A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
The student-run group, which offers a confidential listening, information and sexual health supplies service for the University of York and York St. John students, created a promotion centered on mascot Kevin the Cow.
Kevin, who has over 230 friends on his Facebook profile, recorded a video of his day-to-day routine, his trips to Nightline, and went for a real night out in York to promote Nightline’s services.
Nightline’s ad impressed judges Tim Bierly, Langwith Campaigns Officer, Janey Stephenson, Creative Director of Fusion 2011, and Phoebe Cullingworth and Isobel Edwards, the Environment and Ethics officers, to pip the four other entrants to first place.
Their entry was assessed on potential outreach, creativity and sustainability and Andreas Gabrielsen, Campaigns Officer, who ran the competition, revealed that “Nightline came out top in all categories”.
“I liked how the Nightline ad manages to remove the stigma of actually asking for help when needed,” Gabrielsen added of the winning entry.
We always aim to make the service as open and friendly as possible and the initial feedback we've had on Kevin and his promotional events has been great
Nightline revealed their joy at winning the competition, saying: “It's always nice to be acknowledged for our work in trying to raise awareness of our service, but to actually win something for our efforts is incredibly encouraging, and a really nice gesture from YUSU.
“We always aim to make the service as open and friendly as possible and the initial feedback we've had on Kevin and his promotional events has been great, so there's no reason why he shouldn't be around long term. Keep your eyes open for him!
“This is just the beginning really, we've many new exciting campaigns that we'll be rolling out, just watch this space!”
About receiving the £30 courtyard voucher, Nightline added: “Kevin will be thrilled as he often needs some chips and a cold drink after a hard night raving to his favourite dubstep!”
Nightline admitted the poster ban has affected societies but they were pleased at the new opportunities to promote themselves.
“Posters were a huge source of publicity for every society, and there's no denying it will hit everyone hard,” they said. “But with the ban comes a necessary need to adapt, and whilst it may be initially tough we'll strive to keep student awareness of our service as high as possible.”
Gabrielsen also commented on the effect the competition was intended to have after postering restrictions on campus. He said: “This competition was thought up and mandated during a time when the ban on posters was being debated everywhere and by everyone.
"It fell under a wider action paper I wrote that mandated the full-time officers to work against the poster ban, but the competition in itself was a means to shift the focus from exclusively postering and encourage sustainable, creative advertising by campus societies and teams.”
About plans for similar competitions in the future, Gabrielsen said: “Nothing is planned, yet given the few entrants and interest for the competition, we will probably try other ideas that we're incubating before we do any re-runs of this.”
YUSU President Tim Ellis added: "The No Posters Promo Competition was a really inspiring initiative to show the variety of ways that clubs and societies can communicate with students, which is more environmentally friendly and also more effective than postering."
For more information on Nightline, visit their Facebook page.
Well done to Nightline. A shame The Yorker couldn't describe the service properly though - it's a non-judgemental "confidential listening, information and sexual health supplies" service and does NOT give advice.
University of York students needing personal, welfare or academic advice should contact YUSU's professionally-qualified adviser at the Advice and Support Centre in the YUSU building.
^ appears to have been fixed. Well done Nightline for all 
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report