Trinity Orchestra named Best Society at CSC awards

Orchestra walked away with three awards, tied with DUPA for the most awards, including Best Fresher and Best Society Trip

Trinity Orchestra were crowned Best Overall Society at Last night’s Society of the Year Awards.

Trinity Orchestra, who last won the award in 2012, also won Best, for their trip to Milan, while new member Sinead Fleming was named Best Fresher.

Kate Mason, Festivals Coordinator for Trinity Orchestra, told Trinity News after their win: “We are so surprised, and so shocked, and so happy. We’ve really been trying to make Orchestra more relevant the past year because we’ve been a society that’s kind of been forgotten about… we’ve been trying to really put ourselves out there and it obviously has paid off!”

She continued: “We want everybody to feel like they can be involved with us.”

Mason highlighted specifically the work of current Trinity Orchestra auditor Jenny Sheil.

Dublin University Photography Association (DUPA) was another big winner at the CSC Society of the Year Awards. Winning three awards, they tied with Trinity Orchestra for the most awards won. DUPA won the award for Best Collaborative Event for their event “One More Tune” which, with DUDJ, was a “nightlife photography event spotlighting the radiance and resilience of Irish nightlife”.

DUPA also won Best Poster award for their event PLAY! An Ode to Childhood, an exhibition that showcased childhood nostalgia.

DUPA Equipment Officer Rory O’Sullivan took home the Individual of the Year award.

Speaking to Trinity News after his win, O’Sullivan said that he was honored to receive the award but that “a lot of credit has to go to the DUPA committee, we have a really fantastic committee this year that ran some unique, novel, excellent events that were the first of their kind. So it was really great to work in such a welcoming environment.”

Filipino Society took home two awards, Best Small Society and the Societies’ Choice Award which is voted on entirely by the members of societies present at the event. These wins are notable as Filipino Society was only officially recognised by the CSC in February of last year.

Hiking and the Women’s Health Society also took home two awards apiece.

Speaking at the beginning of the evenin, Provost Linda Doyle highlighted the talent, passion and generosity of society leaders.

“I can see that you learn so much more outside of the lecture hall, outside of the classroom, and the clubs and societies are just fantastic places to do that.”

Doyle said: “I do hope, going forward, we can actually do more with societies in Trinity. I keep meeting students who want to set up different ones and new ones, and I know there’s many more supports that you need yourself.

She highlighted the hard work and dedication of those in the room, saying that it is “something to be absolutely so incredibly proud and delighted with”.

The evening also included a section of comedic awards including the society with the least respect (DU Comedy) and the society most likely to be a pyramid scheme (Trinity Entrepreneurial Society and Trinity Student Managed Fund).

Central Societies Committee Treasurer Henry James presented the award for worst society hack to Giovanni Li, who was not present at the event.

Full list of winners:

Best Event: Literary Society- Murder Mystery Dinner

Best Multi-day Event: DU History- Palestine Lecture Series

Best Collaborate Event: DUPA and DUDJs- “One More Tune”

Sustainability Award: Environmental

Best Publication: Cumann Gaelach- Tuathal Eagran

Best Trip: Trinity Orchestra- Milan Trip

Best Online Presence: Women’s Health

Best Individual: DUPA- Rory O’Sullivan

Best Poster: DUPA- “PLAY! An Ode to Childhood”

Best Fresher: Trinity Orchestra- Sinead Fleming