‘The Chaplaincy Prize’
Good morning,
I’m delighted to highlight the new Chaplaincy Prize in a Companionship email/blogpost.
This new prize has been established through the generous donation of monies received through the University of St Andrews American Foundation. This prize, awarded each year, will be open to all current students and based around a particular theme for an original piece of creative work or essay.
The theme for the 2020/21 award will be ‘The Environment’.
We have chosen this theme as part of the Chaplaincy’s engagement with the climate crisis and other environmental issues over the past year, in the focus of the discussion group Thinking Allowed, sermon topics, prayers, charity collections, newsletter features and more. Issues around the coronavirus only make the importance of our response to the climate emergency clearer – in terms of our use of energy, the nature of our economy, and what we value in life.
What we are looking for is one of the following:
• An essay (750 words maximum)
• A piece of poetry, hymn or a short story
• A focussed/practical project, which is documented and reported (750 words maximum).
It must contain:
• an environmental theme which shows a passion for, or connection to, the environment
• a faith/spiritual element or show spiritual growth/change.
Other optional elements:
Your entry can include mixed media, such as photos/images or video content (5 minutes maximum).
It can be a short report or piece of written work on something you have already been working on during your studies or over the summer break.
Prize award: £250
The winner will be decided by a committee formed from our team of Honorary Chaplains, which I will convene, who will assess applications and choose a prize-winner.
To enter, submit your entry directly by email to [email protected], or *in person to the Chaplaincy, Mansefield, 3a St Mary’s Place, St Andrews.
Closing date: Entries must be received by 5pm on Friday 29 January 2021.
*As the Chaplaincy building is currently closed, entries should be sent via the email address until such time that it re-opens which is yet to be advised.
There is a dedicated webpage to the Chaplaincy Prize at https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/chaplaincy/chaplaincyprize/
If you are a student and are wondering how to spend some of the remaining days of lockdown, you now have a possible project! All the best with your entry. We hope to hold some kind of event/exhibition of the entries. In the Chaplaincy Prize, winning is definitely not everything.
This is an annual prize – but every year we hope to have a different theme exploring another aspect of the Chaplaincy ethos. If the environment doesn’t get your creative ideas flowing, perhaps the next topic will.
Yours,
Donald.