Chau Chak Wing Museum

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Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones Nicholson Collection Prize

A $1000 prize awarded for outstanding undergraduate work on any aspect of the Nicholson Collection.

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Started in 2012 by Gwenyth Jones in memory of her fiancé, Max Le Petit, the Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones Nicholson Collection Prize is awarded bi-annually for an essay or written work submitted as part of a student's coursework that engages with any aspect of the Nicholson Collection. 

2024-25 Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones Nicholson Prize now open

Submissions and nominations are now open for the 2024-25 Max LePetit and Gwnyth Jones Nicholson Collection prize. Submissions are invited from all undergraduate students that have engaged with the Nicholson Collection as part of their undergraduate degree in 2024-25. This includes work in 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. Nominations directly from faculty are also encouraged.

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Submission deadline: 1 December, 2025, 5:00pm AEST

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How to enter

1. Check eligibilty

To be eligible for the Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones Nicholson Collection Prize, students must:

  • be a currently enrolled undergraduate student at the University of Sydney or have completed their undergraduate degree at the University of Sydney within the preceding two years
  • 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 nomintions

2. Gather materials

All nominations for the Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones Nicholson Collection Prize must include: 

  • a final pdf, and/or recording of the submitted work
  • a cover letter including the nominee's name, contact details, student ID number and the course for which the work was originally submitted
  • the question or assessment guidelines for which the work was originally submitted

3. Submit nomination

Submissions and nominations should be sent to directly to the prize co-ordinator, Karen Barker (karen.barker@sydney.edu.au) prior to the submission deadline, 5:00pm AEST, 1 December 2025.

Note: Direct nominations from faculty members are encouraged. If you have any questions, please reach out to Karen Barker well in advance of the deadline.

In 2012 Gwenyth Jones donated funds to create a prize to celebrate undergraduate student engagement with the Nicholson Collection. The Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones Nicholson Collection 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 (NM47.20).

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

  • Senior Curator, Nicholson Collection
  • Head, Public Engagement
  • Chair, Chau Chak Wing Museum Members

The submissions are anonymised prior to review. 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.

2023

  • Lilian Geddes-Korb (winner)
    Subject: Cast of an Athenian Acropolis Kore (NM2008.10)

2021

  • 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)

Featured image: Max Le Petit and Gwenyth Jones, Sydney, 1945. Photographer unknown.

Prize co-ordinator

Title : Karen Barker

Description :

Link URL:

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Curatorial Assistant, Nicholson Collection

+61 2 9351 9455

karen.barker@sydney.edu.au

Get
in touch

Contact us

Phone: +61 2 93512812

Email: ccwm.info@sydney.edu.au

Chau Chak Wing Museum
University Place
Camperdown NSW 2050

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