Crown Princess awarded prize to top students

The university courtyard, Lindegården, crawled with royal-hungry long-camera-wielding paparazzi, as the Crown Princess presented two DKK 10,000 Crown Princess Mary Scholarships today Wednesday.

Crown Princess Mary braved the weather to attended the event, and the University Post was there with a camera.

See our photo story here.

The lucky recipients of this year’s scholarships are Carly Bodkin , University of Queensland and Jasmine Still, Australian National University.

Like Polar explorers

Rector Ralf Hemmingsen opened the award ceremony with a speech, where he compared the two Australian girls to the somewhat macho polar explorer Knud Rasmussen.

»Like Rasmussen, Carly and Jasmine have explored the world and new cultures,« he said.

However, he hoped that the similarity ended there.

Rasmussen integrated himself so well with the Eskimo people that he fathered several children with local women.

»You could start by just making some friends,« he quipped.

A hint of Danish

The Crown Princess praised the two scholarship winners for their »drive and courage to seize opportunities and challenges.«

She also mentioned Carly’s voluntary work tutoring refugees and Jasmine’s experience of teaching English in China.

»It is highly commendable when people use their strengths to benefit others,« she said.

Crown Princess Mary rounded off her speech, which was in English, with a touch of Danish, that even the Australian award recipients were likely to understand: »Et stort tillykke – Congratulations!«

luci@adm.ku.dk