The James Joyce Award, also known as the Honorary Fellowship of the Society, is an award given by the Literary and Historical Society (L&H) of University College Dublin (UCD) for those who have achieved outstanding success in their given field. Recipients have ranged from respected academics, lauded political figures, skilled actors and, like James Joyce himself, writers. It is the highest award that an Irish University society can give. It is named after one of the society's most distinguished alumni, James Joyce, the author of Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake.

Joyce was a student at University College, the predecessor of UCD, from 1898 to 1903, where he studied modern languages. In 1900, he presented a paper "Drama and Life" to the society. He also ran for the top position of auditor, but failed to be elected.^[1]

Some past recipients of the Award

Actors

• Martin Freeman – Actor^[2]
• Ralph Fiennes – Actor^[3]
• Alan Rickman – Actor^[4][5]
• Erik Per Sullivan – Actor^[6]
• Barry Humphries – Actor and comedian^[7]
• Michael Sheen – Actor^[8]
• Russell Brand – Actor and comedian
• Rory Bremner – British satirist^[9]
• Aaron Eckhart – Actor
• Will Ferrell – Comedian and actor^[10]
• Eddie Izzard – Comedian^[11]
• Shappi Khorsandi – Comedian^[12]
• Michael Palin – Monty Python member^[13]
• Robert Sheehan – Actor^[14]
• Neil Flynn-- Actor
• Sam Lloyd – Actor
• Kristian Nairn – Actor

Musicians

• Roger Daltrey – Lead singer of British rock band The Who^[15]
• Sir George Martin – Producer of The Beatles^[16]
• Emeli Sandé – Scottish recording artist and songwriter^[17]
• Jack White – American recording artist and songwriter. Solo artist and member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather^[18]
• Alt-J (Joe Newman (guitar/lead vocals), Gus Unger-Hamilton (keyboards/vocals) and Thom Green (drums)) – English indie rock band

Political figures

• Alaa Murabit – UN High-Level Commissioner and Sustainable Development Goals Advocate^[19]
• Hans Blix – Former Chief UN Weapons inspector^[10]
• Robin Cook – British politician
• F.W. de Klerk – Former South African President^[10]
• John Howard – Former Australian Prime Minister
• John Hume – Nobel Laureate and Northern Irish politician^[20]
• Jesse Jackson – US Civil Rights Advocate^[10]
• Alastair Campbell – Journalist and Director of Communications and Strategy for Tony Blair
• Governor Brian Schweitzer – Governor of Montana
• Desmond Tutu – Social rights activist^[21]
• Patrick Leahy – US Senator^[22]
• David Norris – Senator and gay rights advocate
• Rory O'Neill (Panti Bliss) – Drag queen and gay rights activist^[23]
• John Bercow – Speaker of the House of Commons^[24]

Scientists and academics

• Noam Chomsky – Academic and theorist^[15][25]
• Paul Krugman – Economist^[26]
• John Nash – Nobel Laureate and mathematician
• Johan Norberg – Swedish historian and writer
• Richard Swinburne – British philosopher
• Steven Weinberg – Physicist^[27]
• Gabriele Veneziano – Physicist
• Kip Thorne – Theoretical Physicist
• Robert Gallo – Biomedical researcher^[28]

Sportspeople

• Gary Lineker – Television host and former England soccer captain
• Niall Quinn – Irish international football player and Sunderland FC Chairman
• Tony Hawk – Skateboarder^[29]
• Sir Alex Ferguson – Manchester United manager^[20]
• Ken Doherty – World Snooker Champion^[30]
• Lawrie Sanchez – Northern Ireland manager
• Pádraig Harrington – Irish golfer^[31]

Writers

• Bill Bryson – Writer^[32]
• JK Rowling – Writer of the Harry Potter series^[3]
• Neil Gaiman – Writer of the Sandman series, Coraline, American Gods^[33]
• DBC Pierre – Writer and Booker Prize winner
• Sir Salman Rushdie – Writer and Booker Prize winner^[34]
• Sue Townsend – Writer
• Yu Hua – Writer
• Seamus Heaney – Poet and Nobel Laureate^[20]
• Roddy Doyle – Author^[35]
• Liz Nugent – Writer

Other

• Jenna Mourey – YouTube celebrity^[36][37]
• Brandon Stanton – Street photographer, Humans of New York^[38]
• Laura Ricciardi – Filmmaker^[39]
• Steve Schapiro – Photographer
• Moira Demos – Filmmaker^[39]
• Joe Randazzo – Former editor-in-chief of the Onion
• Grace Beverley – Founder & CEO of fitness brands Tala and Shreddy