The Dan Hemingway prize 2001 / 2002

Friday 22 March 2002

The 10th Dan Hemingway Prize was presented last night (Thursday 21st March) at a reception hosted by the University of St Andrews.

Now in its tenth year, 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 at St Andrews who was killed in a cycling accident.

The prize of £300 is awarded annually for the best, original short story submitted by an undergraduate student at the University.

This year’s winner is Tara Quinn, a Junior Year Abroad student from Gravenhurst, Ontario, Canada. Tara is in St Andrews for two semesters studying English and International Relations, and won the award for her entry ‘Judge and Measure’.

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 John Burnside, Kathleen Jamie, Dr Gill Plain and Professor Douglas Dunn, all of the School of English, and by Mrs Sue Hemingway.

There were 48 entrants this year from all Faculties of the University, a record number of entries.

To mark the 10th anniversary of the prize, the Hemingway family hope to publish a collection of the winning entries later this year.

ENDS

Issued by Beattie Media On behalf of the University of St Andrews Contact Gayle Cook on 01334 467227, mobile 07900 050103, or email [email protected] Ref: Dan Hemingway Prize pr 200302 View the latest University news at http://www.st- andrews.ac.uk/extrel/press.htm


Category Awards

Related topics

Share this story