The application must be received by the deadline
• The application must focus on one specific event or other initiative run by the club or society (however, there is no limit to the number of applications a club or society can make, relating to different events / initiatives)
• The event / initiative must have taken place during the past year
• The event / initiative must have reached out to a disadvantaged or under-represented group (or groups), relating to one of the following equality themes:

• If the primary objective of your society is to promote a theme listed above, or a group directly linked to one of the themes, your application must focus on an event which reached out to another group. For example, QSoc would not be rewarded for an event for the LGBT community, unless that event also reached out to another group or groups such as the Traveller community, older people, parents, etc.
• Joint applications are welcome - please specify within the email covering your application form how the prize money is to be divided, should your joint application be successful

Please note that normal CSC and DUCAC rules apply, so the event / initiative must be consistent with the core functions of your club / society. For example, the Basketball Club shouldn't hold an event relating to disability that doesn't also relate to basketball!

Selection Criteria

Applications will be judged by a panel appointed by the Equality Office, which will include student and Sports Centre representation. All decisions of the panel are final.

Applications will be judged on how the event / initiative benefitted Trinity in becoming a more collegial and inclusive community. In assessing this, the following factors will be taken into consideration:

1. The disadvantage / under-representation experienced by the target group in the relevant context (for example, are some ethnic or religious communities under-represented in your sport or society activity? Do people with certain disabilities face barriers to participating in your sport or society activity?)
2. Impact of the event / initiative on the target group
3. Impact of the event / initiative on the club or society

The selection committee may also confer any number of Special Recognition Awards. These are designed to recognise (a) particularly exceptional achievement in an area that is recognised by the general Equality Champions criteria and/or (b) outstanding achievement in an area relevant to the promotion of equality in club and society life, that is not otherwise recognised by the general criteria. A Special Recognition Award may be conferred on any club or society who has applied to the Equality Champions Awards, whether they have been awarded 1st - 3rd place or Highly Commended overall, or not.

Key Dates

• TBC 

Former Winners

2017/18

• First Place: Mature Students' Society for "Inqualiversity"
• Second Place: Rifle Club for "Inclusivity Through Sport"
• Third Place: Gender Equality Society for "Awareness-Raising of the Challenges Faced by Women Living in Direct Provision"
• Special Recognition Award: Gender Equality Society for "Self-Care Package"
• Special Recognition Award: Student Managed Fund for maintenance and development of "Women's Leadership Conference"

You can find out more about each winning project and how they met the award criteria in the  2018 Equality Champions Awards slideshow presentation (pptx 6.5 MB)

2016/17

• 1st place: Trinity Student Managed Fund for "Women's Leadership Conference"
• 2nd place: Trinity Arts Festival and DU Comedy Society for "Hysteria"
• 3rd place: The Hist for "Burke Sessions: Traveller Community"
  
  Highly commended: DUAMS and DUCSS

You can find out more about each winning project and how they met the award criteria in the 2017 Equality Champions Awards slideshow presentation (pptx 8.3 MB)

The event was also covered in the University Times.

Dean of Students (centre-right) and Equality Officer (centre-left) present the 2017 first place award to the Trinity Student Managed Fund (far left and right)

2015/16

Vice-Provost, Prof Linda Hogan presents the inaugural first place award to Student2Student