A YOUNG musician has received a prize awarded at an Oxford school every year in memory of a former student.

The Dan Hemingway Memorial Award rewards a sixth-former at The Cherwell School, Marston Ferry Road, for creative work.

Seventeen-year-old Jacques Butler’s song Better Days – on which he sang, played acoustic and bass guitar, drums and synthesizer – was selected from 22 entries.

Judges included Dan’s parents, Sue and John Hemingway, from Cassington, writer and broadcaster Graeme Garden and musician and producer Miles Waters.

Mrs Hemingway said: “The standard is always very high – the school always throws out some amazing talent. Asking somebody to do something that shows their creativity is actually quite difficult and it is fascinating to see what people do.”

Dan Hemingway died in 1991, aged 19, after being knocked down while cycling along the A40 on Christmas morning.

He had been a pupil at Cherwell before gaining a place at the University of St Andrews, and was an aspiring writer.

Mrs Hemingway said: “Miles heard Jacques’s song and was blown away.

“He said it was ready to put out now, which at that age is quite incredible. We get quite a lot of raw music but this was just amazing.”

In previous years, winners have included the first chapters of a novel and a youth magazine.

Mrs Hemingway said she was thrilled the prize was still going strong.

She said: “The scary thing is that some of the people entering might not have been born when we started.

“When it first started, there were staff there who knew Dan and us as a family, but now there are people that do not know us and it is wonderful it is still going.

“It is just lovely to know we can all still talk about him and that there is something of him that comes around every year.”

Winners are encouraged to spend the prizemoney on travel.