The College is delighted to announce the next round of ISLA Award Cambridge at Churchill College winners! A total of four awards were made following a competitive application process. The winners each received financial awards.
The ISLA Award initiative is designed to support and encourage current and future Churchill students of Black Caribbean and/or Black African descent. You can find out more about some of the latest winners, including their reaction to winning one of the awards.
Meet ISLA Awardee Noah Stewart (U23 History & Politics)
I am very pleased and grateful to have received the ISLA award. It is a great initiative that recognises and inspires students to excel in both academic and extracurricular pursuits.
Black students are underrepresented in elite educational institutions and awards like this provide the support and encouragement to remedy this problem.
I have had a great first year at Churchill and am incredibly grateful to be around the amazing people here. The friendly faces of both staff and students combined with the wonderful green spaces help deal with the intensity of Cambridge life!
Meet ISLA Awardee Lily Archer (U21 MML)
I am very grateful to have won the ISLA Award this year – as a previous ISLA winner, I have experienced first-hand the benefits of its support, and I really appreciate the opportunity to access this again for my final year at Cambridge.
I think it is very beneficial that Churchill College runs this initiative, as it not only recognises the achievements of Black heritage students but also provides them with support to help them continue succeeding. It also demonstrates the college’s commitment to diversity, thereby encouraging more prospective students from underrepresented backgrounds to apply here.
As for plans after I graduate this summer, I have accepted a training contract offer from the commercial law firm Linklaters following an internship there last summer. I will therefore be commencing a two-year law conversion course before beginning my solicitor training at the firm in 2027. As the end of my time at Churchill approaches, I continue to be very grateful for all the support I have received while here, including from the ISLA Award.
The ISLA Award Cambridge at Churchill College
This project was originally crowdfunded in the summer of 2021 by over 50 donors including alumni, current students and friends of the College and friends and supporters of alumna Imani Artwell (née Jeffers) who conceived the project. A total of 27 awards have now been made to current students and offer holders in addition to this year’s co-hort.
Congratulations to our 2025 ISLA Gift winners! What better way to kick-start 2025 than to celebrate the achievements of these stellar students? Each will have shown a commitment to excellence through hard work and dedication to their studies and extra-curricular life, so it’s an honour to acknowledge and celebrate them. Now 5 years into the programme, we’ve seen some of our initial 2021 ISLA Gift awardees graduate and go on to create a legacy of winning in life beyond college: from securing prestigious training contracts, to landing superb job opportunities in competitive fields. It’s exciting to see the ISLA Gift coming into its fifth year; my hope is it will continue for many years to come with the continued generous support of donors and the College.
Imani Artwell (U15)
It’s not too late to support this initiative with a gift via the College’s online donation page by selecting ‘Other’ from the drop-down list of funds and noting ‘ISLA Gift’ in the comment box. Any additional support we can secure will help to build and strengthen the impact of this award.
