Success for English students named LU Arts’ 2019-20 scholars

An event held earlier this week celebrated this year’s recipients of the LU Arts’ scholarships.

Congratulations to our English students Emma Ames (Publishing with English) and Rennae Walker (Drama with English) who have been awarded two of the ten available prestigious scholarships.

As a result of being named scholars for this academic year, the students have received a £200 cash prize and a tailored package of tuition and mentoring to develop their skills and knowledge further.

The scheme will also provide them with the opportunity to showcase their talent through University events.

They met with the University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Robert Allison and the LU Arts team on Wednesday (20 November), who spoke with them about their talents and his hopes and ambitions for them throughout the year.

I was always reading when I was a child and developed a really deep relationship with story-telling. Writing wasn’t something I shared when I was younger but I recently immersed myself back into the world of poetry and found that it is a great outlet for emotions and thoughts I don’t always find easy to talk about with others. I enjoy experimenting with different narrative styles within my short stories and character types. In high school, I was writing mostly within the fantasy and gothic genre but during university I have started reading and writing on subjects more cemented in reality, tackling real social issues. My friends and I founded the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ Literature Society this year to encourage writing, group feedback and developing different stylistic pieces with authors and poets across campus, studying all subjects. We know there are excellent writers majoring in math or science that may need an outlet for their creativity and we aim to provide that space on campus for them, as well as for BA students. I’m really looking forward to organising and hosting Speech Bubble this year, to give students the opportunity to see performances from professionals and see how their work can become a career in writing and other creative arts. It’s also a fabulous opportunity for students to perform their own poems and share their work.

Emma Ames Recipient of the Creative Writing and Spoken Word Scholarship

From a young age I always knew I had a distinctive voice, which I eventually channeled through acting. My dream to act slightly diverted when I went to a Film and Writing workshop in 2018. Not long after the workshop I began to write and not long after writing I became an independent filmmaker. It was then I discovered that acting is not the only medium I could express myself through. I’m a Christian so I believed God highlighted to me that I had the ability to tell stories - all in a very short period of time. In September I released my first film that landed me into two film festivals and my first radio interview. I’m excited to see what other stories God desires me to tell both through acting and playwriting but especially through filmmaking.

Rennae Walker Recipient of the Multimedia Scholarship