The Fereday Prize for a Local History Investigation

The Fereday Prize for a local history investigation is open to second year school pupils of both Stromness Academy and Kirkwall Grammar School

The Fereday Prize was set up by Willie Thomson, past Rector of Kirkwall Grammar School, to continue the project work begun by Ray Fereday, formerly Principal Teacher of History at KGS.

The prize is awarded annually for a historical investigation carried out by second year pupils in Orkney’s schools. The standard of work of the best entries is extremely high and many contain original research. Photocopies of the best and most original pieces of work are kept in the Archives department in the Kirkwall library, and until now you could only access the information via the Archive.

Click here to open a document detailing the projects up to 2016 – these projects are held by the Orkney Archive  – please contact them or visit for more info and to access more recent Projects.  The list contains an enormous amount of information within each summary, and you will certainly learn something just from glancing through the contents.