Luciana Berger honoured at UJS awards as Glasgow students dominate

Jewish MP Luciana Berger was honoured as Glasgow’s Jewish students dominated the annual Union of Jewish Student Awards on Thursday night, taking the bulk of the honours back home with them north of the border.

The University’s Jewish Society (J-Soc) scooped two team awards while an individual student was honoured for her “outstanding contribution”.

Sarah Levy, a student in Scotland’s biggest city, was given the Alan Senitt Award for Outstanding Contribution to Campus Life, UJS leaders praising her “six years of dedication to Jewish life on campus”.

Before that, Glasgow’s J-Soc won awards for ‘Best Social Action’ for their “incredible” contribution to Mitzvah Day, Sadaqa Day and for the whole society donating blood at a Glasgow blood bank.

It was Glasgow’s second award of the night, having earlier won ‘Education Project of the Year,’ in honour of Frankfurt-born philanthropist Fred Worms, who died in 2012.

MP Luciana Berger and former UJS president Adam Pike were honoured as “inspiring alumni”. In accepting the award, Luciana applauded the commendable contribution of Sir Victor Blank and spoke proudly of her time at UJS, “I am a very proud Alumni of the Union of Jewish Students, it is one of the reasons l stand here as a member of parliament today.”

Others recognised for their work on Thursday was Leeds University’s Lauren Keiles for interfaith action, and Asher Goldberg and Josh Lee for their Israel Peace Week initiative at Nottingham.

Meanwhile, Imperial’s J-Soc were applauded for their ‘Israel Engagement’ work following what judges described as a “remarkable Israel Tech Trip and the creation of an internship programme in Israel”.

‘Event of the Year’ was won by Brighton and Sussex J-Soc for what UJS described as a “sensational” regional Shabbaton.

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