We are so pleased to announce that the recent StudentCrowd awards has listed LUU as the Best University for Clubs and Societies! We also came an impressive third place in Best overall University Union. The StudentCrowd awards is the only recognised awards programme that only takes into consideration student reviews and ratings, putting you and your voice at the centre of their rankings- so thank YOU!
This year LUU has achieved so much. We launched the Student Ideas Fund earlier this year to allow you, as students, to have a say on where some of our grants should go. As of April, we had already funded five different student ideas, including a large-scale E-sports Varsity and ‘Roots Magazine’, and we aren’t stopping there! This fund is already doing so much for the student experience at LUU, and we are so glad that you, as students, are using it to its full potential.
This year, we also celebrated incredible success at Leeds Varsity. Varsity is the biggest sporting event of the year, taking place between the University of Leeds and Leeds Beckett, and is so important to our student body. With tons of different sports taking part, we had one of our most impressive overall wins yet at 97-94. Our incredible students in sports clubs and societies absolutely smashed it and made us proud!
We were also very lucky to win the award for ‘Small Venue of the Year’ at the Ticketmaster Awards 2025. Our incredible bars and venues team have worked tirelessly this year to create a safe and welcoming environment in all of our spaces, while putting fun at the forefront of their mission. We’ve hosted an amazing number of events this year, including club nights, gigs and drag nights.
Old Bar also celebrated their 85th birthday this year! LUU wouldn’t be the same without its host of venues and year-round celebrations, and we were so excited to commemorate Old Bar and its longstanding commitment to our key value of ‘Fun’ for students through the years!
It is impossible to consider our achievements without thinking about Leeds Ball. Leeds Ball is a huge-scale event put on by LUU for students to celebrate the year past. It featured pop up food stalls, live performances and bands and even dodgems! We had so much fun at Leeds Ball, and it looks like you guys did too! We spoke to a recent graduate who attended the event, and she said that ‘Leeds Ball was an amazing opportunity to say goodbye to people before we all left. It was a good way to celebrate the last three years of hard work with the people I care about the most. My favourite part was the Big Band performance outside. They were on such a big stage it felt like a festival and I absolutely loved watching them!’
It was such a joy to celebrate the successes and achievements of our multitude of wonderful Clubs and Societies at the Riley Awards this year. We have such an amazing variety of societies and we were so impressed with everything they have achieved. We were so proud of all of our nominated societies, and are so excited to see what they do in the years to come.
We at LUU are so proud of all of our achievements this past year, particularly from all of our student leaders and student staff. We are so honoured to represent you and your voice, and are so excited to see what the future holds for your union. All of our hard-work could not happen without you, the students, and we hope in coming years we keep on helping you love your time at Leeds.
Article by Isla Plant (She/Her)
Leeds University Student Writer
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