31 July 2009

CEFA proudly announces the finalists including winners and commended students of the 2008 Governor-General’s Undergraduate Essay Competition. The Hon Justice Dyson Heydon AC hosted the final judging in his Sydney Chambers of the High Court of Australia on 22 July, 2009.

His Honor’s distinguished colleagues in judging were Dame Leonie Kramer AC DBE (CEFA Trustee and Former Chancellor of the University of Sydney), Mr Malcolm Mackerras AO, Mrs Kerry Jones (CEFA Executive Director) and Dr Peter Gerangelos (Senior Law Lecturer, USyd Law School). The panel was assisted by Joel Williams, CEFA Scholar and Phuong Van, CEFA Administrator, (Constitution Education Fund-Australia). 2008 was the first year in the competition that a combination of legal and humanities questions were offered.

 The final Judging Panel together with CEFA Trustee, The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG after judging the finalists of the 2008 Essay Competition. Left to right: Mr Kirby, Mr Malcolm Mackerras AO, Dame Leonie Kramer AC DBE, The Hon. Justice Dyson Heydon AC, Mrs Kerry Jones and Dr Peter Gerangelos

First Prize was awarded to Joshua Quinn-Watson (Uni of Melb) for an essay answering the topic whether civic participation in Australia would improve if we were to adopt a system similar to that used in the USA. Interestingly the topic chosen by Joshua was the least attempted question of the nine offered in 2008.

Second Prize was awarded to Humaira (Mira) Lutfi (Monash) for an essay answering the topic whether Australia should adopt a Bill of Rights and the form that it should take. This topic was the most popular of those chosen in 2008 with twenty eight percent of the students who entered attempting it.

Third Prize (Meritorious Award) was awarded to Andrew Vincent (Monash) for an essay on the reasons for the defeat of the Howard Government at the 2007 general election.

Commended students      

Ms Kate Edwards (University of Adelaide)
Ms Emma Hearn (University of  Queensland)
Ms Joo Young Hong (University of  Queensland)

The judges decision was unanimous and all judges found the interviews to be interesting and stimulating. CEFA hopes the contestants enjoyed their participation in this very worthy prize.  Summaries of the winning essays will be published online later in the year and in the 2008-2009 annual report. The students will receive their Awards and certificates at CEFA annual Award ceremonies later in the year. For a full report of the 2008 Governor-General Undergraduate Essay Competition click here.