27 October 2019
On Wednesday, 16 October 2019, AUC alumni Erik van Halewijn (Class of 2018) and Lisa van Holsteijn (Class of 2018) were announced as two of the eight nominees for the AUV Alumni Awards 2019 for their work on their respective projects 'StudieHub' and NGO 'educate'.
The AUV Alumni Awards is annually awarded to committed University of Amsterdam (UvA) alumni who undertake socially-engaging projects that make a difference in their community. There are two rounds to the AUV Alumni awards with the initial round consisting of a panel who judges the projects according to a given set of criteria.
The judging panel consists of five members: two members of the UvA Alumni Association AUV Board, a UvA employee and one of the winners of the previous year’s AUV Alumni Award. They assess the projects based on four criteria:
Following this initial selection round, up to 10 nominees are invited to pitch their projects during the AUV Day to the judging panel and the audience. During the ceremony, the audience selects the winner of the Audience Award, while the panel makes a choice for the Jury Award. Winners of both awards will be given prize money to invest in their projects.
This year, 31 projects were submitted for consideration. Eight projects were nominated by the judging panel for the final round of the awards. During AUV Day 2019, the champion of the Jury Award will be awarded 3000 EUR, while the Audience Award winner will receive 1000 EUR. This year’s AUV Day will take place in the Aula of the University of Amsterdam on Saturday, 2 November.
Two AUC alumni are among those nominated for the AUV Alumni Awards 2019: Erik van Halewijn and Lisa van Holsteijn. Both nominees have been part of spearheading social projects that look to expand access to higher education; one in Amsterdam (Studiehub) and one in Honduras (educate).
As the project leader of Studiehub, Erik coordinates free homework assistance for children in Amsterdam-Oost. Through his project, he created a platform that allows university students to provide academic support and advice to elementary school children in the neighbourhood.
Alongside Antonia McGrath, Lisa co-founded the NGO educate. Currently working as the Head of Fundraising, Lisa organises fundraising events from charity-runs to concerts in order to raise funds for the implementation of their project. So far, educate. has supported 3 first-generation Honduran university students in their academic pursuits.