GUF-100 prizes 2022

The GUF-100 prizes are awarded every year to the best students at our University. This year, they were awarded on 1 July during the Ceremony of Merits. The tradition of awarding GUF-100 prizes began in 1993, on the occasion of the centenary of the Groningen University Fund (GUF). The prize consists of a certificate and €2,500.

A jury selects the 11 prize winners each year from the candidates nominated by the faculties. There is one winner per faculty. In addition to the members of the GUF Board, a student assessor from the Board of the University also joins the jury. This year, student assessors Adnan El Kharbotly and Dewi Koster took this role, for the first and second parts of the judging respectively.

Candidates for the GUF-100 prize are encouraged to apply to their faculty through a broad call for proposals, or can be put forward by lecturers or fellow students. The faculty selection committees study the motivation letters and CVs submitted by applicants and then choose three students for nomination. Good academic results are important for nomination, but in addition and, more importantly, candidates must demonstrate that they also have special personal or academic merit beyond their studies. Finally, the 33 nominees from all 11 faculties are invited to give a short presentation (pitch) before the jury and to answer questions.

Every year, it is gratifying to see how many good students apply and the excellent job that the selection committees within the faculties do. It is inspiring to read the cover letters and CVs and, ultimately, to see all these talented students hold their pitches. What stood out this year was that interdisciplinarity has become an increasingly important theme, apparently not only within University policy but also in the interests and choices of our students. It was also gratifying to see that the male to female ratio of the final winners was approximately the same (5 to 6) and that the number of prize-winning international students (3 out of 11) was also a sound reflection of the proportion of international students at our University.

I am pleased to report that we, as a jury, have seen, heard, and ultimately judged not only the prize-winners with great pleasure and admiration, but all the nominees. Selecting from the latter was often a very difficult task given the generally very high quality of all nominees.

The commendations below will only provide you with the barest impression of our appreciation for the prize-winning students. Hopefully, you will read them all and thereby obtain an impression of the extraordinary students who study at our University. We are justifiably proud of them.

On behalf of the jury, Professor Lou de Leij, Chair of the Board of the Groningen University Fund