Ten successful Loughborough University students from various degrees, backgrounds and art forms were awarded the scholarships which range from instrumental and vocal to creative writing and the performing arts.

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.

Rennae Walker – who studies BA Drama with English – has been awarded the first-ever Multimedia scholarship.

Although originally her background is in acting, she now specialises in filmmaking and released her first film in September which resulted in her work being showcased at two film festivals.

Speaking about her plans for the scholarship, she said: “I hope to promote more creativity within storytelling. I think storytelling is a great thing and there are different forms, it’s not restricted to just one thing.

“People think that you need to have a lot of resources to create something special or substantial, but you don’t, you can just use an iPhone.”

Also named as one of the 2019/20 scholars, Yaprak Cakin is a master’s student whose art form is dancing.

Originally from Turkey, Yaprak has considered dancing a big part of her life for the last ten years, practising forms such as ballet, modern, jazz, contemporary and physical theatre professionally.

As part of her performing arts scholarship, she hopes to open the doors to many opportunities for fellow students to get involved.

“I’m planning to organise dance events and workshops for students and I also want to collaborate with the scholars who are musicians to make a show together,” said Yaprak.

“I’ve enjoyed meeting the other scholars and getting to know their art forms and look forward to working with them in the future.”

Contemporary artist Matthew Hart is an electronic musician and producer who also plays various instruments such as the piano and the guitar. As part of his singer-songwriter scholarship package he is also playing an integral part in organising Loughborough University’s Acoustic Night which takes place next Monday (25 November).

Matthew – who studies Chemical Engineering - has been a part of the Loughborough Music Society and several bands over the years.

When asked about his ambitions for the year and why he applied, Matthew said: “Ideally I would like to host a few events where people can play, and really promote performing music of all different styles – I want to expose as many students as possible to that wider range.

“I thought it would be really nice to be part of that group and also help to promote music across campus.”

As part of the creative writing and spoken word scholarship, Emma Ames has been organising and will be hosting the upcoming Speech Bubble event next month.

Focusing on poetry and short stories in particular, Emma enjoys experimenting with different narrative styles and describes the form as a great outlet for emotion and thoughts. She also co-founded Loughborough Students’ Union’s Literature Society this year as an avenue to encourage writing, group feedback and development of different stylistic pieces.

Emma said: “I was encouraged to apply for the scholarship by my friends who know I write and had read little bits of what I had written previously, they thought it would be a massive confidence boost for me to apply, not to necessarily even get it.

“I’d love to plan a slam poetry contest and also writing competitions at the University. I also just want to encourage people to be experimental with their writing - I find people can get trapped in mainstream forms of writing. The writing that gets the most attention are the ones that don’t conform.”

The LU Arts music and art scholarships aim to support extra-curricular activity on campus and are open for applications at the start of each academic year to any students based at either the Loughborough or London campuses across undergraduate and postgraduate study.

They must convey their passion, ability and dedication to their chosen art form to be in with a chance of being awarded the scholarship.

Below is a list of all the 2019-20 scholars with more information on their art forms and degree subjects.

For more information on LU Art events and student initiatives, visit their dedicated website here.