Cambridge University's Full Blue Racing wins top enterprise award

Full Blue Racing, a team of Cambridge students who design and build a formula-style race car from scratch, beat off fierce competition from its rivals, Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER), to claim the £10,000 first prize.

The judges were particularly impressed with the scale of changes and introductions which Full Blue Racing has introduced during the last year, including a new advisory board, a two year operations programme to allow continuity, an active business team to manage the society’s 30 sponsors and an alumni network.

Fittingly, Full Blue Racing received its award from Top Gear’s original Stig, Perry McCarthy.

Having won the award last year, CUER, which builds solar panel racing cars and created Britain’s only entry in the last World Solar Challenge, took second place this year, receiving a cheque for £4,000.

This year’s awards, which offered a total prize pool of £61,000, received a record entry from over 200 societies.

Cambridge also tasted success in the Best Use of Funds category with the University’s EcoHouse society, which designs innovative housing solutions to enhance the quality of life for urban communities across Latin America. The society won £1,000 as runner-up in the category.

The RBS ESSA (Enterprising Student Society Accreditation), which was established by Find Invest Grow (FIG), is a unique programme that is designed to recognise and reward the enterprising work being done by students who are members of societies. It illustrates how everyday society activities such as marketing, driving new membership, managing accounts, hosting events and raising funds are demonstrations of entrepreneurship.

Over 350 students from more than 30 universities attended the awards which was hosted by former Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt, while awards were presented by the world’s leading male supermodel David Gandy and Britain’s first medallist at the Winter Olympics in snow sports, Jenny Jones, alongside Perry McCarthy.

James King, Chairman and Founder, FIG, said: "Huge congratulations to Full Blue Racing. We had a record entry this year so competition was tougher than ever before. The RBS ESSA was set up to encourage the development of enterprising skills and the range and level of initiatives which Full Blue Racing have implemented is something that many established companies would be proud of."

Thom Kenrick, Head of Sustainability Programmes, RBS, added: "RBS has supported the ESSA for three years as part of RBS Inspiring Enterprise, which is dedicated to encouraging people to explore enterprise and build their skills. Between 2013 and 2015, RBS has committed to helping 100,000 young people explore enterprise and develop their skills.

"We are once again delighted by the quality and variety of enterprise activity going on in university societies right across the UK. This year’s winners are highly impressive and we hope their prize money will spur them on to even greater success."

The awards were judged by an independent panel of entrepreneurs, journalists and representatives from RBS, who were looking for demonstrations of outstanding best practice in how students apply a range of enterprising skills throughout the year in order to further the progression of their societies.

The awards saw prizes split into Gold, Silver and Bronze categories. Below is the list of full winners.

Gold

Most Enterprising Student Society

Winner (£10,000) - University of Cambridge Full Blue Racing
Runner Up (£4,000) – University of Cambridge EcoRacing

Best Series of Events

Winner (£3,000) University of Warwick Finance Societies
Runner Up (£2,000)  University of Manchester Entrepreneurs

Best Membership Engagement

Winner (£2,500) University of Nottingham Enactus
Runner Up (£1,500) LSESU Economics

Best Alumni Engagement

Winner (£2,500) UCL Economics and Finance Society
Runner Up (£1,500) University of Aberdeen TAU Racing

Best Professional Development Programme

Winner (£2,500) Imperial EESoc (Imperial Electrical Engineers)
Runner Up (£1,500) University of Oxford Business Guild

Social Impact Award

Winner (£1,000) University of Exeter Enactus

Silver

Most Innovative Fundraising Activity

Winner (£6,000) University of Bristol Boat Club
Runner up (£1,000) University of Birmingham ValeFest

Best Use of Funds

Winner (£3,000) Imperial El Salvador Project
Runner up (£1,000) Cambridge University EcoHouse

Most Innovative Event

Winner (£2,000) University of Nottingham Physics
Runner up (£1,000) University of Oxford Ice Hockey Trust

Most Improved Membership Engagement

Winner (£1,000) University of Edinburgh Napier American Football

Most Improved Alumni Engagement

Winner (1,000) University of Edinburgh Shukokai Karate

Most Improved Professional Development Programme

Winner (£1,000) University of Sheffield University Dentists

Social Impact Award

Winner (£500) University of Lancaster Boat Club

Bronze

Most Innovative Fundraising Activity

Winner (£6,000) University of Bristol Boat Club

Runner up (£1,000) University of Birmingham ValeFest

Best Use of Funds

Winner (£3,000) Imperial El Salvador Project

Runner up (£1,000) Cambridge University EcoHouse

Most Innovative Event

Winner (£2,000) University of Nottingham Physics

Runner up (£1,000) University of Oxford Ice Hockey Trust

Most Improved Membership Engagement

Winner (£1,000) University of Edinburgh Napier American Football

Most Improved Alumni Engagement

Winner (1,000) University of Edinburgh Shukokai Karate

Most Improved Professional Development Programme

Winner (£1,000) University of Sheffield University Dentists

Social Impact Award

Winner (£500) University of Lancaster Boat Club