King's College London

MNurs student Sophie du Plessis won two awards and was a finalist for another at the Student Nursing Times Awards 2026.

Sophie was a finalist in the Mary Seacole Award for Outstanding Contribution to Diversity and Inclusion, and was awarded Most Inspirational Student Nurse of the Year and Student Nurse of the Year: Mental Health.

Judges' comments mentioned that they were impressed by Sophie's 'reflective analysis of care and passion for individual people'.

They also said that 'this student impressed the judges with her thoughtfulness, intelligence and compassion. She has skillfully brought her lived experience into her role as a student nurse. She has a wonderful ability to see people and their health needs holistically and has a desire to work with them at their time of greatest need. She recognises the need to hold onto hope for her patients, and demonstrated incredibly passionate ideas and plans, connecting theory and practice that will have a huge impact om the profession for the benefit of patients.'

Sophie won Policy Idol last year, a competition in which students from across King's pitch policy ideas to a panel of experts. Sophie's pitch around introducing eating disorder training for gym workers to better highlight the link between disordered eating and exercise addiction has since become a national campaign: EDInformed.

Adult Nursing student Sofia Laoudi was also a finalist as Student Nurse or Midwife of the Year: Clinical Research.