Arts & Theatre editors for the 2023/24 academic year Lucy Riddell and Sophie Layton have been named Forge Press’ Editors of the Year at the return of the Forge Awards. The event, which took place for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic earlier today, saw all three branches of Forge Media, namely Press, TV and Radio, come together to celebrate the best in practise in the past academic year.
Riddell and Layton overcame tough competition from other sections to claim their win, with Layton also named Press’ Best New Committee Member of the Year. Other Press winners included Sports, led by Katy Roberts, which was named Best Section of the Year, and Features which claimed most improved. Rebecca Symns-Rowley also secured Best Story of the Year, with her piece on the rise in charity shopping habits in student communities. There were also awards for Aaron Byrne’s Varsity 2024 comic, which featured on the front page of the fifth print edition of the year, and Screen Editor Livia Gregor, who was named as Best Dressed across all of the Forge outlets.
The Forge Awards were also lucrative for Forge Radio and Forge TV, which each took a range of outlet-specific, overall and fun awards, with categories including Most Improved Driver, Best Dressed Committee and Best Event, as well as coverage awards. The event also ended with a touching tribute to the outgoing Editor-in-Chief and Station Managers, as they fulfilled their final duties by presenting awards to their committees.
The return of the Forge Awards marks the end of the year for the outgoing Forge committees, as well as recognising the hard work that has been dedicated to Press, TV and Radio over the past year. As new committee members prepare to step up to the mantle left to them by the former committees, the event gave all engaged in Forge Media the chance to celebrate themselves and one another, and the incredibly transformative work that has occurred for Forge in 2023/24.
The 2023/24 Forge Awards were held on May 18th in Raynor Lounge in Bar One
