Eleven students from the University of Waikato Faculty of Education's Human Development and Counselling programme in Tauranga have received top awards in an annual prizegiving hosted by the Gate Pa Masonic Lodge.

The Freemasons have awarded prizes annually to University of Waikato students since 2002.

Human Development students from first year through to postgraduate level are recognised.

With collaboration this year from both the Freemason's Roskill Foundation and the Bay of Plenty Masonic Charitable Trust Board, the total prize money has increased from $600 to $2100.

University of Waikato senior lecturer in Human Development Dr Peter Stanley says the ongoing support from the Freemasons is fantastic.

'The university has a wonderful relationship with the Gate Pa Masonic Lodge that allows us to jointly acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of our top students.”

The awards this year were focused exclusively on academic merit with recipients coming first or second in their respective papers.

The winning students were:

Year 1 Human Development:

Olivia Hall, 1^st,

Melissa Teirney, 2^nd

Masters paper: Risk and Resilience in Childhood and Adolescence

Jenny Bennett, 1^st

Elvin Cheeseman, 2^nd=

Jodie Morris, 2^nd=

Year 2 Inclusive Education

Toni Braid, 1^st

Robert Heath, 2^nd=

Darren Kiwi, 2^nd=

Kate Rhodes, 2^nd=

Masters paper: Intelligence, Creativity and the Development of Talent.

Linda Vermeren, 1^st,

Christina Reymer, 2^nd