2009 Press Releases

Proud Day for UCC Students and Graduates at Annual Prizegiving Ceremony
24.02.2009

UCC’s top graduate is Marie Breen. The Graduate of the Year was announced at the 2008 Prizegiving Ceremony at UCC yesterday (February 23rd 2009) at which 42 undergraduate and postgraduate prizes were presented to 56 prizewinners by Dr Michael Murphy, President, UCC.
An outstanding student from from Mallow, Co. Cork, Marie graduated with a First-class honours Bachelor of Commerce degree in 2008. Her chosen major was Management with minors in Accounting and Food Business.

Marie, who is currently traveling in Australia, excelled in sport during her time at UCC. She was awarded a Sports Scholarship for basketball for each of her four years in College and the prestigious annual UCC Sports Star award for four consecutive years. “Playing for UCC has been a great experience for me”, said Marie.  In 2005 the team won the All Ireland Colleges ‘A’ league.  Marie was awarded an All Star at each annual Intervarsity event and served as an active member of the UCC Basketball Club committee during her four years serving as secretary of the club for 2007 and 2008. As well as representing UCC, Marie also lined out with her club Team Montenotte Hotel Glanmire and was captain of the team for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. In 2007 team won the double: the National Cup and the Superleague. Marie was awarded Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the National Cup Final. In recognition of this, she was awarded ‘Irish Times VHI Sportswoman of the Month’ for January 2007 and ‘Jury’s Hotel Sportsperson of the Month’ for January 2007. The following season the team went one step further completing the Treble in 2008, winning the National Cup, the Regular Season league, and the Superleague play-offs. As a result Marie was awarded ‘Evening Echo Ladies Sportstar’ for the month of January 2008 and Red FM Cork Sportsperson of the Year for 2008. Marie played for Ireland at U16, U18, U20 and at Senior level and captained the U20 Irish team. She competed in five European Championships and two Four Countries International Tournaments and to date has over 45 International Caps.

Two new prizes were awarded this year. The PricewaterhouseCoopers Prize in Accounting was awarded to Kevin Kelly, from Coolvalanane, Kinsale, Co. Cork while Sharon Crowley, from Bandon Road, Cork was awarded a PrizewaterhouseCoopers Prize in Commercial Law.

The Graduate of the Year Award is given annually to the most distinguished student of the year.  In making this award, both academic distinctions and the part played in the public life of the University are taken into consideration.

Dr Michael Murphy, President, University College Cork presented the awards at yesterday’s prizegiving and congratulated the prizewinners for their hard work, dedication to their studies and their excellence in academic scholarship.  He also offered his congratulations to their parents for the support they have provided and continue to provide.  In his speech, he referred to the education experience at UCC and said “Our ambition here in UCC is that our students and graduates will be our best ambassadors in society.”

Picture shows L-R: Jennifer Hourihane, recipient of the Southern Law Association Prize and Orla Heffernan, winner of the John B. O’Brien Annual Prize in History.

993MMcS








<<Previous ItemNext Item>>

« Back to 2009 Press Releases

University College Cork

Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh

College Road, Cork T12 K8AF

Top