Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones Nicholson Collection Prize

The prize is named in memory of Gwenyth Jones's fiancé Maxwell Le Petit who died suddenly in 1947, aged 24. Max completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees at the University of Sydney and was a teaching fellow in the Department of Classics. Gwenyth had met Max Le Petit while she was serving in the Air Force. While Max had initially enlisted, he was discharged before entering service due to his history with pneumonia. The couple were engaged in 1945. In 1946, Professor Trendall appointed Max as Assistant Curator of the Nicholson Museum, charged with academic tutoring, and the re-organisation of the Egyptian collection in preparation for the second edition of the Nicholson Museum Handbook (1948). Max was a beloved colleague, teacher and friend who was described by Professor MacDonald as "possessing great humanity". In his memory, Professor Trendall, with contributions received from staff and students, purchased a white-ground funerary lekythos by the Athenian 'Thanatos Painter' for the Nicholson Collection.

Nominations are currently closed for the Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones Nicholson Collection Prize. The next prize round will encompass the period 2022–23. 

Nominations will open in late 2023 to all students that have engaged with the Nicholson Collection as part of their undergraduate degree. This includes traditional disciplines such as archaeology and ancient history, as well as non-traditional disciplines from all faculties including Arts, Architecture, Business, Education and Social Work, Engineering, Law, Medicine and Health, Music and Science. 

Students eligible to apply may submit their work directly to the prize coordinator via email to Candace Richards candace.richards@sydney.edu.au before the submission deadline.

Tutors and Lecturers may nominate a student’s work directly to the prize coordinator via email.

All nominations must include:

• a cover letter including the nominee's name, contact details, student ID and the course for which the work was originally submitted
• the question or assessment guidelines for which the work was originally submitted should also be included
• a final pdf of the submitted work.

• The Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones Nicholson Collection Prize is open to undergraduate students of the University of Sydney who are currently enrolled or have completed their degrees within the preceding two years.
• The student must have submitted the essay or another piece of written work as part of their undergraduate coursework in the two-year period stipulated during the call for nominations.

The successful work will be chosen by a selection committee comprised of:

• Prize co-ordinator, Candace Richards, Nicholson Collection
• Head, Education and Public Engagement
• President of the Friends of the Nicholson Collection.

The decision of the selection committee is final. If no nominations or no suitable nominations are submitted then the prize may not be awarded in that year.

2022

• Brad Arsenault (winner)
  Subject: Early Dynastic cylinder seal (NM62.772)

2019

• Mardi Kennedy (winner)
  Subject: Assyrian archer relief from South West Palace of Sennacherib, late seventh century BC (NM51.323)
• Stephen Croft (runner up)
  Subject: Ancient greek coins including a Lydian stater, 600-550 BC (NM2004.715), and an Athenian Tetradrachm, 449-404 BC (NM2004.655)
• Ella Gibbs (runner up)
  Subject: The ‘Cambitoglou Amphora’, an Athenian black-figure amphora depicting Ajax carrying the body of Achilles from the battlefield of Troy, attributed to the Antimenes Painter (NM2018.136)
  
  

2017

Not awarded

2015

• Barney Casey (winner)
  Subject: An Apulian bell krater depicting a comic play with Herakles, attributed to the Lecce Painter, 375-350 BC (NM88.2)