May Ball

Students and Staff Having a Ball at Queen’s University Belfast

The Queen’s University Students’ Union Enterprise department hosted its very first May Ball to celebrate entrepreneurial achievements of students and staff across the University.

Sponsored by First Trust, over 100 guests attended the glittering black tie event which took place in The Great Hall at QUB. The evening consisted of student quick pitches, a banquet dinner, awards and three entrepreneurial speakers who shared their start-up journeys; Savannah Dodd, Photography Ethics Centre, Ciaran Lynch, Gig Grafter, and Katie Matthews, Excel in Education.

Six awards were presented on the night including ‘Student Entrepreneur of the Year’ sponsored by Free-ist, ‘Enterprise Educator of the Year’, sponsored by Enterprise SU, ‘Rising Star’, sponsored by Queen’s Management School, ‘Enterprise Champion’, sponsored by the QUB School Of Electronics, Electrical Engineering And Computer Science, ‘People’s Choice’, sponsored by the QUB Graduate Association and ‘Innovateher of the Year’, sponsored by PWC.

On winning the Student Entrepreneur of the Year, Brendan Digney said, “It’s amazing to win this prestigious award – it’s been a long and at times difficult process. To receive this recognition is a real encouragement, and reaffirmation that the hard work is paying off.”

On organising the May Ball, Enterprise Officer Victoria Coulter commented, “The May Ball provided Enterprise SU with a brilliant opportunity to celebrate our fantastic students and to showcase their successes to a wider audience. It was lovely to organise such an inspirational evening and hopefully this is the first of many May Balls!”

The event was one of many initiatives organised by Enterprise SU, the entrepreneurial department of Queen’s Students’ Union, which works to help students develop enterprise skills and start their own businesses.