New historical prize launched in memory of Second World War veteran

The relationship between 20th-century conflict and the challenges facing the world today is to be the focus of a new history prize launched for secondary school pupils in Cornwall.

The Tony Hibbert Prize, established in memory of the decorated Second World War veteran, will invite students in key stages 3-5 – year groups 7-13 – to creatively respond to a particular theme each year, through a range of different media.

The children will be able to write creatively or in a journalistic style, use art, make a film, or create a piece of digital storytelling that captures the qualities most important to Tony, namely courage, resistance, tolerance and an appreciation of history as a discipline.

The Prize has been set up by Professor Catriona Pennell, a historian of modern conflict and empire at the University of Exeter, Cornwall, in conjunction with academic colleagues, the Hibbert family, and Trebah Garden.

“Tony’s war experience meant that he dedicated much of his time and energy to encouraging reflection on conflict and its legacies in modern society,” said Professor Pennell, of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Cornwall. “Each year at Trebah Garden, he held an Airborne Forces Day, bringing together large numbers of people to commemorate the fight against fascism in Europe. The prize, therefore, goes to the creative pieces which best express those qualities that were most important to him.”

Tony Hibbert MBE MC joined the Royal Artillery in 1938 and saw action in Dunkirk with the British Expeditionary Force before escaping back to England. He joined No. 2 Parachute Commando in 1940, serving in North Africa and Italy before taking part in the Battle of Arnhem as Brigade Major of the 1st Parachute Brigade. Captured when the bridge was overrun, Major Hibbert later escaped and rejoined Allied forces.

At the end of the war, Major Hibbert led a 500-strong team of Commandos when they captured the German port of Kiel, which in turn helped the Allies to liberate Denmark. It was for this act, preventing Kiel from falling into Soviet hands, that he was presented with the Great Seal of Kiel by Germany, in addition to his Military Cross.

When he retired from business in 1981, Tony and his wife purchased Trebah Garden in Cornwall, which had been a critical departure point for the US 29th Infantry Division for the D-Day landings on Omaha Beach in 1944. After extensive clearance, replanting and renovation, the garden opened to the public and remains a tourist attraction to this day.

“From the bravery of his military career to the energy and pride he invested in the regeneration of Trebah Garden, Tom Hibbert has left a lasting legacy on the Cornish landscape,” says Professor Martin Siegert, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Exeter, Cornwall, and a member of the judging panel. “We hope this legacy, and his belief in the importance of history as a discipline, will inspire a new generation to reflect upon the relationship between conflict and the challenges of the contemporary world.”

The competition is now open, with a theme for this inaugural prize of ‘Cornwall at war’. For more information, please visit the University website or email the prize organisers at Hibbert-Prize@exeter.ac.uk.

Three winners will each receive £100 of book tokens and will be hosted at a prize-giving ceremony at Trebah Garden in the summer.