Victoria’s leading legal graduates for 2025 have been awarded the Supreme Court Prize and Exhibition Prize.
The Supreme Court Prize honours the highest achieving law students from eight Victorian universities, while the Exhibition Prize is awarded for the most outstanding Honours theses.
On 18 August, the awards were presented at a ceremony in the presence of family, friends, judicial officers and university representatives in the Supreme Court Library.
The event was attended by Chief Justice Richard Niall and Justice Stephen Donaghue, himself a former Prize recipient, who met with the graduates and extended their congratulations on the impressive academic achievements.
“To win one of these prizes is a tremendous achievement. It recognises not just great aptitude for the law, but also the other personal qualities – including perseverance, motivation, discipline and perhaps a little competitiveness – that are necessary to make the most of your innate legal abilities,” Justice Donaghue told the recipients.
“You have distinguished yourselves as the brightest and most promising legal minds in our State, and you should feel very proud of your achievements.
“As you embark on your careers, I urge you to follow your passions, to remember the transformative power of the law, and to use your undoubted legal talents to defend and promote the rule of law, integrity, fairness and access to justice.”
The award recipients are:
| University | Prize | Exhibition Prize |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Catholic University | Peter Sanders | Will Perry |
| University of Melbourne | Edie McAsey | |
| RMIT University | Emily Watts and Anna Hill | |
| Monash University | Grace Ficinus | Tara Schwarz |
| La Trobe University | Hammad Shahirf | Madelyn Hellyer |
| Victoria University | Tania Ziino | Adna Subasic |
| Deakin University | Mia Timpano | Harriet Bencic |
| Swinburne | Nicola Jerkovic |