By Debbie Yong

Oxford University law graduand Colin Liew was shocked when a tutor's e-mail, received on July 15, informed him that he had not only clinched a first class law honours degree but he had also won the university's top award for law undergraduates.

Like previous winners of the Martin Wronker Prize for Best Overall Performance, Mr Liew, 23, will have his name published in the Oxford University Gazette and London's The Times newspaper. He also received a &pound1,250 (S$2,900) award.

'Everyone has been extremely generous in their congratulations and well wishes,' said the former student of Chinese High School and Raffles Junior College.

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He made headlines last year when he and another Singaporean Oxford law student, Mr Tham Li Jing, were chosen to represent the United Kingdom in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition in Washington.

That featured more than 500 law schools from more than 80 countries. The pair were ranked 21st.

In the UK rounds of the competition held prior to that, the two of them came in first and Mr Liew was named Best Speaker.

Recalling the run-up to his latest award, Mr Liew said just about everything was sacrificed, from social events to a regular gym routine, as he swotted for six months.

Oxford has about 230 law undergraduates each year.

In Singapore, his pastimes include running a popular food blog, Only Slightly Pretentious Food, with his sister.

Mr Liew, who plans to qualify for the Bar and start work soon, said: 'I definitely was not expecting to win the prize. I thought I'd be fortunate to even get first class honours.'

This article was first published in The Straits Times.