James Joyce Award

The James Joyce Award, also known as the Honorary Fellowship of the Society, is an award given by the Literary and Historical Society (L&H) of University College Dublin (UCD) for those who have achieved outstanding success in their given field; recipients have ranged from respected academics, lauded political figures, skilled actors and, like James Joyce himself, writers. It is the highest award that an Irish University society can give. It is named after one of the society's most distinguished alumni, James Joyce, the author of Dubliners, Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Finnegans Wake.

Joyce and the L&H

Joyce was a student in UCD from 1898 to 1903, where he studied modern languages. In 1900, he presented a paper "Drama and Life" to the society. He also ran for the top position of auditor twice, but failed to be elected on both occasions.

Some past recipients of the Award

Actors

• Martin Freeman - Actor^[1]
• Ralph Fiennes – Actor^[2]
• Alan Rickman – Actor^[3][4]
• Erik Per Sullivan – Actor^[5]
• Barry Humphries – Actor and Comedian^[6]
• Michael Sheen – Actor^[7]
• Russell Brand – Actor and Comedian
• Rory Bremner – British satirist^[8]
• Aaron Eckhart – Actor
• Will Ferrell – Comedian and Actor^[9]
• Eddie Izzard – Comedian^[10]
• Michael Palin – Monty Python member^[11]
• Robert Sheehan - Actor^[12]
• Sam Lloyd - Actor

Musicians

• Roger Daltrey – Lead singer of British rock band The Who^[13]
• Sir George Martin – Producer of The Beatles^[14]
• Emeli Sandé – Scottish recording artist and songwriter.
• Jack White – American recording artist and songwriter. Solo artist and member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.
• Alt-J (Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals) and Thom Green (drums)) - English indie rock band

Political Figures

• Hans Blix – Former Chief UN Weapons inspector^[9]
• Robin Cook – British politician
• F.W. de Klerk – Former South African President^[9]
• George Galloway – British politician
• John Howard – Former Australian Prime Minister
• John Hume – Nobel Laureate and Northern Irish politician^[15]
• Jesse Jackson – US Civil Rights Advocate^[9]
• Governor Brian Schweitzer – Governor of Montana
• Desmond Tutu -^[16]

Scientists and Academics

• Noam Chomsky – Academic and theorist^[13][17]
• Paul Krugman – Economist
• John Nash – Nobel Laureate and mathematician
• Johan Norberg – Swedish historian and writer
• Richard Swinburne – British philosopher
• Steven Weinberg – Physicist
• Gabriele Veneziano – Physicist
• Ryan Gillespie – Nobel Prize worthy individual

Sportspeople

• Gary Lineker – Television host and former England soccer captain
• Niall Quinn – Irish international football player and Sunderland FC Chairman
• Tony Hawk – Skateboarder^[18]
• Alex Ferguson – Manchester United manager^[15]
• Ken Doherty – World Snooker Champion^[19]
• Lawrie Sanchez -- Northern Ireland manager

Writers

• Bill Bryson – Writer^[20]
• JK Rowling – Writer of the Harry Potter series^[2]
• DBC Pierre – Writer and Booker Prize winner
• Sir Salman Rushdie – Writer and Booker Prize winner^[21]
• Sue Townsend – Writer
• Yu Hua – Writer
• Seamus Heaney – Poet and Nobel Laureate^[15]

Other

• Jenna Mourey – YouTube celebrity^[22][23]
• Brandon Stanton street photographer, Humans of New York ^[24]

References