Stephanie Evans, 22, from Banchory has just completed her LLB at Aberdeen University, where she obtained first class honours.

She has now been awarded the inaugural Colin Donald Environmental Law Prize which the conservation charity ran in conjunction with leading law firm McGrigors LLP and the University of Glasgow.

The prize is given in honour of the lawyer, the late Colin Donald, who had a distinguished association with the Trust, McGrigors LLP and the University, spanning a period of four decades.

As part of her prize, Stephanie will take up summer placements with both the National Trust for Scotland and McGrigors LLP in summer 2009.

She attended the National Trust for Scotland’s Annual General Meeting in Aberdeen on 27 September 2008, where she was presented with an engraved jug by Mrs Theresa Donald, wife of the late Colin Donald.

Entrants were asked to write an essay on an issue of environmental law. In her entry, Stephanie examined the relationship between renewable energy development and the wider aim of sustainable development in Scotland. The young lawyer impressed judges with her strong and well-articulated ideas.

Trust chairman Shonaig Macpherson said:

“Stephanie is a worthy recipient for our first ever Colin Donald Environmental Law Prize. She is an impressive young woman with a clear commitment to the law.

“Her entry demonstrated a real understanding of the complex areas of environmental law, as well as a passion for the wider issue of the environment – something that is obviously important to a conservation charity like ours and characteristics that Colin Donald himself would have very much appreciated.

“We are very much looking forward to welcoming her to the Trust next summer, where she will undoubtedly make a big impact. We already have an important project on the Trust’s compliance with environmental legislation in mind for Stephanie.”

Stephanie said:

“I am honoured to be the first winner of the Colin Donald Environmental Law Prize. This is an important area of law which the wider public need to be alerted to. The relationship between sustainable development and the renewable energy drive in Scotland is a complex matter. Failure to adequately address these concerns could have detrimental implications for the environment.”

Mrs Donald said:

“I was delighted to learn that a prize in environmental law had been launched in honour of my late husband. The prizes neatly combines his three greatest interests, namely the law, the Trust and last but by no means least the University of Glasgow.

“It has been a great pleasure to be a lay member of the judging panel. All of the submissions were interesting and instructive and I have learned a great deal myself about environmental law!

“Stephanie wrote an excellent, Scottish-based essay on renewable energy and I had no hesitation in agreeing with the rest of the panel that she as a worthy winner.”

Jennifer Ballantyne, a partner with McGrigors LLP said:

"Congratulations to Stephanie. I look forward to welcoming her into my Environmental Law team at McGrigors for her work placement and I am so pleased the Colin Donald Memorial Prize in Environmental Law has had such a successful inaugural year."

Professor Tom Mullen from Glasgow University said:

"Stephanie Evans wrote an excellent essay. The judges were impressed by the quality of her research, her grasp of both the policy and legal issues, and her ability to make complex issues of law and policy understandable for the reader. We were pleased that the first year of the prize produced such a distinguished contribution to the debate on environmental issues."

Eager applicants for next year’s award can contact Professor Tom Mullen, School of Law, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ or by email to t.mullen@law.gla.ac.uk for more information.