The first ever winners of the Nottingham Post ‘Student Awards' were announced on Wednesday 16 November at a glittering ceremony held in the Council House ballroom.
Pupils, parents, teachers and leading city figures came together to celebrate the remarkable achievements and recognise the contribution and success of young people from a range of Nottingham schools.
Two of the Nottingham Academy pupils, both from our Ransom Road site, were entered into the awards scheme and won their individual category.
Chiquita Dodsworth came first in the ‘Creative' category, with her talent for the saxophone and also her creative writing skills which earned her success in several national writing and poetry competitions.
Chiquita was presented with her award by Alex Farquharson, Director of the Nottingham Contemporary and said ‘it's been brilliant. I wasn't expecting to win at all and I was quite surprised when they read my name out. I feel very honoured to have just been shortlisted for the award, so to win it feels really great".
For Rozna Hassan, winning her ‘Beating the Odds' award is a remarkable achievement considering she couldn't speak a word of English when she arrived here from Iraq five years ago. The Sixth form pupil achieved B grades in both her English Language and English Literature GCSE examinations this year.
English Literature is Rozna's favourite subject. She said "I tried so hard to learn English because, in Iraq, education is valued very highly. I tried my best and went to lots of after school classes so I could become as fluent as possible".
Rozna was presented with her award by Gary Birtles, the Nottingham Forest football legend.