OSCA has a number of awards which recognise the outstanding alumni in our community.
The Perelberg award honours the memory of Ashley Perelberg from the Class of 1992, who tragically died of a heart attack at the age of 18 in his first year of university study. Ashley exemplified Scotch spirit throughout his full and enthusiastic involvement while a student at Scotch. The Perelberg Award has been presented annually since 1993. It is granted in each alternate year to a current student or to one who left in the previous year, or to an Old Scotch Collegian. The key criterion is that the recipient has shown “exemplary Scotch Spirit”. Ashley’s family presented a silver 
sculpture depicting the penguin parade at Phillip Island, which was inspired by Ashley’s devotion to the annual Scotch-at-Cowes summer camps on Phillip Island. The annual winner of the Perelberg Award receives a silver replica of this sculpture which is presented at the schools Year 12 Presentation night
The 2024 Perelberg Award has been presented to Dr Oliver Cronin (’02), an early-career clinician-researcher and an advanced endoscopist/gastroenterologist. His expertise lies in the early detection and curative resection of colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer in Australia. Dr Cronin received his award at the 2024 Year 12 Presentation Night in the Memorial Hall on 17 October.
After attending Scotch, Dr Cronin earned his medical degree from James Cook University with high distinction. He went on to specialise as a gastroenterologist, training at the major Melbourne teaching hospitals. Dr Cronin was then selected for a prestigious two-year Advanced Endoscopy Fellowship at Westmead Hospital where he gained a wealth of experience in minimally invasive endoscopic resection techniques for the curative resection of GI cancers. Westmead is a world leader in
these techniques.
In 2023, Dr Cronin was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, often referred to as ‘the American Rhodes Scholarship’. This allowed Dr Cronin to work at a world-leading endoscopy centre in New York. He currently works as an advanced endoscopist and gastroenterologist at the Alfred, the Northern, and Epworth Hospitals.
Outside of work, Dr Cronin enjoys spending quality time at Point Lonsdale with his wife and three children. He is a keen runner and has completed more than 15 marathons and two ironman triathlons.
Responding after receiving the award from Dr Marsh, Dr Cronin said he was ‘deeply humbled and honoured to receive this esteemed award’. He thanked the Perelberg family for establishing the award in loving memory of Ashley Perelberg.
Perelberg Award Nomination Form
Perelberg Award Recipients – 1993 – 2024
Honorary Life Membership is a significant honour bestowed on those whose commitment to the association has been of the highest level.
The presiding OSCA Council determines who is to receive this award and follows the Association’s Honorary Life Membership Guidelines policy. The Honorary Life Membership is bestowed at the Association’s AGM and President’s Dinner in November each year.
The 2024 Honorary Life Membership was awarded to John Jeffreys (’69)
John Jeffreys attended Scotch from 1966 to 1970. He played in the 1969 1st XI and was vice-captain of the 1970 1st XI, in which he shared the Dr Bryan Prize for fielding. John was captain of the 1970 2nd XVIII and was also a member of the premiership 1970 1st XVIII. He was 1969 Monash House Prefect and its 1970 Captain, as well as a 1970 School Prefect. John was a Cadet and a member of the Chess Club.
John’s service to OSCA began soon after he left school when, in 1972, he and Campbell McComas established of the Young Old Boys as a new affiliated society. He had earlier joined the Old Scotch Football Club where he played in all the senior XVIII’s. He joined the committee, served as the club’s Treasurer in 1972 and 1973, and coached the Juniors in 1976.
In 1973 John commenced his lengthy involvement as a member of OSCA Council. He served for the decade 1973-82 and the eight years 2003-2010. John served as OSCA President in 2008, and again at short notice in 2009. It was a particularly critical time for OSCA with the arrival in mid-2008 of a new Principal. Remarkably, he commences a third stint from 2025 – having already made a recent impact through chairing OSCA’s Clubs and Societies Committee.
For several years John convened OSCA’s flagship event, the Annual Dinner. The dinner in those days was run entirely by volunteers, and everything happened by paper and snail mail. Attendances typically numbered 800-900 – and then, in 2001, John’s commitment and dedication contributed to OSCA’s largest Annual Dinner ever.
In 2010 OSCA appointed John as a founding director of the Board of the Victorian Scottish Heritage Cultural Foundation (VSHCF). He performed that role until he moved interstate, and then he rejoined in 2018. He became (and remains) the Treasurer, and in early 2024 OSCA appointed him as VSHCF Chairman.
John has contributed an enviable list of iconic innovations. In 2006 he initiated OSCA’s President’s Dinner and in 2017 the OSCA Presidents’ Luncheon which he still convenes today. In 2014 as part of a small group he founded the OSCA Collegians Club, of which he became (and remains) the club’s first Secretary. In 2020 he led a project to design the OSCA/Scotch tartan and manufacture it into kilts.
Without doubt, John is an exemplary recipient of OSCA Honorary Life Membership.
Click on the link below for information about membership criteria and the nomination process.
Honorary Life Membership Criteria
Download a Nomination Form : Honorary Life Member Nomination Form
A Merit Award is bestowed on those whose commitment to an OSCA club has been, in the view of its members, of an outstanding nature.
The presiding OSCA Council determines who is to receive this award and follows the association’s Merit Award Guidelines policy. Merit Awards are bestowed at the association’s AGM and President’s Dinner in November.
The 2024 OSCA Merit Awards recipients:
Click on the link below for information about membership criteria and the nomination process: OSCA Merit Award Nomination Form
Download a Nomination Form : OSCA Merit Award Nomination Form
