A NEW award in memory of former Okehampton College principal Chris Powell was jointly presented to two students at the college?s major awards evening last month. The Chris Powell Award for Achievement was presented to co-winners Richard Mortimore for his work in the local community and Jo McBain in recognition of her international sporting success. The Rotary Prize for Academic Excellence at GCSE went to Jo Tope who achieved a staggering collection of A* and A grades at GCSE, alongside being in the top 5% nationally for English. Commended performance awards at GCSE were given to Laurie Laybourn, Andrew Maunder, Hannah Stepto and Gemma Williams. The Rotary Prize for A-level Excellence went to Mark Stephens for three A-levels at grade A. Commended performance awards at A-level were given to Amy Stephens and Sophie Yeo. Subject prizes went to Amy Stephens for drama; Amber Buchanan for art; Alice Barkell for biology and chemistry; Nikki Vigers for maths; Mark Stephens for history; Mark Stephens and Nikki Vigers for new IT Awards. Gemma Jachnik also received her chemistry award for 2004. AS awards were given to Cally Wawman for media studies; Jessica Pillar and Eliza Squire for English and Joanne Evans for food technology. Sporting awards this year were given to Chris Searle for sporting contribution while Rebecca Rowe won the Anita Fraquet Prize for netball. The Major Sporting Award was given to Jo McBain in recognition of her success in representing England in U19 Women?s Rugby. The awards evening on December 19 was attended by students, college staff and proud parents. The importance of supportive parents and their key role in the success of students was a major theme of the evening and stressed again in the concluding remarks of acting principal Daryll Chapman. He said celebration of achievement was very important to the college. Fulford Prizes for their success as joint sixth form presidents went to Joshua Grant and Nikki Vigers. The college was pleased to acknowledge the community role of Katy Malseed who was awarded the Police Community Award. Martin Rose received the Brenda Savage Prize in recognition of his consistent hard work over the years. Tom Downes and Kyle Williams had their excellent GCSE results recognised by winning the William Hunter Award. The leadership qualities of Tom Powell were recognised for his part in the Ten Tors 55-mile event, earning him the Major Ryan Award. The audience was entertained by Steven Wonnacott and Charli Ash, joint music trophy winners.