The Your UK Parliament Awards 2020 have been announced, with the Welsh Language Campaign of the Year award going to Bangor University Students’ Union – Undeb Bangor.
The award recognises the work of those whose campaign for change was in the Welsh language.
Undeb Bangor is the voice of the students at Bangor. Their mission is to enrich and enhance the experience of the students studying at the university.
When the general election was announced, Undeb Bangor planned to engage with students through newsletters and social media platforms. The message was to register to vote and ensure a high level of voter turnout. Initially, the team set up an online poll to find out which issues were important to the students. These results were then passed to local candidates, who were asked for a response to the topics to be collated into an online leaflet.
The SU also hosted a General Election Question Time debate, which was live streamed on social media. On election day, students were employed to go out in the community, encouraging their peers to vote.
This campaign successfully engaged students and empowered them to register and vote.
Harry Riley, Vice President for Education said of the award:
“We are incredibly proud to win this award for our register to vote and general election campaign. As the representatives of over 10,000 students we felt it was our duty to run this campaign as they are a demographic known for low voter turnout.
Bilingualism is something that we cherish here at Undeb Bangor and think being able to study in a bilingual environment really enriches the student experience. Thank you to the UK Parliament team for this award.”
2020 marks the third year of the Your UK Parliament awards, which are designed to celebrate people across the UK who have taken action on issues they care about. The winning entries were chosen by a panel of MPs, Peers and independent judges, who were unanimously impressed by the work people are doing to connect their community with the UK Parliament and democracy.
Further information on the Your UK Parliament Awards can be found here:https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/education-programmes/your-uk-parliament-awards-2020/
