The 2023 IE Community Awards

On July 4th, a small group of students, family, and administrators headed up to the IE Club terrace on the 24th Floor of the Tower as cameras and photographers flocked them. Included among the crowd were many club presidents and officers, as well as university senior management such as IE President Santiago Íñiguez, Foundation Executive Vice-President Gonzalo Garland, and Global Head of Student Experience Sabine Yazbeck, who would each soon take to the erected stage live streamed on Zoom. The 2023 IE Community Award had begun!

Each year, IE Campus Life commends students and student-led projects within the community, celebrating big achievements, new enterprises, and social development. From the best of what’s new to the continuing success of the established, officers, organizers, and advisors all get the chance to be showcased for their incredible work

This year, the event was co-hosted by Masters of Ceremonies Pablo Cuesta and Alba Sancho. The two Communications and Digital Media students interning with Campus Life each had extensive IE Community credentials to their names: both heavily involved in clubs, Pablo is a former Club President and Alba hosts the popular ‘Ping Pong Interviews’ segment seen on Instagram and other social media channels. 

There were two standout organizations at this year’s ceremony: the IE Debate Club and IE Charity & Social Awareness Society – Madrid Chapter. IE Debate Club was awarded Best Professional Club, co-awarded Best New Initiative for Arab League within Mini MUN with IE MENA Club, received a special mention for IEUMUN, and held nominations in every potential award category. The Madrid Chapter of the Charity & Social Awareness Society won Best Community Impact Club – with their sister chapter in Segovia also receiving one of only two other nominations – as well as Event of the Year for IE World Cup. 

Though the event did experience some issues, they almost all seemed too humorous to be coincidental. While introducing the Best Sustainability Club, Junior Manager Alec Barcenilla accidentally dropped several sheets of paper notes across the ground. As Vice Dean Rafif Srour began to award the Best Tech and Innovation Club, the livestream and podium microphones were temporarily cut out as the presentation slides glitched. Perhaps the funniest matter was co-host Pablo Cuesta personally receiving over a dozen awards and nominations, either directly or on behalf of those winners not in attendance.

Even those who did not walk away with an award from one of the formal categories were honored this year; a record-breaking 25 Special Mentions were given this year. While 10 of those were handed to Campus Life’s interns, many were given to runner-up nominees like IE Motorsports Club or groups that often support other events, such as IE Photo Club and both Music Clubs. Elisa Hicks, the Executive Director of Campus Life, commented there “may need to be additional categories” for awards in the future to accommodate the growing diversity and amount of IE events and student-led organizations. 

Though the event was live streamed, it unfortunately was not recorded. Nonetheless, the full album of photos are publicly available to see and download HERE. This gem had to be included in any published article covering the event:

Overall, the 2023 Community Awards were a massive success, highlighting some of the best IE University and its students have to offer. If this academic year’s showing is anything to go by, IE students can expect next year to begin even bigger and better come the fall.

On behalf of the Stork Editorial and Advisory Boards, congratulations to all this year’s nominees and winners. See the full list of nominees and winners below:

Special Mentions:

Special Mention to Campus Life interns:

Helene Caminade

Lea Chalhoub

Pablo Cuesta

Jean-Baptiste El Khoury

Álvaro Gómez

Camila Gómez

Gerardo Naranjo

Margarita Peces

Giovanna Ragsdale

Alba Sancho