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Honorary Award recipients announced
Each year, Bishop Grosseteste University (BGU) has the opportunity to award Honorary Doctorates and Honorary Fellowships at its graduation ceremonies. BGU staff and students, retired staff and alumni and current or former University Council members were invited to nominate candidates for honorary awards. Honorary Fellowship is awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions to the University; whilst Honorary Doctorate is awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to academic achievement, social, economic or cultural life. We're pleased to announce this year's award recipients, who will be honoured at graduation celebrations in July 2023. Bishop Grosseteste University Vice-Chancellor Rev Canon Professor Peter Neil said: “We are proud to be awarding this year’s honorary recipients for their expertise and service in their respective roles. I am delighted to welcome them to our wider BGU community. “Each one of them is inspirational in their own right and all serve as excellent role models for our students in how to make a positive impact on society.” -
Do you need to talk about how you are feeling?
Do you need to talk about how you are feeling? Is something impacting your mental wellbeing? -
Student in Crisis
If you or someone you know is in crisis and urgent support is needed, it is so important that you access the necessary help as soon as possible. -
Six months into a Knowledge Transfer Partnership
A KTP associate perspective -
Counselling Sessions
How we can help. -
Wellbeing Resources
We have created some helpful resources that aim to support positive mental health and wellbeing. You can find some of these resources on this page and more information is available on Student Advice & Wellbeing’s Blackboard page. If you are worried about another student's mental health, please see our Student in Crisis page here or read our 'Worried about a friend's mental health?' guide here. If you would like to discuss any aspect of your mental health, or need some additional support please contact Student Advice & Wellbeing , or arrange an appointment with BGU’s Mental Health Adviser using our online booking system. -
International Education
The MA International Education is an exciting and newly developed distance-learning programme, suitable for educators from a variety of settings around the world, including primary and secondary schools, vocational colleges, universities, privately-owned education providers and the non-profit sector. It is specifically designed for practitioners and leaders who are wanting to develop their practice or seeking an opportunity to further their career. -
BRIDgE
Base for Research in Inclusion, Diversity & Equality -
Break from study
We know there are times when you may need to take a break in study due to changing personal circumstances. This can be for a variety of reasons and can be a worrying time. However, we are here to support you. If you are thinking about taking some time out, we hope the information below will answer some of your queries. Need more help? Please email thehub@bishopg.ac.uk and we will triage your query to the appropriate team. -
Petition to reinstate Kate Greenaway's name on award gathers pace
A petition to reinstate Kate Greenaway's name in the literary award which bore her name for decades is gathering pace. Created by BGU Librarian and History Lecturer Rose Roberto and illustrator and bookseller Tamsin Rosewell, it has received backing from a range of illustrators and writers including Patrick Ness, Candy Gourlay, Philip Pullman, and Frank Cottrell-Boyce. According to the organisers: "The Kate Greenaway Medal is the oldest British literary award focused on illustration. It remains one of very few that highlights the contribution of illustrators and actively promotes the importance of their work. Kate Greenaway’s own work is a hugely important part of the heritage of the British Book Industry; she remains an influence on illustrators today and should also be recognised as one of Britain’s great female artists. In an age when illustrators' names are still very often left off promotion and reviews for books, we feel it is vital to retain her name in association with this award." In 2023, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) which runs the awards renamed The Greenaway Medal as The Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration. The organisers describe this as "branding expediency" and argue that "The name of an accomplished woman, whose work is directly relevant to the award, has been removed and replaced with that of a male industrialist and a sponsoring corporation. This feels hugely insensitive, and ironically inappropriate when it awards a profession that still battles to be recognised." The petition calls on CILIP to reinstate Kate Greenaway’s name on the award before the 2024 nominations are made. The petition has now garnered more than 2700 signatures. Click here to add your signature to this cause. Below, Rose Roberto shares more about the petition... 'The Kate Greenaway Medal rebrand is misguided, and thousands are calling for her name to be restored. After signing our petition, award-winning author Patrick Ness, tweeted: "I know the librarians who run the medals do their absolute damnedest to make them the best awards in the world (which they are), but I too would love to see the Kate Greenaway name return. It’s such a specific honour on its own and honours a foundational female illustrator." A Monster Calls, written by Ness, was illustrated by Jim Kay. Jim Kay won the 2011 Kate Greenaway medal for illustrating A Monster Calls. Named awards have meaning. Individuals who have awards named after them should embody the values of the organisation they represent and/or the spirit for which an award was given. Many illustrators not only relate to Kate Greenaway's work and feel inspired by it — she, as a person, represents real struggles with whom illustrators today can relate. As a woman living a century ago, she lacked many opportunities, especially educational ones, that men were given more readily. This petition reflects the fact that writers and illustrators of all genders want this award to be named after a woman. It also shows that they want it to be named after a fellow illustrator. The Kate Greenaway Medal has always been a privilege for librarians to give to illustrators, recognising their talent and their specific work in a particular year. CILIP’s argument that librarians now somehow need to make literature awards about libraries is self-aggrandising and utterly bizarre. Greenaway’s name has been a constant and consistent example for many aspiring illustrators and writers in the English speaking world. Canadian Duncan Weller writes: "I have heard of the Kate Greenaway Medal, probably as early as my teenage years when I first thought of becoming a writer and illustrator of children’s picture[s]. It is a great mistake to change this name. Female illustrators need more recognition and especially those as qualified as Kate Greenaway." Oxford-based Helen Cooper posts: "I write and illustrate. They are entirely different. And for some reason one is often seen as more important than the other. I wonder if giving both the awards the same name was a misguided attempt to adjust that? I think it will have the opposite effect so am signing the petition. The Kate Greenaway award is so important for illustrators as a standalone award. We don’t want it to be the lesser of the Carnegie’s — which it almost certainly will become." London-based Phil Bradley wrote: "This is an absolute disgrace and very disappointing the CILIP has made this decision. It is wholly inappropriate and completely out of step with how members and wider society feel." It is troubling is that the CILIP’s rebranding campaign was launched in September 2022, with little fanfare, and little consultation. There were many surprised librarians who contacted both Rosewell and I personally complaining of a lack of transparency in this decision. Had any sort of proper research been conducted before the name change (ironically, the kind of research that librarians excel at), launching a campaign to remove the Greenaway name would not have occurred. This year, I ran a CILIP Shadowing Awards scheme at the Bishop Grosseteste University Library (BGU). BGU houses one of the largest children’s literature collections in a UK university and has been collecting two copies of Greenaway and Carnegie Medal winning books since the 1950s. During the shadowing scheme process, I first became aware that Kate Greenaway’s name had been removed from the medal. When I sent CILIP an email querying this decision, requesting that the decision be reversed back to the 2022 award name which was "Yoto Kate Greenaway", I heard nothing back from CILIP for weeks. While waiting for a response, Rosewell and I decided to launch our petition. We were honoured that the first signatory was Jackie Morris, who won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2019. James Mayhew eloquently explains why we undertook this campaign and why so many have signed the petition. "Kate Greenaway was a pioneering woman," he said. "It is right and proper that she is remembered, celebrated, and has her name attached to this important prize. Losing this link with an actual illustrator greatly lessens the significance of such an award." If you sign, you’ll be joining others such as Philip Pullman, Frank Cottrell Boyce, Jackie Morris, Dapo Adeola, Rob Biddulph, Lydia Monks, Thomas Taylor, Candy Gorlay and Patrick Ness.' This story was first published by The Bookseller. Hear Rose and Tamsin speak on The Illustration Department podcast here.
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