Celebrating Academic Excellence

Each year, Emmanuel College celebrates the academic achievements of its students and recognises recipients of College scholarships at the annual Academic Awards Dinner.

This formal dinner for residents is a highlight of the College calendar, bringing the Emmanuel community together to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable academic excellence demonstrated by our students.

This year, 25 residents received an Academic Prize, including students—Preston Laurie, Finn Olsen, and Thomas Stephenson—who were awarded the prestigious Principal’s Medal for outstanding first‑year academic excellence in 2025.

The College’s highest academic honour, the Merrington Scholar—recognising exemplary academic achievement—was awarded to Zachary Nathan. Zachary achieved the highest Grade Point Average among returning students, achieving an outstanding 6.867 in 2025.

The Academic Awards Dinner also celebrated the achievements of Emmanuel College’s scholarship recipients, recognising not only their academic commitment but the meaningful contributions they make through service, leadership and community engagement.

This year marked the inaugural awarding of the Emmanuel College Students’ Club Inc. Centenary Scholarship, presented to two 2026 first‑year students, Annika Stone and Chanudi Dissanayaka, in recognition of their distinguished service demonstrated prior to commencing at Emmanuel College. Both recipients exemplified outstanding leadership, initiative and a sustained commitment to community service.

The evening also featured a guest address from Emmanuel postgraduate student Pratyush Mishra, who shared his academic journey from undergraduate studies at Cambridge University to his current PhD in Theoretical Astrophysics at The University of Queensland. Drawing on his experiences studying in the UK and Australia, Pratyush spoke about the importance of goal setting and encouraged students to move past fear, self-doubt and hesitation by focusing on the first step and the next action, rather than the whole journey.

The following students are to be congratulated on their exceptional academic achievements –

Merrington Scholar
Zachary Nathan

Principal's Medal
Preston Laurie
Finn Olsen
Thomas Stephenson

Sir Harry Gibbs Law Scholarship
Emmeline Anthony

Dr Diana Cavaye Scholarship
Noah Taylor

Mark McKay Scholarship
Noah Taylor

Alastair MacLeod Civil Engineering Scholarship
Ryan Clark

Lucy Morris Stevens Scholarship
Annabelle Nelson

Emmanuel College Students’ Club Inc Centenary Scholarship
Chanudi Dissanayaka
Annika Stone

Students' Club Prize for Academic Accomplishment
Luke Cowley

Third Year Academic Prize
Sian Fisher

Second Year Academic Prize
Luke Cowley
Chloe Ecroyd
Matthew Goldie
Guy Hilditch
Zachary Nathan
Noah Taylor  

First Year Academic Prize
Emmeline Anthony
Elea Barton
Zara Brown
Anouk Cole
Lia David
Max Derwin
Thomas Gulliver
Caitlin Higgins
Preston Laurie
Ananya Malik
Finn Olsen
Max Poglio
Caitlin Small
Thomas Stephenson