On October 7, 2025, the School of Law and Criminology at Maynooth University hosted its annual awards ceremony, celebrating a record-breaking cohort of up to 130 undergraduate and postgraduate students. The event recognized academic excellence across 29 distinct categories, highlighting the exceptional achievements within the student body.
The ceremony featured the presentation of several inaugural prizes. Pavithra Vikram Arcot was awarded for Best Student in BCL (Law and Arts), Shareen Maeve for Best Student in BCL (Law and Business), and Daniel Brennan for Best Student in BCL (Law and Criminology). In law, Petra Grimes received the prize for Best Student in LLB, while Lauren Doyle was recognized for the LLB (International) program. Patrick Gallery was acknowledged for achieving the Highest Final Year Marks in Law (LLB).
Other notable academic honors included Craig Dowdall and Leah Edwards as joint recipients of the Prize for Highest Final Year Marks in Criminology. Leah O'Reilly received the Rafeek Khan Mooting Prize, and Hortense Petitprez was awarded the Matheson Best Funds Law Essay prize.
The School's longstanding partnerships with leading legal firms and organizations played a crucial role in the event. Generously funded awards were presented to Fern Stewart (A&L Goodbody Prize in EU Law), Savannah Carty (ACJRD Prize for Best Student in Criminal Law), and Aíne Dowling (Bloomsbury Professional Prize for the Highest First Year Mark). Irah Regalado and Carl Tretscher were joint recipients of the Mason Hayes & Curran Innovation in Professional Practice Prize, while Steve Fakeye and Eryk Flis jointly received the Mullany Walsh Maxwells Prize for the Highest Mark in Legal Writing.
This year also marked the establishment of new partnerships with Corrigan & Corrigan, the German Irish Lawyers and Business Association (GILBA), the Irish Women Lawyers Association (IWLA), and Tracey Solicitors LLP. These collaborations resulted in additional awards for Sara Kirs (Corrigan & Corrigan Prize in Tort Law), Ashley Naughton and Kinga Rutkowska (joint recipients of the GILBA Prize for Best Student in Introduction to Law), Ciara Walsh (Irish Women Lawyers Association Undergraduate Scholarship), and Mariana McGeough (Tracey Solicitors LLP Scholarship in Law and Criminology).
The event further celebrated postgraduate scholarship recipients, including Catriona Kenny, Kim Mcloughlin, Alessia Palladino, Sara Troian, and Stephanie Vento, who received Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarships. Additional Maynooth University scholarships were awarded to Andrew Broughill, Amy Byrne, Amy Hurley, Kate Mcelearney, Lyndsey O'toole, Jack Williamson, and Cydney Sheridan.
Beyond academic prizes, the ceremony recognized students' professional development achievements, including participants in the Chief Justice's Summer Internship, Legal Research Access Internship, Pathways to the Legal Profession Summer Internship, Accredited Placement Programme, and Dentons Legal Insights Mentoring Programme. The contributions of student mentors in the School's Peer Mentoring Programme were also acknowledged.
The School expressed its gratitude to the professional and academic staff whose support made the event possible, while noting that several awards from valued partners including A&L Goodbody, Matheson, Flynn O'Driscoll, and the Foran Family Scholarship remain to be presented at the next ceremony, as their selection processes were still underway.
