The Alison Prize

The Alison Prize

Supporting rural South Australian students to explore a little further.

Established 2022  ·  Clare Valley, South Australia

Why the prize exists

The Alison Prize was created in 2022 by Oscar Kelly and Ashley Smith, two Clare High School alumni from the class of 2017.

It is a scholarship built on a simple belief: that country towns produce uniquely competent individuals. Those skills are rarely measured and rarely credited by tertiary institutions, but they are what it takes to actually change something. The prize is small, deliberately. It is a marker that says someone outside your town read your thinking and backed it.

My mother has always followed an ever-growing desire to help others. This prize is aimed to achieve the same feat — to award the winner in a monetary sense, but also to benefit those who look beyond the immediate scope of themselves and seek to make a greater influence in creating a better world.

Oscar Kelly, co-founder

What it sets out to do

Back rural students

Entry is open to students graduating Year 12 at our partner schools. You are not competing against a state — you are competing within your own school.

Reward vision over marks

There is no ATAR cut-off and no transcript. Awards go to the students who can describe a problem clearly and say something real about how to fix it.

Ask you to look outward

The question is always about the world beyond your region, and about what you would do in it. That is the whole test.

One question. Five hundred words.

Applications run through your school. Read the question and the process before you start.

Read the application

Applications

How to apply for the Alison Prize

Write 500 words in answer to one question, and hand it to your school's contact. That is the entire application.

The awards
$500 & $100A major prize of $500, with further prizes of $100 awarded at the funder's discretion
Who can enter
Year 12Students graduating Year 12 at a partner school
Length
500 wordsWritten response, submitted through your school
Closing date
Two weeksAfter your school's information session. Final applications accepted until 20 October.

This year's question

Identify and explain an issue that has global impact, and describe a possible and achievable solution to it.

In your response, set the scene and describe the issue and the solution. Outline which stakeholders need to be involved in solving it. Then explain how Australia can drive that solution.

The process

From information session to presentation night

  1. Introduction

    We deliver an information session to your Year 12 cohort — in person, over video, or through a past applicant. Applications open at that session and close two weeks later.

  2. Application collection

    Your school collects the applications after the deadline and forwards them to the Alison Prize. Don't email them to us directly.

  3. Marking

    A panel is created for each school. Schools are invited, though not required, to nominate a staff member to sit on that panel.

  4. Awarding

    A representative from the Alison Prize or from the school presents the prizes at the school's presentation night.

Where to send it

Send your application to your school's contact

Clare High School
Mrs Maynard
Kim.Maynard715@schools.sa.edu.au
Balaklava High School
Mrs Brookes
carena.brookes219@schools.sa.edu.au
Questions about the prize
The Alison Prize
alisonprize@protonmail.com

Not sure whether the prize is for you?

Read why it exists