From the Nominator

On 24 July 2020, the University of Nottingham celebrated the achievements of our graduating Class of 2020, a cohort unique in our history, and bound together by their experiences of the extraordinary events of the previous six months. Due to the restrictions still in place across the world last summer, we could not give them the graduation ceremony on our campuses that they, their families, friends, and supporters want or deserve.

What we could do, however, was to take the opportunity to bring them together with our global family of friends, partners, and alumni. 

To that end, we convened a “Graduation Without Borders” across multiple social media platforms, which followed the sun over 24 hours on 24 July 2020. This day became an event, a campaign, and a moment that brought our entire university community, partners, stakeholders, alumni, media, and influencers from all over the world together in celebration of the Class of 2020.

Over this 24-hour period, the university: 

-- received more social media interaction than we had in the entire previous year, including more than 23 million impressions on Twitter

-- harnessed the power and creativity of more than 300 members of our alumni and stakeholder community, with videos and messages offering advice and congratulations, produced by influential individuals such as the Director General of the World Health Organisation, UK Embassies across the world,  and graduates from film, television, and politics.

-- produced hundreds of virtual initiatives across all three global campuses to engage and celebrate our graduating class of 2020.