Northumbria students, graduates and academics shortlisted in Culture Awards

The Journal Culture Awards shortlist was unveiled this month boasting a hotbed of talent including Northumbria University’s very own students, graduates and academics.

The annual awards ceremony is a highlight in the region’s cultural calendar, rewarding the best that the North East has to offer in a range of categories including performance, literature, visual arts, partnerships and events.

Last year’s ceremony, which was held at Durham Cathedral, saw Northumbria University walk away with Best Arts and Business Partnership for it’s collaborations with organisations including New Writing North, Live Theatre and BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.

And the 2014 event will see several individuals flying the flag for Northumbria. Creative Writing lecturer, Steve Chambers, is up for Writer of the Year for his successful fictional thriller, Gladio. The category also sees arts graduate Paddy Campbell shortlisted for his critically-acclaimed play, Wet House which premiered at Live Theatre last year. Wet House is recognised in a total of three categories, including Performing Artist of the Year for North East actor Joe Caffrey, and Performance of the Year paying tribute to the production’s cast – featuring Northumbria Performing Arts graduate, Riley Jones.

The work of Northumbria’s current students is also in the running, in the Best Event – Northumberland category. The Emily Inspires project, a schools’ engagement initiative, brought to life the story of suffragette Emily Wilding Davison and incorporated performance work by students from Northumbria’s Drama and Applied Theatre and Drama and Scriptwriting degree courses.

Lucy Winskell, Pro Vice-Chancellor, Business and Engagement, Northumbria University, said; “I’m proud to say that I am not surprised to see so many Northumbria names among the shortlist. Our creative, practice-led degree programmes are delivered by lecturers who remain highly active in the industry and we work in collaboration with key cultural partners to enhance the experience and benefits on offer at Northumbria. It’s a recipe for success and helps us to attract some of the best students onto our courses.”

The ceremony will take place at The Sage Gateshead on Wednesday 16 April.

To find out more about arts at Northumbria visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/arts.

To find out more about humanities and creative writing at Northumbria visit www.northumbria.ac.uk/humanities.