This Luton’s Best award adds to Mary’s plethora of achievements that she has gathered over her twelve years as a successful author – from publishing eight poetry collections to an International Performance Poet Award.

Mary was delighted to be awarded for her hard work in the community. She said: “It’s been an amazing journey working with the Luton community to inspire poetry in our beautiful town. We now have more authors than ever before!

“I love Luton and it's a delightful honour to win the Adult Achiever award. I enjoy working with the community of poets in our beautiful town.”

Mary’s work within the community includes founding Luton’s first Poetry Society in 2011 which she continued to run during the Covid-19 pandemic, hosting online meetings and providing members with support throughout the lockdowns. Twelve members of the Poetry Society have since become published authors.

Reflecting on the journey of the society, she said: “I founded the very first Luton Poetry Society ten years ago in 2011. I love performing poetry and so I thought about having a group recital with a few friends, then my friends became many!

“Today we have a wonderful community of poets who inspire each other. We have very much grown and enhanced the Luton community with our regular poetry readings and workshops.”

As the sponsor of Luton’s Best Adult Achiever award, the University of Bedfordshire takes pride in supporting its local community at every opportunity. However, it was an additional honour that a Beds graduate collected the award.

Upon hearing the latest of Mary’s achievements, the University’s Corporate Events Manager Rosie Munro said: “The University is a longstanding partner and sponsor of the Luton’s Best Awards and it is always fantastic to see some inspiring local figures get the recognition they deserve.

“It is, of course, even more special for us when somebody linked with the University wins an award. Mary is a real star graduate who is making a tangible difference to the Luton area, setting a standard for how creativity and talent can be a driving force for change.

“Congratulations Mary and all the other Luton’s Best winners.”

Since graduating with a Distinction in her LLM, Mary has returned to the University of Bedfordshire as a guest speaker and recited her award winning poetry. She continued: "It's always wonderful to be back at the University and I enjoy my poetry workshops with the students. There is so much talent here at Beds and I look forward to even more students becoming authors." 

Although the Luton’s Best Awards ceremony has taken place this year, the award winners will be regarded as 2020 winners due to last year’s ceremony being postponed as the country was subjected to numerous lockdowns. In partnership with Love Luton, the Luton’s Best Awards have finally been able to commend all the truly inspirational work individuals and businesses have continued to carry out in a year like no other.

Along with Mary, there were many other award winners on the celebratory night. Award categories included: Young Achiever, Best Fundraiser, Lifetime Achievement and Environmental Achievement.

The full list of nominees and winners is available to view on the Luton's Best Awards website.

For details about studying Law at the University of Bedfordshire, visit the Business School webpage: www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/departments/businessschool/our-courses