On Friday 12 June, at the NUS Awards Ceremony in London, Anglia Ruskin Students' Union was announced winner of the NUS Higher Education Campaign of the Year 2009 for their work on the Higher Education Funding Campaign, coming ahead of Leeds University Union and Reading University Students' Union.

The campaign to condemn the current Higher Education funding model began at Anglia Ruskin when 43% of students voting in the Opinion Poll in September 2008 voted this issue to be at the top of the priority list.

One of the major parts of this campaign was a regional 'day of action' that was executed in Cambridge on 5 November 2008 receiving live coverage on local TV and radio. The rally was attended by over 200 students from Anglia Ruskin, Cambridge University, UEA and University Campus Suffolk, local 6th form colleges, some members of staff and the general pubic. It included a march through the centre of Cambridge and guest speakers included the Cambridge MP David Howarth (Lib Dem), Ed Maltby, secretary of Education Not for Sale and Aaron Porter from the NUS National Executive Committee.

The campaign was described by the judges as innovative and visual and that it thrived through student participation and collaboration with other local unions.

Anglia Ruskin Students' Union was also highly commended in the category for NUS HE Students' Union of the Year 2009 for the continued improvement over the last year, with all changes being student focused resulting in the union becoming more connected with their members.

Lucy Davidson, an Anglia Ruskin student rep, was highly commended in the category for Endsleigh Student of the Year 2009 for her active participation in the student community in the face of personal challenge.