Socs News

Big Wins for UCC Societies at BICS 2024!

UCC Societies were victorious at the annual Board of Irish College Societies (BICS) national awards
on 11th April, taking home four awards.

Board of Irish College Societies (BICS) is a national organisation that was founded in 1995 and its role
is to provide a national forum for the societies in Ireland’s universities, colleges, and institutes of
education. Their National Awards are an opportunity for student societies to showcase their
numerous achievements from the previous year. This year 345 students competed in the awards
across 18 higher level institutions.

UCC were awarded in the following categories:

Best New Society Large College: UCC Pop Culture Society
UCC Pop Culture Society (or PopSoc) has brought fun and exuberance to college life this year. This
year they organised 36 wide-ranging events, from quizzes and socials to club nights and panel talks
all of which fulfilled the aims and objectives of the society providing a wide range of social
opportunities for students and allowing for critical debate on pop culture.

Best Individual Large College: Emer Neville (UCC Pop Culture Society, UCC Feminist Society, An
Chuallacht, UCC Government and Politics Society)
Emer is a second year Digital Humanities and Information Technology student and has held various
committee positions across four societies including Co-Founder and Chairperson of UCC Pop Culture
Society and Fempower officer for UCC Feminist Society. Emer is incredibly hardworking and has
brought passion and dedication to each of her roles. Emer was awarded Best Individual at UCC
Societies Stars awards as well as an SAAI award for individual contribution to student media and has
also led UCC Popular Culture Society to success in both BICS and Stars.

Best Promotional Campaign: UCC Global Justice Society
UCC Global Justice Society won this award for the Positive News of the Week campaign consisting of
a weekly Instagram post of a selection of good news stories related to global justice. This campaign,
crafted to resonate with students, aimed to deliver five heartening news stories each week, curated
to highlight issues of global justice. In addition to sharing the news, the society also sought to
empower their audience with knowledge, directing them towards the sources they used if they
wished to get more information on a specific story.

Most Improved Society in a Large College: UCC Global Justice Society
The aim of UCC Global Justice Society is to be an activism-based group dedicated to challenging
injustices across the globe by giving UCC students a support network and the skills needed to take
action. This year they have organised various events in line with this aim: Pizzas for Peace event to
showcase how to think global, act local, various Palestine solidarity events, the ‘Working for Change’
careers fair. By taking various actions this year such as rebranding, branching out to encompass
students from all other disciplines and streamlining their workload, newsletters, and social media,
they have increased engagement and gained more members.

2023/24 has been an exceptional year for UCC Societies with 2400+ approved events taking place
this year across 118 societies.

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