The Grads in Games Awards 2020 – The Student Hero Winner is Revealed!
The Grads in Games Student Hero award highlights current games students who have demonstrated a positive impact with their fellow students over the past 12 months. We want to showcase the students who are the doing the most to support, progress and inspire their peers through a range of pro-active and supportive activities.
These are the students that actively strive to learn more, are happy to help and share their knowledge, who are always trying new things and new approaches, and who probably already have an impressive portfolio of projects & activities both as part of coursework & as extra-curricular work.
This year we had over 30 nominations for this award, these were cut down to a shortlist of 8 finalists who were then judged by our fantastic panel. This years finalists:
- Ahmed Hisham Emam Ahmed Hendy – Cologne Game Lab
- Carly Lloyd – University of Worcester
- Kian Bennett – University of Portsmouth
- Rachel Rowley – Wrexham Glyndwr University
- Sandra Wojna – De Montfort University
- Simon Ashcroft – University of Central Lancashire
- Thomas Rainey – University Centre South Devon
- Will Jennett – Falmouth University
Following deliberation by our judging panel, we can now reveal that in their expert decision the winner of this years award is Rachel Rowley.
Since graduating with a First-Class Honours degree, Rachel has continued her development in a number of ways. She has been working as a lead developer for Treasure Map Tales, a Tranzfuser nominated team, whilst working on their game ‘Bagheads’ and being a representative at EGX 2019. All while being enrolled on an MSc Computer Game Development course.
Below you can see some of Rachel’s nominations:
“I have worked with her personally over this time through our Master-level mentor-ship programme where she has proved herself as an understanding and caring mentor who is focused on the development of the undergraduate students she supports. Rachel has also proved herself with supporting with teaching first year students as a Sessional Lecturer by designing and developing learning activities, enhancing the learning experiences of our new students.”
“She has been a key member of our student mentor programme and has taken a leading role in the support of students with diverse learning needs. Working with student groups from across the undergraduate and FE spectrum, Rachel has given a number of key motivational talks and provided support sessions for those in need of additional help wherever possible.”
“Rachel is a big evangelist for women in games development, and has actively been working with female students on their portfolio development and encouraging them to take more technical roles and challenges.”
We feel that Rachel has proven to be an excellent example to her fellow students and is destined for a great career in the games industry, a massive congratulations from the Grads in Games team.
