UHI Moray 2025 Student of the Year

UHI Moray 2025 Student of the Year has been awarded to Matthew Young an Art and Design UAL Level 3 Award and Diploma student. From Elgin, Matthew, aged 18 studied the level 2 UAL Diploma before moving onto level 3 from which he graduates this year.

Matthew now plans to continue his studies with the University of Teeside studying Comics and Graphic Novels BA (Hons).

Matthew’s journey has been remarkable since he started his studies. Initially he was very nervous and struggled to communicate with his peers and lecturers and was unable to make eye contact. He worked hard to overcome these challenges and is now more comfortable with his peers. Always polite and considerate Matthew’s confidence has grown over the last 2 years and he is now able  to actively take part in group discussions in the class. One of the greatest challenges faced by Matthew was the death of his Mother early in 2025 and despite this tragic event he continued to show resilience and immense strength which his peers found inspiring and helped them to overcome their own challenges and progress academically. The course lecturers have also been inspired by Matthews quiet determination and courage which has allowed him to grow both personally and academically.

Lyn Strachan, Lecturer, who nominated Matthew for this award – ‘We at Moray School of Art are all very proud of Matthew and his achievements both personally and academically. The bravery he demonstrated following the death of his Mother was inspirational and had a profound effect on his peers and the lecturers. We are delighted that he has been selected as the UHI Moray Student of the Year and we wish him well in his future studies’

David Patterson, UHI Moray Principal and Chief Executive – ‘the UHI Moray Student of the Year award recognises the outstanding achievements of our students and this year we received a large number of nominations who were all deserving of this award. However Matthew’s story and the journey he has made since he started with us as a student particularly with the challenges he faced makes him a worthy winner’