Student Prizes
Sponsored by BCS Oxfordshire branch
2006/7
University of Oxford, Department for Continuing Education
The Oxfordshire British Computer Society 2006 prize for the Best Student in Module 1 in the Diploma in Computing has been
awarded to Vera Szabo, who achieved a remarkable 99% in the exam.
The prize consists of:
- A cheque for £125
- Full Course BCS Student Membership
- A certificate framed by Oxfordshire Branch
Vera Szabo writes:
"I am originally from Serbia but have lived in Hungary for the last 10 years. I hold an MSc degree in Civil Engineering and
work as a Lead Structural Designer. After acquiring my MBA diploma I have also been involved in business development issues
as well.
 "Besides using computers in everyday work, I did not have any formal knowledge of computers (we had some programming classes
in Fortran and Pascal at the university but that was all). The idea of studying computing was not a new one. I wanted to learn
more about it and was trying for some time to find a right course, without much success really. I was interested in overall
logic and the core things about computers and faced the fact that I cannot find such course.
"I found this particular course totally by chance. In a conversation with my brother-in-law I mentioned that I was trying
to find some computing course and somehow we started to talk about a friend of ours who studied in the UK. I put the phone
down and instantly searched for the University of Oxford website, found my ideal course and decided to apply.
"I knew that it would be difficult for me in the beginning. I had an experience of studying in a foreign language (Hungarian
is not my mother-tongue either) and therefore I was prepared to put some extra effort to be able to keep track with others.
What I never expected was that I would enjoy the course as much, especially the Units about Java. It was quite a surprise
for me. The structure of those Java units and the style in which they were written had such an impact on me that I decided
to continue with learning. At the moment I am studying for the Sun Java Associate certificate. So, now when I want to relax
instead of watching TV I do Java. I plan to continue to study computing after finishing this course. As the English would
say, I am hooked forever.
"As for the BCS prize, I had never expected to win it. Not in my wildest dreams!"
2005/6
Cranfield University, Defence College of Management and Technology,
Department of Information Systems
The BCS-sponsored prize for 2006 was awarded to Major NGC Yardley on the Design of Information Systems MSc course, for producing
the course's best project.
 Major Nick Yardley said about the prize:
"It is a real credit for the course to gain such recognition from a professional body and highlights the significant crossover
between IS problems in the military and the lessons that can be learnt from industry. The aim of the course is to provide
the military with 'hybrid IS managers' who can bridge the gap and although many of the projects have a distinct military flavor
the IS challenges remain the same across a wide spectrum of organisations. By breaking down barriers and learning to draw
upon the latest thinking in industry there is scope for the complex military environment to glean real benefit from training
people to exploit this professional field."
The Graduation Day was on 21 July 2006; unfortunately Major Yardley was not able to attend.
After the very colourful ceremony and lunch there were displays by:
- The Royal Signals Motorcycle Display Team
- The White Helmets
- The Display Hawk of 100 Squadron
- The Band of HM Royal Marines Portsmouth
2004/5
University of Oxford, Continuing Education Department
Diploma in Computing, Module 1. The BCS award has been awarded to Brian Johnston. Born: 25.12.47. Teacher (retired) - including
ICT at KS4. BA (canatb), MA (cantab), PGCE.
 Brian has come to the end of the first year of the Diploma in Computing and obtained the highest mark on assessments prior
to the Summer schools added to his exam score(an overall average mark of 94%). The prize includes:
- A cheque for £125
- BCS Student Course Membership
- A certificate
- Framed by Oxfordshire Branch
Brian's comments on his award follow:
Leaving Science teaching after over 30 years was a good idea, yet finding another suitable career proved difficult. After
over 6 months of not working and still looking for inspiration my wife came across a leaflet promoting the Oxford 'Computing
via the Internet' Diploma in the local library. Having had an interest since my ZX81, through a Spectrum, a PCW, a 386 and
several Pentiums, and always thinking 'I know the words but not the sentences' when listening to colleagues or reading 'computer
comics', I thought I should give it a go.
Soon after starting the course I acquired a part-time job, which then turned into full-time, so the free time I was going
to use for studying melted away somewhat. However after becoming somewhat hooked, I persevered despite finding problems with
one particular Unit. My assignment marks seemed quite good to me, and my comprehension of computer magazines and articles
moved from words, to phrases, and began to creep towards sentences.
The prize? It surprised me. I was pleased to be doing well and maybe even better than I had thought, which refreshes my confidence
as far as Year 2 is concerned. I certainly understood more of the discussions in the courtyard at the Summer School than I
would have done 12 months earlier. Maybe this year I'll even join in!
Oxford Brookes University, Departments of Computing & Mathematical Sciences
The Combined Computing Fields Exam Committee agreed to recommend Richard John Philip Amphlett, a first year student, for the
BCS award. Richard has completed his stage 1 of the BSc (Hons) Software Engineering with an average of 90%, studying part-time.
The prize includes:
- A cheque for £125
- BCS Student Course Membership
- A certificate framed by Oxfordshire Branch
Richard's response to his prize is below:
"Having spent a number of years working in the computing industry I felt that I should spend some time improving my understanding
of the principles that underpin modern software engineering. With this in mind and given the time constraints placed on me
by my employer, I started to study part-time for a degree in Software Engineering at Oxford Brookes University.
At the end of my second year of part-time study, the equivalent of one year full time, I was pleasantly surprised to hear
that I had won a prize for having the highest average grade of any student completing stage one of a computing degree at Brookes
this year. I had not been aware of the existence of such a prize before being informed about the award. I am obviously very
pleased to receive the award and hope that including information about this on my CV will improve my chances of securing employment.
Given the number of articles written about the failure of both private and public sector IT projects, standards in IT clearly
need to be improved. With the next generation of IT specialists currently being trained at Universities like Brookes, the
more that can be done to promote the work of the BCS in improving standards, the better. At Brookes we are already made aware
of the work of the BCS within the existing modular program; the latter part of the "Introduction to Information Systems:quot;
module run by Bob Champion focuses on standards and ethics within the computing industry with reference to the BCS. I hope
that by continuing to award this prize in the future this will also help in promoting the BCS to students."
Cranfield University, Royal Military College of Science,
Department of Information Systems
The prize was awarded to Major James Vosper on the Design of Information Systems MSc course, for producing the course's best
project.
The prize includes:
- One year's free membership to the BCS
- A cheque for £125 from the BCS of which a cheque for £100 was for the student and £25 covered the cost of a piece of engraved
crystal,
- A certificate from the BCS
- A frame for the certificate from Oxfordshire Branch
James Vosper was unable to attend Graduation day, on 15 July, as he had re-located to Canada.
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