Convocation, The UWA Graduates Association and Guild of Undergraduates Matilda Awards for Cultural Excellence [F7015]

A Matilda Award for Cultural Excellence, consisting of $1000 and a certificate, is presented annually by Convocation, the UWA Graduates Association, in conjunction with the Guild of Undergraduates, to individuals or groups in recognition of excellence and outstanding achievement in cultural pursuits. The award is administered in accordance with the following regulations.

1. The purpose of the award is to acknowledge excellence and/or outstanding achievement by students at The University of Western Australia in cultural pursuits such as music, literature, public speaking, dance, visual arts or drama, judged on the basis of their contribution to the field of participation, and the value of that contribution to the community as a whole, and to the University.

2.(1) Nominations for the award are called for by the Council of Convocation on the first Monday in August of each year.

(2) Forms are available from the Guild Student Centre, the Arts Union office, or the Office of Convocation.

(3) Nominations are sought throughout the University community and may come from fellow students, members of the University's academic staff who are familiar with the nominee's work in the field in question, or from the nominee.

3.(1) One Matilda Award is presented annually and may be in any of the following categories:

(a) music, including classical, rock, popular, jazz and any other form of music;

(b) literature, including fiction, non-fiction, short stories, prose, poetry and any other form of literature;

(c) public speaking, including debating, specialised expertise in a foreign language and any other form of public speaking;

(d) dance, including ballet, contemporary and ballroom, and all facets such as choreography, production and performance;

(e) visual arts, including painting, graphic design, textiles and sculpture, and any other form of visual art;

(f) drama, including theatre, television, street theatre, production and any other form of drama; or

(g) any other cultural pursuit.

(2) Nominees may be individuals or groups.

(3) Nominations may be made on the basis of work in any of the categories specified, undertaken as part of a University course or on the basis of participation in arts in the wider community.

4. Selection is made by a committee comprising:

(a) the Warden of Convocation or nominee;

(b) the Guild President or nominee;

(c) the President of the Guild Public Affairs Council or nominee;

(d) the Convener of the Awards Committee of the Council of Convocation or nominee;

(e) a nominee of the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.

5.(1) In determining excellence and outstanding achievement, the committee will consider the significance of the nominee's contribution either in terms of personal achievement or of contribution to group achievement.

(2) Achievement at any or all of international, national, local, community and University levels will be considered.

6. Certificates of commendation may be awarded by Convocation to nominees who have demonstrated merit.

7. The Council may elect not to make an award in any year, or to make more than one award in any year.

Cruickshank-Routley Memorial Prize [F1489]

1. The Guild of Undergraduates having provided a principal endowment of $800, a prize is established called the Cruickshank-Routley Memorial Prize.

2. The prize is of the value of the annual interest on the said sum of $800 and its accumulations if any.

3.(1) Any undergraduate or graduate member of the Guild of Undergraduates, other than a person to whom the prize has been previously awarded or the Guild President during his or her term of office, is eligible for the award of the prize.

(2) The prize is awarded to the member of the Guild of Undergraduates who, of the persons eligible for the award of the prize, has, in the opinion of the selection committee, during his or her career as a student of the University—

(a) made the greatest contribution and been of the greatest service to student life and activities, particularly in all phases of the activities and projects carried on by the Guild of Undergraduates, the Guild Council and its subsidiary councils and committees and affiliated University clubs and societies or in any of them; and

(b) exhibited moral force of character, leadership and an interest in his or her fellows.

4. Fondness for and success in outdoor sport is not considered by the committee making its award but the literary and scholastic attainments of a member of the Guild to whom it is proposed to award the prize must be such that the executive dean or dean of the faculty concerned would deem him or her a satisfactory student.

5. The prize is awarded by a committee consisting of:

(a) the Registrar or his or her duly appointed deputy as chair if he or she indicates his or her willingness to act;

(b) the President of the Guild;

(c) one staff member mutually agreed by the Registrar and the Guild President;

(d) a president of a subsidiary council of the Guild to be elected by Guild Council, and who has not been nominated for the prize; and

(e) a member of the family of the late Mr C. W. Cruickshank.

6. The committee may request the attendance at its meetings of such other person or persons as it deems necessary and may permit such persons to take part in its deliberations.

7.(1) Nomination of members of the Guild deemed eligible for the prize may be made through their respective executive officers or committees by any of the following bodies:

(a) Faculty societies;

(b) University College students' societies;

(c) University Hall of Residence students' societies; or

(d) Societies registered with the Guild.

(2) Each nomination must be accompanied by a short statement of the qualifications of the person nominated.

(3) If any of the nominating bodies makes more than one nomination it must place the candidates nominated by it in order of preference, giving reasons for such preference.

(4) The committee may consider for the award of the prize a member of the Guild who has not been nominated under (1).

(5) The committee may, from time to time, inform the Secretary of the Guild as to what it considers to be the appropriate procedure for inviting and dealing with nominations.

8. The President of the Guild is responsible for calling for applications for the award of the prize.

9. The committee will meet in the month of September in each year to consider its award of the prize but will not disclose its decisions until after the close of voting in the Guild elections in that year.

10. If in any year the committee decides that no person is deserving of the award of the prize it will make no award in that year but the amount of the prize will be placed in reserve and credited to the capital endowment.

11. These regulations may, from time to time, be altered by Guild Council provided that such alterations conform with the intentions of the founders of the prize and these regulations.

12. Notwithstanding Regulation 9 the first award of the prize is to be made in respect of the year 1955 and the prize will be awarded annually thereafter.