BAFTA-winning film and television director Stephen Bendelack (pictured right, with Professor Martin) received the award of Honorary Doctor of Arts.
A celebrated Anglia Ruskin alumnus, Stephen began his professional career working on the satirical TV show, Spitting Image.
Initially employed as an illustrator, creating caricatures for the celebrity puppets, he worked closely with the show’s co-founders - and fellow CSA alumni - Roger Law and Peter Fluck. This gave Stephen the opportunity not only to hone his creative skills, but to study the art of directing.
Stephen was to take over the role of Director at Spitting Image and he went on to direct shows such as Never Mind The Buzzcocks, The League of Gentlemen, The Royle Familyand Little Britain.
More recently, Stephen has directed the BBC comedy sketch show, Cowards, and the first series of Friday Night Dinner. He has also worked widely in film, directing Mr. Bean’s Holiday, The Harry Hill Movie, and The League of Gentlemen’s Apocalypse.
Stephen’s crowded awards cabinet includes three BAFTAs for The League Of Gentlemen, The Royle Family and Little Britain. He has won a Gold Medal at the New York Film and TV Festival - for the drama Ted and Alice, plus two Golden Rose of Montreux Awards.
Stephen has won numerous Royal Television Society Awards. An NME Best Television Programme Award – for The League Of Gentlemen, Series 2. And an International Emmy Award for Performing Arts, for his 1993 production of Peter and the Wolf.
He has also enjoyed a successful parallel career in television advertising, creating the now-famous “How do you eat yours?” advert for Cadbury’s Crème Eggs.
Professor Martin said: “Throughout his career, Stephen has continued the Cambridge School of Art’s exceptionally strong tradition in graphic humour and satire. And he demonstrates the enormous drive, talent, creativity and determination required to excel at the highest level.
“He will be an outstanding role model for our students, particularly those at the Cambridge School of Art who aspire to continue in its tradition of excellence.”
One of the world’s foremost scholars of children’s literature, Jack Zipes, also received the award of Honorary Doctor of Arts.
Jack is an American academic, author, teacher, and former Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Anglia Ruskin University. His political activism in the late 60’s led him to a critical examination of fairy tales – a theme that he was to continue to explore throughout the rest of his career.
He has authored a total of 25 books, including Breaking the Magic Spell, Happily Ever After and Why Fairy Tales Stick.
Other notable work has included editing the Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales, translating the complete 1857 edition of the fairy tales of the brothers Grimm, and acting asgeneral editor of The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature.
Jack has been an active storyteller, working with children's theatres across Europe and the US, most notably with the Neighbourhood Bridges project in his home city of Minneapolis-Saint Paul.
In 2013, Jack came to Anglia Ruskin University as Leverhulme Visiting Professor. During his time here, he made enormous contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of Anglia Ruskin – giving talks and contributing to seminars; leading public events for the Festival of Ideas; curating and introducing screenings of fairy tale films at the Arts Picturehouse; and undertaking outreach projects at local schools, on behalf of the University.
Professor Martin said: “Jack has supported creativity and research within our University in numerous thoughtful and practical ways – one example is that he commissioned illustrations from students of the Cambridge School of Art for his book The Golden Age of Fairytales.
“Thanks to his remarkable talent, experience and enthusiasm, Professor Zipes greatly enhanced the research environment at Anglia Ruskin during his time with us, inspiring staff and students alike.”
Critically-acclaimed author Professor Nalo Hopkinson received the award of Honorary Doctor of Letters.
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Nalo is Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside, and valued mentor to several of Anglia Ruskin’s Creative Writing students.
Nalo’s first book, Brown Girl in the Ring, won the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and was a finalist in the “battle of the books” television show, Canada Reads.
In 1999, Nalo received the Ontario Arts Council Foundation Award for Emerging Writers, and she was the recipient of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Her second novel, Midnight Robber, published in 2000, was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel. And her 2001 novel, Skin Folk, won the World Fantasy Award and the Sunburst Award for “Canadian Literature of the Fantastic”.
Published in 2003, The Salt Roads received the Gaylactic Spectrum Award. And in 2008, her novel The New Moon's Arms received the Prix Aurora Award - Canada's reader-nominated award for science fiction and fantasy. The New Moon's Arms also won the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, making her the first author to receive the Sunburst Award twice.
She will be Guest of Honour at the 2017 World Science Fiction Convention, the highest accolade that the science fiction field has to offer.
Professor Martin said: “Throughout her career, Professor Hopkinson has been notable for the outstanding ways in which she has supported other writers and artists. She has worked in libraries, been employed as a government culture research officer, and served as Grants Officer at the Toronto Arts Council.
“Our University already enjoys close links with Professor Hopkinson. She has mentored many of our Creative Writing students, and she has said she will be delighted to support students on our new MA in Science Fiction and Fantasy.
“Nalo’s passionate and insightful commitment to the literary exploration of issues such as race, class and sexuality, exemplify the focus, determination and talent required to excel at the highest level.”