University prizes

Ede and Ravenscroft

Award type: Cheque
Amount: £5,000

This prize was established in 1989 to mark the tercentenary of the firm. The prize of £5,000 is awarded in the year following first graduation to the graduates judged to be the most outstanding amongst those Keele graduates proceeding to undertake a full-time research degree at Keele. The prize shall be awarded by a Committee consisting of the Vice-Chancellor, the Deans, the Director of Planning and Academic Administration, and the Senior Leadership Group.

This prize will be listed on the HEAR, and will be announced at graduation.

Farquharson Fund Field Studies Prizes

Award type: Cheque
Amount: £50

These prizes are derived from the assets of the Institute of Sociology and Le Play House Press, which were made over to the University College by the Institute of Sociology in 1955. The Institute of Sociology was founded by Alexander and Dorothea Farquharson, and the prizes are intended to promote the objects for which the Institute of Sociology was incorporated.

There are three prizes awarded annually. Undergraduate and Postgraduate students of not more than one year's standing are eligible for entry.

The prizes will be awarded for an account of an original piece of fieldwork carried out by the candidate. For the purpose of these prizes, fieldwork should be interpreted as:

1. a study of the relationship between communities, settlements or neighbourhoods and the environment in which they are set and out of which they have grown, or
2. the sociological study of human communities and the use of sociological studies in education

Entries should be sent to the Records and Examinations team no later than 30th September of the year in which the applicant wishes to be considered a candidate for the prize. If in any one year the work of the candidates does not reach a sufficiently high standard, the prize will not be awarded. In such an event, the value of the prize shall be added to the capital sum. The prizes may, in any year, be divided at the discretion of the judges, or any lesser amount than the total may be awarded at the discretion of the judges. 

These prizes will be listed on the HEAR, and will be announced at graduation.

Hugh Leech Travelling Scholarship

Award type: Cheque
Amount: to be announced annually

The Hugh Leech Memorial Fund was opened in 1967 after the death of Hugh Leech, then a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, to provide financial assistance to Keele students for the purpose of study in Europe. The Scholarship, deriving from the interest of the Fund, which remains open, was established in 1972.

All registered students are eligible for the scholarships, which are normally advertised and awarded on two occasions annually. The value in each particular year is indicated at the time of the advertisement. Applications, which should include details of proposed travel and study, will be considered on two occasions each year and should be sent to the Records and Examinations team by 1st May.

Responsibility for administering the Fund, for determining the value of the scholarship each year, and for making the award is vested in the Hugh Leech Travelling Scholarship Committee. The award in any one year may, at the discretion of the committee, be withheld altogether or divided in any proportion among two or more applicants.

Neil and Gina Smith Student of the Year Award

Award type: Cheque
Amount: £5,000

This annual award, sponsored by Neil and Gina Smith, will be presented at the Summer Graduation Ceremony. It is available to the student who has demonstrated the essential criteria of outstanding academic excellence/achievement, together with outstanding achievement/contribution as an individual to student life and/or the University. The Awarding Panel will comprise Neil and Gina Smith, the Vice-Chancellor, the President of the Students' Union, a Faculty Dean, a Head of School, a lay member of Council, and an external community representative. The successful applicant will be notified after the results of the Final Examinations are published. 

This prize will be listed on the HEAR, and will be announced at graduation.

Click Here to see further information and details of how to apply for the Neil and Gina Smith Student of the Year Award.

Principal Year Prizes

Award type: Cheque
Amount: £100

Up to eight prizes may be awarded in each of the first and second principal years of study:

• Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences: one prize is available to candidates whose Principal subjects are both based in this Faculty
• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences: two prizes are available to candidates whose Principal subjects are both based in this Faculty
• Faculty of Natural Sciences: two prizes are available to candidates whose Principal subjects are both based in this Faculty

Three prizes are available for candidates taking Principal subjects from different Faculties. 

Prizes will be awarded to candidates with the best average mark across all modules, and achieving at least 120 credits for the year, subject to the approval of the Heads of the Principal Departments concerned, the Deans of the Faculties, and the Director of Planning and Academic Administration. Prizes are reported to Senate.

These prizes will be listed on the HEAR.

Wedgwood Essay Prize

Award type: Book token
Amount: £40

This prize is open to all undergraduates of the University who submit an essay on an approved historical subject. No piece of work that is to be submitted as a Finals dissertation in History, or is to be used as the basis of such a dissertation, shall be eligible for the prize. In addition, no piece of work which has already been accepted as a Keele Finals dissertation shall be eligible for the prize. Further details regarding choice of subject, length and presentation may be obtained from the School of Humanities.

The closing date is 30th September in each year, except for candidates graduating in that year whose entries must be in before Degree Day. Entries should be sent to the School Manager, including History. In the event of no essay of sufficient merit being submitted, the Head of the School may make an alternative recommendation for an award. No candidate may be awarded the prize more than once. 

The Senate shall appoint assessors. Dr C.V. Wedgwood acted as a permanent assessor until her death.

This prize will be listed on the HEAR.