Mawby Prize



This year's Mawby Prize was awarded to Mr Vaughan Abigail. The prize is awarded annually to a weekly class student of a chosen subject area - which in 2014 was Archaeology.

Mr Abigail (pictured, second from right), who was a student on the Archaeology in Practice course run by Dr Wendy Morrison, wins £100 and a free day school. Professor Jonathan Michie, Director of the Department President of Kellogg College presented the winner with the prize at a small ceremony that took place at Rewley House on 12 December 2014.

The runners up, Mrs Francesca Helen Jones (pictured right, above) and Mr Adrian Rosser (to Mr Abigail's right), received a free day school each.

Speaking of his experience on the course and his prize-winning assignment, Vaughan said, Archaeology in Practice was my self-indulgence on retiring after 31 years as a schoolmaster. I was hoping to put scraps of knowledge gleaned as an armchair archaeologist into a coherent academic framework, a goal which Wendy Morrison's excellent course more than fulfilled. It was a real pleasure to be taught by someone so enthusiastic and knowledgeable about her subject, with a wide range of practical experience and just the right mix of rigour and irreverence. In keeping with the whole character of the course, my prize-winning assignment consisted of a series of analyses of the results of several different pre-excavation techniques: magnetic survey, aerial photography and field-walking.

Amongst the invited guests were weekly class tutors, course directors and the partners of the prize winners. The presentation was followed by a three course lunch in the Rewley House dining room. The Prize has been funded by Dr Russell Mawby, philanthropist and the chairman emeritus of the Kellogg Foundation.

The Department's very wide range of archaeology courses includes day schools, weekly classes (both face to face and online) and award bearing courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. There are currently eight online courses in Archaeology.

Published 17 February 2015