6 July 2001 Sarah's on top of the world ... and travelling to see it too!

Graduation, a world prize from UNESCO, and off to Britain on "OE" - life has never been more exciting for Sarah Bishop of Hawkes Bay.

In April Sarah was capped BLA with First Class Honours, soon she will be on her way overseas, and in between she won the top international award for students of landscape architecture.

Sarah won the UNESCO-IFLA (International Federation of Landscape Architects) International Student Prize, announced at the 33th IFLA World Congress, held in Singapore last month.

From over 100 entries and against competition from leading institutions worldwide such as Harvard and Rhode Island School of Design, Sarah's entry was judged the best.

Entries are judged by an independent international panel and Sarah's prize is valued at $(US) 3500 money she says she will use to fund trips to see different landscapes while on her OE.

This is the first time the international prize has been won by a New Zealand entrant and on hand in Singapore to hear the announcement was Lincoln University's Professor of Landscape Architecture Simon Swaffield.

Such a prestigious win could not have happened at a better time, he says, as it coincided with the launch of Lincoln University's BLA programme to be taught in Singapore.

Part of Sarah's entry folio included design work exhibited in Christchurch at the CoCA Gallery last year on conceptual designs for the quarry site at Owhiro Bay near Wellington.  Contrary to public perceptions of the quarry as a blot on the landscape, Sarah regards it as having the potential to make a positive visual impact.

"I think it's beautiful," she said.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand