PLEASE NOTE: This event has been postponed due to weather conditions.

USC will celebrate a number of firsts when it joins with sponsors in recognising the best and brightest business, arts and law students at its annual awards and prizes ceremony this Thursday (30 March).

This will be the first time the prestigious Una Prentice Award, provided by the Women Lawyers Association of Queensland to each of the law schools in the state, will be presented at USC.

Chelsea Wallis of Marcus Beach, who will be among USC’s first cohort of law students to graduate next week, will receive the award for the highest-achieving graduating female law student.

Two other Law prizes will also be awarded for the first time at the annual Faculty of Arts, Business and Law Awards and Prizes ceremony, to be held at USC’s Innovation Centre auditorium from 6pm.

Callum Lee of Sippy Downs and Zachary Smithers of Redcliffe will share the $500 Focus Family Law Prize for the highest-achieving student in Family Law.

Buderim’s Blake Crook will receive the new $500 Argon Law Prize for the highest achiever in Commercial Law, along with the $800 McCullough Robertson Law Prize for gaining the best results in Corporations Law.

Hervey Bay’s Myles Kreis is the first USC Fraser Coast student to receive a faculty prize, following the University’s expansion into the region last year. He has tied with Adam Strauss of Yandina for the $500 CPA Australia Prize for the highest-achieving first-year Accounting student.

Regional and national businesses, associations and individuals have joined with USC in providing more than 40 awards, prizes, bursaries and sponsorships, totalling almost $50,000, for outstanding students.

Samantha Willshire of Pacific Paradise will be presented with three awards. Her grade point average of 6.9 out of a possible 7 secured the $1,170 CPA Australia Prize for the highest-achieving third-year graduating Accounting student, shared with Leonie Corr of Caboolture.

Samantha will also receive the $500 Save on Tax Prize for the highest-achieving student in Business Finance and the $500 BDO Prize for being the best performer in Auditing and Professional Practice.

She shares the BDO Prize with Gympie student, Bronte Newcombe, who will also receive the Holmans Prize for the highest-achieving student in Taxation Law and Practice, valued at $500.

Another USC Gympie student Leanne North will be awarded the $1,500 Focus Professional Group Bursary for a high-achieving second- or third-year accounting student, and the $375 Tax Institute Prize for the top student in Contemporary Accounting Issues.

Joshua Bareham of Buderim will be presented with the $1,500 Financial Planning Association of Australia Prize for the highest-achieving second-year student in the Bachelor of Commerce (Financial Planning), and the $400 Garland Waddington Prize for topping his cohort in Property Law.

— Terry Walsh