The Gerald Hunt Prize of $700.00 has been established for the best Honours 480 research paper in the University of Canterbury School of History. The inaugural award was in December 2007.

The Prize is presented at a ceremony which also honours publicly all recipients of scholarships and prizes associated with the School of History, University of Canterbury.

The event is chaired by the Head of the School of History, and the Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Head of the College of Arts, winners, their parents, and other history students are invited to attend. A short address by an invited speaker is part of the ceremony, for which academic gowns are worn.

Mr Gerald Hunt, MBE, retired in 1991 after 42 years in engineering and manufacturing businesses in England and Australia, and, from 1966, in Christchurch. He left school in England when he was 14, and like his wife, Sue, did not get a tertiary education while young. Mrs Hunt studied history as a mature student, graduating in 1992: inspired by her, Mr Hunt began with preliminary courses in English and Art History, later majoring in History and graduating in 1998 at the age of 71.

With a particular interest in the period 1814-1840, Mr Hunt was very grateful for the opportunity to go to university later in life, and felt an obligation to the History Department (now the School of History). In the late 1990s he and Professor John Cookson saw a need for an organisation to supplement the Canterbury Historical Association's activities: they devised and won support for the Canterbury History Foundation as a fund-raising body.