XCEL STUDENT OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2008
Welcome to the Xcel Student of the Year Awards 2008. Our winners arrived in true Xcel style and were rewarded at a ceremony and gala dinner held in central London on Monday October 6th.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE 2008 EVENT?
The Xcel Student of the Year Awards are designed to reward outstanding achievement and raise aspirations of students from all backgrounds. This was the first ever student award ceremony to celebrate the achievements of students from all backgrounds throughout the UK.
Nominations were sent to the Xcel Awards Team early 2008 in their hundreds from universities and colleges throughout the UK. The sheer calibre of students nominated was overwhelming. Our deserving winners were finally picked on the basis of the students’ personal as well as academic achievements.
The award-winners were then notified and received their Xcel Awards, plus £500, whilst attending an exclusive gala dinner held in the Tower Hotel in London. Besides enjoying their special evening with their own guests, they also mixed with a range of celebrities from the worlds of business, sport, music, film, entertainment and politics. Also in attendance were business leaders and leading academics.
The evening commenced with a drinks reception in the entertainment suite overlooking the River Thames and Tower Bridge followed by a sit down three course dinner before the ceremony.
This year, Xcel was thrilled to have as their awards host the fabulous Konnie Huq. Konnie entertained and guided the guests throughout the ceremony with speeches from all of our awards sponsors and, of course, from our deserving winners. Richard Barnes, Deputy Mayor of London expressed his pleasure in attending the ceremony and said, “this certainly is a night for us all to be proud!” The final surprise of the ceremony was the announcement of our overall Xcel Student of the Year 2008. Our winner, Alexander Rose, was overwhelmed to receive his award to a standing ovation. His work on anti-knife and gun crime, in the face of his own personal experiences, is an inspiration to us all. Our congratulations goes out to Alexander Rose and to all of our incredible winners!
As if this wasn’t enough the Xcel Student of the Year Awards 2008 then triumphantly closed with an exclusive performance from global mega star Kelly Rowland who performed her latest hit single “Work”. Students then partied until the early hours at the Xcel Awards After-Party, hosted by Kiss 100’s DJ Big Ted.
