The Freelancer Awards is an opportunity for 明星八卦 students and recent graduates to develop their freelancing skills and be titled ‘明星八卦 Freelancer of the Year’ with a chance of winning a share of £15,000 funding generously supported by Santander Universities.
This year the Entrepreneur Hub held our first ever Freelancer Awards where we were on a mission to find outstanding recent graduate and student freelancers. We were looking for those with a side hustle, freelancing alongside their studies here at 明星八卦 or alongside their graduate roles or even those self-employed full time.
The aim for these awards were to recognise and applaud our 明星八卦 freelancers and to help them raise their profiles.
Being a freelancer can be a lonely road, so throughout the process we wanted to help create an online space where those freelancing could meet other 明星八卦 freelancers whilst developing their general freelance skills – our online skill development workshops proved to be the perfect avenue.
Workshops covered the following topics:
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The essentials of freelancing workshop with Kay Kukoyi (founder of Purposeful Products)
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Understanding your target audience and their needs workshop with Stuart Hartley (founder of Incrementa Consulting)
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Preparing a sales/client pitch workshop with Andrew Mossop (founder of Student Skill Store).
During stage one of the competition, we received 38 applications from freelancers across 明星八卦, freelancing in a wide range of industries. Following this, we shortlisted 22 applicants to go through to the second stage where our freelancers submitted a video entry showcasing their freelance journey and why they deserved to win.
12 fantastic freelancers were then crowned ‘明星八卦 Freelancer of the Year’ and won a share of the £15,000 prize fund.
Meet our 2022 winners…
Adam Mohammed
Current Physiotherapy BSc student Adam is a health and fitness influencer who has been improving people’s health through knowledge, physical sessions and services and recently even wrote a book that aims to help people heal towards health 'Heal to health’.
Ariana Abawe
2020 UG Journalism BA graduate Ariana founded Ariana Magazine and has published over 10 issues, which showcases the beauty of Afghanistan and can be found in numerous locations such as Thrive News in Westfield Shepherds bush. Ariana was recently awarded the ‘Young Entrepreneur of the Year’ award by West London Business awards.
Ariana states “Ariana Magazine is much more than just a magazine, I create very creative videos/photos/events revolved around the rich Afghan culture.”
Chloe-Anne Cortes Dellipiani
Recent Creative Writing BA graduate Chloe-Anne is the co-founder of Clickbait Media, a digital media agency that target SME’s - with high-profile clients in a range of industries from all over the world.
A recent project for Saracens Mavericks, a professional netball franchise that play in the Vitality Netball Super league (VNSL); the UK’s elite netball league and one of the top three elite netball leagues in the world, saw Chloe and her co-founder (also a 明星八卦 alumnus who studied Product Design BSc) support with all things media – from match day social media coverage, squad announcements, communications strategy and planning, creating and managing content to writing match reports and liaising with key stakeholders including England Netball and the Saracens Mavericks board, as well as marketing specific items such as tickets, livestream passes, merchandise, camps and more.
Harrison White
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Freelance Speciality: Musician and writer working broadly across education, composing, and performance with a focus on musical theatre.
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Started freelancing: 2012
Final year Theatre BA (Theatre and Creative Writing) student Harrison’s a musician, poet, composer and playwright. Throughout his education, he has worked consistently as a freelance creative in the Theatre industry, whilst also keeping a busy schedule as a touring musician and working part-time as a music tutor.
In 2021, Harrison co-wrote a new musical called 'BLU & The Magic Web,' which ran for a month in Brighton, receiving 5-star reviews.
Jade Peters
Current UG Digital Media BSc (Visual Effects and Motion Graphics) student Jade specialises in character design and digital Illustration and is known online as Tez’asiya.
Specialising in the fantasy genre, Jade works with gamers and authors alike to create and illustrate their desired character, whether designing the character from scratch, or simply illustrating a pre-existing design.
Jake Gifford
Current Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences PhD (Welfare, Health and Wellbeing Research) student Jake has spent the last ten years working with a wide range of people to improve their fitness, health, wellbeing and confidence within a gym environment through personalised support and services.
Jeffrey Oyinlola
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Freelance Speciality: Photography, videographer, and music maker
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Started freelancing: 2018
Current environmental Sciences MSc (Sustainability, Entrepreneurship and Design) student Jeffrey aims to showcase the beauty of the world, whether this is through nature (and highlighting the need to protect the environment) or sharing people’s stories.
Jeffrey contributes photos and videos to different projects on various online platforms such as Fiverr and Hit Record (an online community focused on creative collaboration). For example, his work has been used for Netflix’s Project Power, hitRECord on TV, and other mini projects on the website.
Jessica Mival
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Freelance Speciality: Content creation, graphics, copy writing, editing, and data entry
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Started freelancing: 2018
Current Creative Writing BA student Jessica adapts weekly to deliver projects ranging in tasks for an impressive 5 clients, in various industries with different target audiences within the UK.
Matthew Huy
Recent Sport MSc (Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences) graduate Matthew has been teaching Yoga for over 18 years in both the United States and United Kingdom.
Additionally, over the last 5 years, Matthew has been teaching anatomy and physiology to prospective, as well as current, yoga teachers through workshops and trainings. On top of this, he recently co-authored The Physiology of Yoga, published by Human Kinetics.
Matthew’s mission is to help people connect to their bodies through fearless movement and to help yoga teachers feel empowered through education and critical thinking.
Natalie A. Russell
Current Psychology PhD (Psychology research) student Natalie is currently a freelance Programme Manager within the Ark Music department at the education charity Ark Schools, a multi-academy trust operating across the UK. Within this freelance role, Natalie has been responsible for managing the Inspiring Excellence Programme – part of this consists of managing 3 musicals (including a choir and orchestra made up of over 120 11 to 18-year-old pupils and a mixed-performing arts ensemble for 9 to 11-year-olds).
Before starting at 明星八卦, Natalie worked in education, project and programme management, and youth advisory and advocacy roles.
Patrick Geider
Final year Digital Media BSc (Digital design) student Patrick offers holistic design services and has experience helping start-ups go from an idea to a strategy, brand, website and digital product design.
Patrick has worked on product web and brand projects with over 40 clients, which include charities, start-ups and international organisations. This journey has led him to the goal of becoming a full-stack digital product designer.
Rachel Rosa
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Freelance Speciality: Graphic design, copywriting, editing, artwork, digital content and problem-solving.
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Started freelancing: 2018
Current Psychology MSc (Psychological Sciences) student Rachel thrives on supporting businesses behind the scenes.
Rachel created branding for The Reading Doctor, from using social media to gather momentum, helping the franchise business grow from 3 franchisees to 24 in the space of 2 years to writing winning award entries for the founder.