Literary tribute to former student

Monday 27 February 2006

The 14th Dan Hemingway Prize was presented last week (Friday 24 February 2006) at a reception hosted by the University of St Andrews.

The prize was presented by Dr John and Mrs Sue Hemingway who initiated the prize in 1992 in memory of their son Dan, a former undergraduate who was killed in a cycling accident. The prize – £300 – is awarded to the author of the best, original short story submitted by a St Andrews undergraduate.

In the particulars for the prize the family state – ‘Dan Hemingway (2.6.72-25.12.91) spent only one term as an undergraduate at St Andrews, but he enjoyed it to the full both academically and socially. Whilst cycling to his home near Oxford shortly after midnight on Christmas Eve 1991, he was killed instantly when hit from behind by a motorist. His interests and talents were eclectic, and his powers of human observation and insight quite remarkable. He listened to Bob Dylan, played Beethoven and blues on the piano, and read Wodehouse avidly. His passion was literature, of all styles and periods, and he first started to write short stories and novels at the age of sixteen. Whether or not his final output would have fulfilled his early potential we will now never know.The Annual Prize at St Andrews has been established in Dan’s memory by his family and friends. It is intended as one small encouragement to other young writers who have the promise and ambition to make a lasting contribution.’

The prize was judged this year by Professor Douglas Dunn, Meaghan Delahunt and Michael Herbert, all of the School of English, and by Mrs Sue Hemingway.

This year’s winner is Margaret Reges, a study abroad student from Spring Lake, Michigan, for her entry ‘A Cabin in Winter’. There were 31 entrants this year from all faculties of the University.

In October 2004, the family published ‘Doris Lumsden’s Heart- Shaped Bed and Other Stories’, a collection of the winning entries from 1992-2003, available from local booksellers, price £12.50.

ENDS

Issued by Beattie Media – www.beattiegroup.com On behalf of the University of St Andrews For more information, please contact Claire Grainger, Press Officer – 01334 462530, 07730 415 015 or [email protected]; Ref: press releases/danhemingway2006 View the latest University news at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk

 


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