Rebecca Coll, a third year undergraduate student who graduates this summer with a first class BA Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion, has been awarded the annual British Association for Jewish Studies prize for the best undergradute dissertation or long essay in an area connected with Jewish Studies. The prize winner receives £200, and their name, institution, and the title of the dissertation will be added to the list on the BAJS website.

Rebecca's dissertation was titled, 'Who should be permitted to represent the Holocaust visually? A comparative study between the art of a survivor, an evader and an empathizer'. The dissertation was an analysis of the work of three artists in the Imperial War Museum's exhibition Unspeakable, the Artist as Witness to the Holocaust which ran from 4 September 2008 to 31 August 2009.

University of Southampton's Sarah Pearce, the President of BAJS for 2010, said of Rebecca's dissertation, 'the judges appointed by the BAJS Committee were unanimous in seeing this essay as the outstanding entry in a wide ranging competition, and, furthermore, as superior to the postgraduate submissions. This was the only essay which the Committee recognised as sufficiently distinguished to be awarded a prize (other submissions were very good, but not in this category)'. 

It was judged a well-written and lucidly argued study which is original, thoughtful and reflective...demonstrates thorough research, very good knowledge of contemporary debates and awareness of the limitations of representation.