Exceptional music students benefit from special award

UHI Perth music students Liam Cooney, (30), from Dundee and Eden Noon, (26), from Edinburgh are the 2022 winners of the UHI Liam Colgan Music Student Awards. They will each receive £500 towards a mentoring opportunity with a renowned songwriter and producer of their choice.

Programme Leader for UHI’s BA (Hons) popular music, Dr Seán R. McLaughlin, explained: “Liam and Eden are outstanding graduates and truly deserving winners of this year’s Liam Colgan Songwriting and Music Production Awards. Both students excelled in their creative practice work and completed projects that emphasised the importance of collaboration in popular music.”

Speaking about his award, Liam said: “I would like to express my grateful thanks to UHI and to the family of Liam Colgan for this award. It is an honour to receive this award in Liam’s memory after graduating from the same course he completed and, whilst I sadly never met Liam, I have heard his work and know he was a deeply talented and respected musician.

“In honour of Liam’s passion for songwriting and live performance, this award will help me progress with my own work in these fields. I cannot thank the family enough for their kindness and generosity throughout a time of what must be incredible grief and loss.”

Eden added: “I am extremely grateful to receive this award. Songwriting is a huge passion of mine and is the way in which I best express myself, so it means a lot to me that my work has gained recognition. Being the recipient of the Liam Colgan Songwriting award has definitely given me the incentive to continue making music.”

The award was set up in 2019 by the family of Liam Colgan in partnership with UHI. Founder of the award, Brian Colgan, explained: “Liam’s family and friends were devastated by his untimely death. I wanted to find a way of ensuring that something positive came out of this devastation. I explained my plans to the university and they couldn’t have been more helpful. They had a framework in place which fulfilled all of my objectives - to help students who were following the same path as Liam did; and to try to make Liam’s music available to as wide an audience as possible."

Alison Wilson, UHI’s Director of Advancement and Alumni Engagement, said: "We feel very grateful indeed that the Liam Colgan Music Fund continues to donate to UHI, year on year, in memory of talented music graduate, Liam Colgan. Liam’s memory lives on in these awards which are allowing our fantastic UHI graduates to pursue their ambitions and dreams.”