On 5 September, they get the opportunity to present themselves to the jury. On 26 September, the Minister of Education, Culture and Science, Ingrid van Engelshoven, will announce the winners during an award ceremony in the Amsterdam offices of Loyens & Loeff, partner of the ECHO Foundation.

The 14 finalists have been selected from 29 nominated candidates. They are successful students with a non-Western background who stand out because of their excellent study performance, groundbreaking attitude, bridge builders qualities, active social involvement, and leadership. Below, you will find the overview per category:

Finalists Science Technology Award

  • Musa Idris, Biomedical Sciences student at the Maastricht University
  • Ivneet Singh, Architecture, Urbanism and Building Science student at the Delft University of Technology

Finalists Loyens & Loeff Law & Tax Award

  • Raz Ahmad, Law student at Leiden University
  • Nabeela Hussain, Tax Law student at Leiden University
  • Ahmed Mahoud, Law student at Maastricht University

Loyens & Loeff became a partner of ECHO in 2018. That same year, the firm presented the first Loyens & Loeff Law & Tax Award at the ECHO Awards. With this Award, Loyens & Loeff wants to celebrate and support diversity and inclusion, and underline that it is one of the firm’s absolute priorities. Just like ECHO, Loyens & Loeff believes in the power of diversity.

Finalists ECHO Award HBO

  • Gabriela Acosta Camacho, Arts student at the Amsterdam University of the Arts
  • Karma Armani, Sport Studies student at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
  • Artur Moeijes, Business IT & Management student at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences
  • Bilal Saidi, Law student (HBO) at the Inholland University of Applied Sciences

Finalists ECHO Award WO

  • Sahar Afzal, Liberal Arts and Sciences (International Relations and Political Science) student at Amsterdam University College
  • Zahraa Attar, Linguistics student at the Utrecht University
  • Simone Zalla Aumaj, Gender Studies student at the Utrecht University
  • Ahmed Bayoumy, Medicine, and Epidomiology and Public Health student at the University of Amsterdam
  • Hamdi Saïd, Medical student at the VU Amsterdam

The jury will select one winner from each category. The winners are awarded a fully organised summer course at the University of California Los Angeles in the United States.