On the 19th of November, with champagne and canapés in hand, invited guests gathered to honour the talented students and graduates of the University of the Arts London at the Creative Enterprise Awards 2014. Held in the exquisitely decorated Bloomsbury Ballroom, the event was a far cry from the original awards held in a student bar just six years ago. This upgrade is owed in part to NatWest, who sponsored the award for the third year running.

UAL has a rich history of enterprise and innovation. Many of the University’s most well-known alumni had an enterprising spirit which led them to “go out on their own” – including fashion designer Stella McCartney, film director Mike Leigh, industrial designer James Dyson and fine artist Antony Gormley. The Student Enterprise and Employability’s (SEE) mission is to support the inventiveness of UAL students as well as celebrate their impressive successes. SEE received over a hundred high quality entries this year which resulted in very impressive shortlists.

The night begun with the Digital Award, sponsored by UAL Futures and Decoded, and was given to Natalie Grogan for her user-led fashion platform Style Scape The Ethical or Social Enterprise Award was awarded to Gyo Kim for his sustainable womenswear label Gyo Yuni Kimchoe .

The Enterprising Individual award went to Melanie Smith for Story, a design business which creates interactive products and books specialising in storytelling for children. She was awarded a very generous £10,000 business loan plus unlimited business support from the East London Small Business Centre.

Jamie Coe used his own experiences as an art student at UAL to create the ArtSchooled comic and was awarded the Enterprising Project Award. The International winner was Elena Ozherelyeva for IN-SPACES a multifunctional PR, design, sales and communications platform, specialising in interior décor

The Freelancer Award was sponsored by portfolio and job website The Dots and founder Pip Jameson presented illustrator Robbie Porter with his award. Robbie Porter’s illustrations are also currently showing at Creative Outlet at the UAL Showroom.

The New Business Award was given to Emily Bridge and Emma Witter in recognition of their impressive artistic partnership, Beast & Burden , which explores social relationships and visual associations triggered by food.

These were followed by was four awards given from UAL’s individual Colleges. Bronwen Campbell-Golding & Fanny Santini were presented with the CCW award in recognition of their textile company Petite Albion. Central Saint Martins presented industrial designer Sarah Gold with her award. The LCC award was given to Callum Copley for founding the Registration Summer School, an innovative, free design course offered in Deptford, South London. London College of Fashion granted two awards; one to Fashion Textiles graduate Emily Carter and Fashion and the Environment MA student Sara Pignatelli.

The Awards were a dazzling display of fresh talent, and a reminder of the impressive creativity of UAL’s expanding network of students and alumni. Students and alumni, don’t forget to submit your work for consideration next year for a chance to join this remarkable roster.