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Departmental prizes

Each year we award prizes to the students who achieve the highest mark for their dissertation and the best overall degree mark.

Winners are informed after dissertation marks are released and the prize is presented at the reception after graduation.

The dissertation prize was renamed in 2017 to honour the memory of a much loved Sociology Department colleague, Lynn Kilgallon, who was the department manager for many years and who worked tirelessly to help students achieve their best throughout their degrees.


Lynn Kilgallon

Best Overall Degree Performance

  • This goes to the student with the highest grade point average of the cohort.

Lynn Kilgallon Dissertation Prize

  • This goes to the student or students achieving the highest grades for their dissertation from a cohort.

Previous winners

2024

Lynn Kilgallon Dissertation Prize

  • Eleanor Barron, BA (Hons) Sociology
    Pet or Product: An Insight Into the Development of Human-Livestock Relationships
  • Tia Jane Hales, BA (Hons) Sociology
    Understanding Asexual Perspectives: An exploration into the key concerns expressed by asexual individuals on the AVEN platform
  • Kirstie Palombo, BA (Hons) Sociology with Social Psychology
    The Gender Division of Labour in the Sport Korfball
  • Charlotte Sarah Elizabeth Walker, BA (Hons) Sociology
    ‘Hot girls (and guys, and theys) have IBS’: How does engaging in an online community and meme content affect the experience and attitudes of individuals with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)?

Best Overall Degree Performance

  • Emily Louise Thompson, BA (Hons) Sociology with Criminology

2023

Lynn Kilgallon Dissertation Prize

  • Fraser Stokes BA (Hons) Sociology with Criminology
    Dominic Raab’s Bullying Scandal:
    The Construction of Deviance in Newspaper Discourse

Best Overall Degree Performance Prize

  • Fraser Stokes BA (Hons) Sociology with Criminology

2022

Lynn Kilgallon Dissertation Prize

  • Ruth Beer BA (Hons) Criminology
    Catcalling: how do women in the UK perceive and navigate experiences of street harassment?

Best Overall Degree Performance Prize

  • Felicity Harris BA (Hons) Sociology

2021

Lynn Kilgallon Dissertation Prize

  • Kyle John Taylor BA (Hons) Sociology
    A Comparative Study of Heterosexual and Homosexual Men’s Experiences of Sexual Health Testing
  • Simran Surdhar - BA (Hons) Sociology with Social Psychology
    A Mixed Methods Study Exploring the Psychological Impact of Consuming COVID-19 Related Media on Young Adults Living in the U.K
  • Freya Shilson-Thomas - BA (Hons) Sociology (with a year abroad)
    "Kill the Indian, save the man”: An investigation into whether indigenous experiences of assimilation and regulation practices in the Canadian residential school system support the claim of cultural genocide.

Best Overall Degree Performance Prize

  • Alys Daniels-Creasey BA (Hons) Sociology

2020

Lynn Kilgallon Dissertation Prize

  • Yuqing Cao BA (Hons) Sociology and Education
    Heterosexist attitudes and social precariousness: The relationships among socio-economic, gender and religiousness variables
  • Emma Collins BA (Hons) Sociology
    Narratives behind the pill: How do young women relate to and experience the contraceptive pill?

Best Overall Degree Performance Prize

  • Emma Collins BA (Hons) Sociology

2019

Lynn Kilgallon Dissertation Prize

  • Rebecca Higginbottom BA (Hons) Sociology
    A cross-cultural comparative exploration in to British and Scandinavian female students’ attitudes towards sustainable fashion consumption

Best Overall Degree Performance Prize

  • Charlotte Salf BA (Hons) Sociology with Social Psychology

2018

Lynn Kilgallon Dissertation Prize

  • Mary Potts BA (Hons) Sociology
  • Felicia Hedetoft BA (Hons) Sociology and Criminology
    Recycling 'matters: A cross-cultural study of the individual motivations behind waste recycling practices
  • Fay Wileman BA (Hons) Criminology
    Exploring the impact of the media on fear of crime: A comparative study of experiences of white and ethnic minority women  

Best Overall Degree Performance Prize

  • Felicia Hedetoft BA (Hons) Sociology and Criminology
    Recycling 'matters: A cross-cultural study of the individual motivations behind waste recycling practices

2017

Lynn Kilgallon Dissertation Prize

  • Anne-Marie Byrne BA (Hons) Sociology
    A conceptual engagement with slow movements, and ‘slow’: Illuminating undergraduate precarity, and inequality in the context of contemporary British higher education
  • Sergen Aksoz BA (Hons) Sociology with Criminology
    White fetishism and the effects of systemic violence: A study on colourism through East Asian beauty practises
  • Fay Wileman BA (Hons) Criminology
    A Critical Evaluation of the Ongoing Political and Academic Debate about the Age of Criminal Responsibility in England and Wales

Best Overall Degree Performance Prize

  • Anne-Marie Byrne BA (Hons) Sociology
    A conceptual engagement with slow movements, and ‘slow’: Illuminating undergraduate precarity, and inequality in the context of contemporary British higher education

2016

Prize for Outstanding Dissertation

  • Melissa Whitaker BA (Hons) Sociology
    Love 'Apptually': An investigation into young adults' experiences and perceptions of using mobile dating technology
  • Faye Mitchell BA (Hons) Sociology
    'Like' it or not: Is the ubiquity of Facebook changing how young people negotiate their online privacy?