The Harvard Alumni Association website contains a description of the Harvard Prize Book which the Harvard Club of Hong Kong has opted to call the Harvard Book Prize. (www.haa.harvard.edu/clubs/html/prizebook.html)

"The Harvard Prize Book has, since 1910, been an important and effective way of attracting the attention of talented young people to the opportunities available in Cambridge. This was originally the primary purpose of the Prize Book movement. It has outgrown its original intent and now represents in over a thousand schools, one of the highest awards a school can make to a student in the junior class."

Fred Jewett 1957
Dean of Harvard College, 1985-1995
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid, 1972-1985

As defined by the Harvard Alumni Association, the Book Prize is to be awarded to an outstanding student in the class next to the graduating class who "combines excellence in scholarship and high character, with achievement in other fields.

The Book Prize is presently offered annually in almost 1,700 schools around the world. Hoping that the number will continue to increase, the Harvard Alumni Association urges all clubs to inform their members about this opportunity to underwrite the cost of a Book Prize. To help maintain Harvard's tradition of diversity, it is important that a special effort is made to reach schools outside traditionally covered areas.

In Hong Kong, the Harvard Book Prize is administered by the Harvard Club of Hong Kong which seeks to reach out to all secondary schools in Hong Kong, both local and international. The Club is prepared to award a prize to each school and also two runners up prizes. School principals and teachers are encouraged to nominate recipients. The selection of the prize winners is the responsibility of each school. As indicated above, the Club is looking for students in their second to last year of secondary education, who "combine excellence in scholarship and high character in other fields." Excellence may be in any field and in any language of study. Interested schools should apply in April and May via The Harvard Club of Hong Kong's website (www.harvardhk.org/bookprize).