The Hoskins Lithgow Scholarship each year offers an amount of up to $25,000 to a Lithgow Local Government Area resident who is an Australian citizen under the age of 26 to assist with a tertiary course of study.

Hannah Muir and Matthew Burnett will share the 2015 scholarship.

The standard of the applications for the 2015 scholarship was impressive reminding us once again of the depth of talent in the Lithgow area.

After much deliberation, the Scholarship Committee decided to award the scholarship jointly to Hannah and Matthew.

Hannah completed her HSC at Lithgow High School in 2014 where she was joint School Captain.

As a member of the leadership team in 2014, Hannah was involved in the selection and training of the future leadership team and was involved in the design of a leadership handbook which will assist all future leadership teams.

She was also a member of the school’s Press Club which produced the commemorative year book on the school’s 50th Anniversary @ Pau St.

At the school’s graduation ceremony, Hannah received the principal’s commendation for outstanding attendance and the Reuben F Scarf Award for outstanding commitment, which is given as recognition for consistent effort and a desire to improve Hannah has represented the school in debating and has taken part in school musicals and various fundraising activities.

Her main sport is taekwondo which she has been doing since Year 2.

She has a black belt and has participated in local, state and national competitions.

She has also been involved in highland dancing for many years and takes part in displays and performs at the Lithgow Highland Ball.

Hannah is studying Occupational Therapy at the University of Western Sydney (Campbelltown Campus).

When she has completed her studies, she would like to return to the Lithgow area as her family and many of her friends are here.

Matthew completed Year 12 at Lithgow High School in 2014 and was awarded Dux of the school.

At his graduation, he received the LJ Hooker Award for Academic Excellence, the University of Newcastle Award for Academic Excellence, the Thales Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mathematics, Science and Technology, the University of Notre Dame Australia Award for Outstanding Achievementin Physics, the ADF Award for Leadership and Teamwork, as well as various course awards and commendation certificates in the subjects he undertook.

Matthew has been involved in many extracurricular activities including open soccer, cricket and tennis teams and was a member of the 50th Anniversary @ Pau St organising committee.

As an active member of the school’s leadership group for four years, he was a reading tutor, Positive Behaviour for Learning monitor, regularly assisted with school assemblies and was part of the community fundraising team.

He is a talented artist and has set up his own website to showcase specifically his photography.

Through his art work, he was selected during Year 11 to attend a workshop at the National Art School in Darlinghurst.

His major work for Visual Arts, a self-portrait painting titled “eMErgence”, was selected for the 2014 ARTEXPRESS exhibition.

When he has completed his studies, Matthew is interested in establishing his reputation in both rural and urban environments which would offer him a variety of work in the architecture field, including domestic, commercial and industrial design work.

The Trustees congratulate Hannah and Matthew and look forward to seeing them progress successfully through their courses over the next few years.