15.09.2025
MLA College is proud to announce the winners of its prestigious awards for the 2024/2025 academic year. This year, seven of MLA’s graduates were recognised for their exceptional dedication and perseverance, earning recognition for their outstanding contributions and achievements during their time at MLA College.
The Belinda Payne Empowerment Award is for a woman on any MLA College programme and is a tribute to Belinda Payne, an esteemed colleague of MLA College who courageously fought a battle against cancer and passed away last year. Every year, MLA College choose a winner who has shown an affinity with the qualities Belinda would have been proud to see in our students, and we measure this by considering elements such as contribution to the programme, engagement with the student community, metaphorical distance travelled while studying, and achievement of professional success/positive influence.
This year, the Belinda Payne Empowerment Award is presented to Sarah Bloomer, a distinguished graduate of our MSc in Sustainable Maritime Operations. Throughout her studies, Sarah demonstrated exceptional dedication and resilience, overcoming significant challenges with determination and perseverance. The MLA College Awards Committee unanimously agreed that Sarah is a most deserving recipient of this award this academic year.
The student voice award recognises student who have shown particular dedication to contributing to the student voice and engaging with staff and students throughout their studies. This year the Student Voice Award goes to Emily Reeves who became a student rep during her final module with MLA College. Emily’s contribution to the student community was invaluable, she improved peer interaction through the use of an instant messenger, was consitently on hand to aid her fellow students when responding to queries and attended committees to share the voice of the student community, enabling MLA to implement new strategies to improve the student expereince as well as student feedback systems.
The MLA College Distinguished Dissertation Prize, is a new recognition for the 2025/25 academic year to award graduates who produced a paricullarly apraised dissertation or thesis. This year, MLA College are delighted to present two of students this award, Melanie McDonnell and Quincy Heijboer.
Melanie McDonnell produced an outstanding dissertation with excellent academic quality, profound thinking and demonstrated true commitment to excellence, despite a number of personal challenges during her studies. With the help of thorough methodologies applied in her data collection, she has been able to collect truly novel data in a very important area of research.
Quincy Heijboer was awarded this prize in recognition of his outstanding dissertation and presentation. His achievement reflects the high quality of his academic research and the dedication and professionalism he consistently demonstrated throughout his studies with MLA College. Both of his supervisors expressed great pride in his accomplishments, commending the impressive standard of his dissertation work as well as his commitment to excellence across his academic journey.
The MLA College Award for Outstanding Achievement is an academic achievement recognising the students overall performance, grades and overall award classification.
As a result of her consistently exceptional academic performance and research, Eldine Glees, one of our BSc (Hons) Sustainable Maritime graduates, has been presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award for this academic year. Throughout her studies, Eldine has demonstrated remarkable dedication to the programme, producing work of the highest quality. Her tutors have been consistently impressed by her commitment, and her excellent grades stand as a clear reflection of the effort and perseverance she has invested in her academic journey.
Michael Hall has also been honoured with the Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of his sustained academic excellence and commitment to his studies. Michael’s determination and diligence have been evident throughout his programme, and his consistent performance highlights both his academic ability and his dedication to reaching the highest standards.
The University of Plymouth Academic Partnerships Prize has been awarded to Merte Peeters. This award recognises students who have shown remarkable academic progress and perseverance. Merte’s journey has been inspirational, marked by significant academic achievements, despite suffering a significant towards the end of his programme.
From the outset, Merte exhibited a strong determination to succeed. His academic journey has been characterised by resilience and hard work, overcoming obstacles to achieve his goals. Peeters’s dedication to his studies and his ability to excel in the face of adversity has earned him this well-deserved recognition.
MLA College is also proud to recognise Alif Muhammad Roslan as the runner-up for the Distinguished Dissertation Prize. Alif’s dissertation was of an exceptional standard, and the awards committee wished to formally commend his outstanding achievement.
