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THE ANN WATERFALL STUDENT AWARD

The winner of this prestigious award will receive £1,000. The award, funded by The Anglo-Portuguese Society.  

All nominations are presented to a selection panel comprising of an academic, and two members of The Anglo-Portuguese Society Executive Committee, who will on behalf of The Anglo-Portuguese Society agree upon the winning candidate.   

The guidelines for eligibility for nomination were changed in 2014 to reflect the expansion in Lusophone Studies and Portuguese language learning in this country.  

The nomination requirements and procedures are that:  

  • students must be in their final year at a UK university studying topics related to Portugal; 
  • The Anglo-Portuguese Society will decide the prizewinner on the basis of references provided by two of the undergraduate’s academic tutors (full-time staff).

 The Society's decision will be final; where there are candidates of equal merit, the Society will give preference to those aiming to continue their Portuguese studies at postgraduate level. 

Presentation of the Award will be made by a representative of The Anglo-Portuguese Society, at a mutually agreed date at one of the Society’s events.

33 YEARS OF THE STUDENT AWARD


Originally named the "Best Student of Portuguese Prize," this prestigious award was established by the Anglo-Portuguese Society to recognize exceptional achievements in the study of the Portuguese language and culture. The award is presented to the nominated university, and it is the responsibility of the university professor to distribute it among one or more deserving students.

The oversight of the award falls under the purview of Juliet Perkins, a member of the society's Executive Committee. Juliet diligently reviews the rules governing the award on an annual basis to ensure its fairness and relevance in supporting outstanding students.

In 2011, the award was renamed the Ann Waterfall Award as a tribute to Ann Waterfall, the society's longest-serving secretary who dedicated 20 years of service to the society. This renaming serves as a lasting tribute to Ann's unwavering commitment and invaluable contributions to the Anglo-Portuguese Society.

On certain occasions, with the support of Canning House, the society has had the privilege of offering a substantial prize of £1,000, which includes a generous contribution of £500 from the society's Restricted Fund.

Since 2020, the prestigious award has been proudly sponsored by Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the national bank of Portugal.

This financial support underscores the society's commitment to promoting excellence in Portuguese studies and further incentivizes students to pursue their academic endeavors with zeal and dedication. We extend our gratitude to Caixa Geral de Depósitos for their valuable support in honoring outstanding achievements in this domain.

The Anglo-Portuguese Society's student prize serves as a testament to our mission of fostering educational exchanges and recognising the importance of language proficiency and cultural understanding between the United Kingdom and Portugal. By supporting and encouraging outstanding students, the society continues to play a vital role in nurturing the next generation of scholars, linguists, and ambassadors of Portuguese language and culture.

Chronology of the Anglo-Portuguese Society Student Award.pdf


AWARDED STUDENTS


2022

Ana Torres of Queen's University Belfast



Having grown up in a bilingual English-Spanish environment, my passion for language learning is not surprising. I decided to study Portuguese ab-initio and French at Queen’s University Belfast in 2018, and since then the Portuguese language has become very close to my heart.

Despite the pandemic, I was lucky enough to spend two summers in Lisbon, first in 2019 in the Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa, and then in 2021 in the Lusa Language School. Both experiences allowed me to improve my linguistic proficiency and deepened my passion for Portuguese culture. These experiences also motivated me to apply for Chairperson of the QUB Spanish and Portuguese Society so that I could share my love of lusophone cultures on campus. We organised events such as Brazilian Carnaval and we fundraised for Fundação Ama Orfão in Guinea Bissau.  

At Queen’s I was very privileged to be exposed to both European and Brazilian Portuguese. We gained an all-encompassing insight into the history and culture of the Portuguese-speaking world and were encouraged to appreciate its diversity: the fall of the Portuguese Estado Novo, the novels and short stories of Mozambican Mia Couto and Paulina Chiziane, favela representation, post-colonial cinema, modern Brazilian documentaries evaluating Bolsonaro’s rise to power and much more.

In my final year, we studied decolonisation (political, military and cultural), from the 1970s to the present day, and its impact on contemporary Portugal and the former colonies in Africa. I was particularly interested in the concept of “Lusotropicalismo”, a theory with a complex colonial history, and how its legacy is one that still permeates contemporary Portugal. I was so inspired that I have decided to continue my studies and will undertake a Master of Research that will enable me to explore cultural production that provides an inclusive representation of the realities of post-colonial Portugal.

I am thrilled to be the recipient of the Ann Waterfall Student Award this year. I recognise that this is a great privilege, and I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the Anglo-Portuguese Society for their consideration. I would also like to thank my dedicated lecturers and the amazing Portuguese teaching staff at Queen’s for their unwavering support throughout my four years of study, especially through the most difficult period of the pandemic.




2021

Zsofia Elek of The University of Edinburgh


2021

Zsofia Elek of The University of Edinburgh

I started studying Portuguese from scratch in my first year at the University of Edinburgh. Coming from a linguistics background, I thoroughly enjoyed learning all about the Portuguese language and its quirks. What really surprised me, however, is how much I loved finding out more about the literature and history of the Portuguese-speaking nations, from the fierce poetry of Conceição Evaristo to the haunting prose of Luis Bernardo Honwana.

In my third year, I had the opportunity to travel abroad to study at the Universidade de Lisboa. Here, I took a mixture of courses relating to both Portuguese linguistics and the Lusophone cultures. I learnt much about the deep cultural myths of Portugal in Mitos da Cultura Portuguesa and the different variations of spoken Portuguese across the country in Dialetologia. It was at this University that I first heard about the Mirandese linguistic community that lives in the Northeast of Portugal. I have always been fascinated by linguistic minorities and as such, I decided to focus my final-year dissertation project on this community. For this, I interviewed some incredible Mirandese-Portuguese bilinguals and carried out sociolinguistic research on the current and future vitality of the Mirandese language based on these interviews. I found it an absolute pleasure to be able to connect my passion for both linguistics and Portuguese throughout this project and I am looking forward to committing myself further to working on such projects in my future where I aim to continue with my Portuguese studies.


2019
HANNAH SHAKESPEARE – Cambridge University

I began studying Portuguese ab-initio at the University of Cambridge in 2015, and have since developed an avid interest in the languages and cultures of lusophone peoples across the globe. Over my four-year degree course I was privileged to study a wide range of topics relating to lusophone culture, from the work of African writers such as the Angolan Ondjaki and Mozambican José Craveirinha, to the films of the Brazilian Cinema Novo movement and José Saramago’s novels.

Throughout my year abroad at the Universidade de Coimbra, I relished the opportunity to research the impact of Gilberto Freyre’s lusotropicalismo on the Portuguese Estado Novo during the Portuguese Colonial War in Africa, and was lucky enough to view original propaganda films produced by the regime at the Arquivo Nacional da Imagem em Movimento in Lisbon.

Alongside lusophone cultural studies, I have consistently sought to improve my Portuguese linguistic skills, organising and attending several language exchanges in the UK, Portugal and now in Valencia, where I currently work as a British Council conversation assistant and part-time translator of academic articles for the Centro de Estudos Clássicos e Humanísticos at the Universidade de Coimbra.

I was utterly thrilled to receive the Ann Waterfall Student Award, and would like to convey my deepest thanks to the committee for their consideration, as well as to the inspirational Portuguese teaching staff at the University of Cambridge. I very much look forward to expanding my knowledge of lusophone languages and cultures in the future.


2018
LOUISE OMEROD – Cardiff University

I began studying Portuguese at beginner level at Cardiff University in 2014. Since then, I have devoted myself to expanding my knowledge of the history and culture of the Portuguese-speaking world along with gaining proficiency in the Portuguese language. My semester in Portugal studying Estudos Culturais at the Universidade do Minho deepened my passion for all things Portuguese. As a lover of the arts, I was delighted to experience local festivals such as Festa das Cruzes and Braga Romana and became entranced by Fado, ensuring I attended several performances during my time abroad.

In my final year of university, I became fascinated with the study of Portuguese diaspora communities. I carried out a study on the Portuguese diaspora in France, producing a portfolio in which I analysed how this specific community is represented in both Ruben Alves’ film A Gaiola Dourada and Gerald Bloncourt’s photobook Por Uma Vida Melhor.

This July, I graduated from Cardiff University with First-Class Honours. I am eager to continue my studies in Portuguese later this month as part of Translation Studies (MA) to fulfil my ambition of becoming a Professional Translator.










2017
DANIEL PAWSON

OXFORD UNIVERSITY
















2016
PHOEBE MACMILLAN –  Edinburgh University

Firstly, it is a great privilege to receive the Ann Waterfall Award and for this, I would like to thank the Anglo-Portuguese Society very much.

My studies at The University of Edinburgh in Spanish and Portuguese sparked my interest further in Portuguese culture, history and literature. Having been lectured in Twentieth Century Portuguese Literature by one of the most inspiring academics in her field at the Universidade de Coimbra on my year abroad, I chose to focus my final year of Portuguese on a similar topic. My final piece explored the portrayal of ‘History’ and the concept of the ‘Historical Novel’ in both ‘A Viagem do elefante’ and ‘Memorial do convento’ by José Saramago. Following my year abroad, I enjoyed a summer of volunteering as a Workaway volunteer at a sustainable tourism lodge on São Miguel, Açores; I really enjoyed spending time there and hope to make it to the rest of the islands before too long. It is safe to say that I am obsessed with everything Portuguese and Portugal related and I am always on the hunt for a hidden gem off the tourist trail to visit.

As I continue to try and pursue a wine related career, a top priority of mine is to be able to continue using my knowledge of languages as much as possible. As I write, I am teaching English as a foreign language in Jersey and I am very much looking forward to doing another ‘Vindima’ in the Alentejo for a couple of months. Next year, I hope to take my languages to South America and combine some further wine related experience with English teaching and this award will help me get there.



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