Sixty-six winners of the Investec Rhodes Top 100 Awards were announced in a special edition of The Oppidan Press on 8 October 2014.
The winners will be recognised and honoured at the Investec Rhodes Top 100 Dinner on the 16 October which is sponsored by Investec. Students will receive trophies and certificates in recognition of their achievement.
There were over 20 judges from a wide range of speciality areas to ensure that the judges were knowledgeable in the specific category of awards that they were judging.
“It was about quality, there were some applications that we excluded outright and then there were applications which we thought had not quite made the grade. In the categories where we didn’t meet the full complement, you can see we had say two students who were outstanding and we wanted that to be the benchmark” states Ms Sarah Green, Head of the Career Centre at Rhodes.
There were 114 applications received this year and there were 68 nominations. However, not everybody who was nominated applied. Applicants also had to give referees in order to add a quality check to the application.
“The whole idea of nominations was not to favour your nomination at all, so just because someone was nominated, we didn’t bring that into the panel discussion. The nominations were used to stimulate people’s awareness of these awards. If you were nominated by someone then you would receive an email saying that you have been nominated, here is the link to apply for it. So you had to take responsibility and initiative for your own application,” adds Ms Green.
The different categories of awards are, Arts, Culture, Media and Society, Community Engagement, Commerce and Finance, General Excellence, Sports, Student Leadership and Academic Excellence. There were 24 winners in the Student Leadership category, 10 winners of General Excellence, four for Arts, Culture, Media and Society, three for Sports, two for Community Engagement and four in Commerce and Finance.
“We want to make students aware of these awards because we think there are students out there who would qualify, who don’t apply and we want to recognise achievements, we want to recognise excellence,” says Ms Green.
“The Career Centre is involved because we want students to learn how to apply for things, to evaluate their own performance. On the application form, which is all online, you had to state clearly what activities you had participated in but also evaluate your performance. So it wasn’t about, ‘I was a sub-warden in Jan Smuts House’, you needed to bring in reflection, for example, ‘I learnt to be a better organizer’, shares Ms Green.
The application process for the awards is a learning curve for students to teach them how to be proactive and organised in their applications.
“You need to show how you have contributed, and I don’t think many people realise that that’s part of how you conduct yourself in an interview, that’s what you need to show to a potential employer, what you are going to contribute to their organisation and what skills you have, what your attitude is and what you are capable of”
All students that were not successful were invited to receive feedback from Ms Green.
Setlogane Manchidi, Head of Investec CSI in South Africa, stated in a message to the winners, “May you be an inspiration to many. Continue to be role models to others where your achievements will be confirmation of countless possibilities around us – reminding all of us that where there is a will there is a way. Going forward the world has high expectations of you and I have no doubt you will achieve and exceed some of these expectations – good luck!”
The Director of Student Affairs thanked Investec for a partnership which is both beneficial to students but to the university as a whole.
“We trust that other students will be inspired when they see the achievement of their fellow peers, and will also strive to optimise their potential,” said Dr Vassiliou, Acting Director of Student Affairs.