Julia remembered through university prize for the last 25 years

FOR the past 25 years, Dundee University have awarded a prize marking the contribution to college life of Julie Hughes from Omagh who was about to enter the final year of her degree course when she was killed in the 1998 bombing.

To this day, the Julia Hughes Prize is awarded by the university to a student who has overcome difficulties and adversity, someone who goes on to excel in their field of study.

The prize was chosen by Julia’s parents and is a fitting memory of her.

Julia was working at a photo development shop in the town during that summer to raise funds for her final year at university, and was subsequently posthumously awarded her Bachelor Degree in Accountancy.

Julia’s twin brother, Justin, said her life had been ‘so suddenly and cruelly cut short’.

He added that at the time she was just beginning to fulfil her immense potential.

“We have missed her every single day for the last 26 years,” he told today’s hearing of the public inquiry at the Strule Arts Centre.

The twins were born four minutes apart in Craigavon Hospital. Justin was the younger of the two, and said ‘fire burned in her heart’.

“We were always looking out for one another at home or away. She was my big ally in life and I was hers.”

Describing Julia as ‘honest, loyal and trustworthy’, Justin added that she made friends easily, was ‘kind, funny and adventurous’.