The exceptional academic talent of Year 12 female students was celebrated by Newnham College at a prestigious ceremony in Cambridge for essay prize-winners.
Newnham College’s annual essay prize competitions are designed to encourage ambitious female sixth-form students to explore university-level subjects and themes and to develop their independent research and writing skills.
Hundreds of entries were received from a wide range of schools across eight different categories; Philosophy, Biological Sciences, Engineering, History, Physical Sciences (Weston Smith), The Swarup Feminism Prize, Law, and the Woolf Essay Prize,with questions inspired by Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own.
Virginia Woolf based A Room of One’s Own on a series of lectures she gave at Newnham in 1928.
Winners were selected by a panel of Newnham academics; each competition has a prize of £400 for first place, £200 for second place, and £100 for third place – except The Radhika Swarup Feminism Prize where the sole winner won £500 for her essay which explored the relevance of feminism today.
All of the winners were invited to the women’s college at the heart of Cambridge University on Saturday (June 25) to take part in a special ceremony where they were presented with their prizes by Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College.
The sixth-formers and their families then enjoyed afternoon tea and a chance to meet leading academics from all disciplines.
Dr Sam Lucy, Newnham Admissions Tutor, said: “The field was extremely strong, and the judges were all impressed by the effort and thoughtfulness shown in the varied essays produced.
“The judges had to make some difficult decisions to whittle that field down to the winners and runners-up of the eight prizes, but those chosen are well-deserved winners and should be extremely proud of their achievement.”
It is hoped that exposing the high-flying sixth-formers to the type of work they would be expected to do at Cambridge will encourage them to consider applying to Newnham.
Although it is not part of the admissions process at Newnham, several previous prize-winners are current students or offer-holders.
Questions for the 2017 Essay Prize Competitions will be announced in November 2016.
Read more about the 2016 questions and categories.
Photograph caption: Dr Sam Lucy, Admissions Tutor and Director of Admissions for the University of Cambridge, and Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal, with the group of 2016 essay prize-winners.
The full list of 2016 Essay Prize Winners/Commended:
Philosophy Prize
1st Prize: Rebecca Clark: Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls
2nd Prize: Rachel Tustin: Sevenoaks School
3rd Prize: Elysia Wright: Fulford School
Biological Sciences Prize
1st Prize – Joint: Christine Agbenu: Cardinal Newman College
1st Prize – Joint: Alex Davison: Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School
3rd Prize: Omaima Ali: Alperton Community School
Highly Commended: Ramya Narayan (Newcastle High School for Girls), Charlotte Nugent (St Mary’s School, Ascot), Channan Kang (Burnham Grammar School)
Commended: Imogen Cowdell (Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School), Tanvi Dabke (South Wilts Grammar School), Hannah Botros (The Tiffin Girls’ School), Irina Ferapontova (Loughborough High School), Aina Chang (Wallington School for Girls)
Engineering Prize
1st Prize – Joint: Tatiana Lim: Wycombe Abbey
1st Prize – Joint: Olivia Bryant: Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School
3rd Prize: Megan Kendall: The King’s School, Chester
Commended: Amy Bethan Cureton (Alton College), Jade Li Wen Low (Fettes College), Florence Willcocks (Portsmouth Grammar School)
History
1st Prize: Lara Easlick-Shoolman: JFS
2nd Prize: Priya Bryant: The Henrietta Barnett School
3rd Prize: Freya Scott-Turner: Hills Road Sixth Form College
Highly Commended: Crystal Nkrumah (King Edward VI College), Anna Curzon-Price (City of London School for Girls)
Weston-Smith Physical Sciences Prize
1st Prize: Abigail Jordan: Guildford High School
2nd Prize: Zahra Khwaja: City of London School for Girls
3rd Prize: Sarah Scripps: Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls
The Swarup Feminism Prize
Winner: Gabby Jonsberg-Holmes: Hereford Sixth Form College
Commended: Victoria Falzon (Graveney), Liliana Potter (Wymondham College), Roshni Atwal (Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls)
Law Prize
1st Prize: Venus Ma: Cheltenham Ladies’ College
Joint 2nd Prize: Regina Lai: Mayfield School
Joint 2nd Prize: Kai Wen Kyra Chong: Sevenoaks’ School
Commended: Sabrina Lee (Wycombe Abbey), Simisola Iman Adebowale (Benenden School)
Woolf Essay Prize
1st Prize: Cora MacGregor: Wimbledon High School
2nd Prize: Nina Rutman: The Cherwell School
Joint 3rd Prize: Amber Sidney-Woollett: Wimbledon High School
Joint 3rd Prize: Olivia Cherry: Pate’s Grammar School
Highly Commended: Isabella Welch (Bristol Grammar School), Harriet Hammans (Portsmouth Grammar School)
Commended: Pippa Mattich (St Paul’s Girls), Artemis Irvine (Newstead Wood School), Sapphire Cook (Hill’s Road), Lauren Whitfield (Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School), Charlotte Phillips (Portsmouth Grammar School), Sabrina Siu (Headington School)
Dr Sam Lucy, Admissions Tutor and Director of Admissions for The University of Cambridge, with Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, and the first prize winners of the 2016 Newnham College Essay Prizes.
Professor Dame Carol Black with Rebecca Clark, Philosophy 1st prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Rachel Tustin, Philosophy 2nd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Elysia Wright, Philosophy 3rd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Christine Agbenu, Biological Sciences joint first prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Alex Davison, Biological Sciences joint first prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Omima Ali, Biological Sciences 3rd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Tatiana Lim, Engineering joint 1st prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Olivia Bryant, Engineering joint 1st prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Megan Kendall, Engineering 3rd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Lara Easlick-Shoolman, History 1st prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Freya Scott-Turner, History 3rd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Abigail Jordan, Physical Sciences (Weston-Smith) 1st prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Zahra Khwaja, Physical Sciences (Weston-Smith) 2nd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Sarah Scripps, Physical Sciences (Weston-Smith) 3rd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Gabby Jonsberg-Holmes, winner of the Swarup Feminism Prize
Professor Dame Carol Black with Venus Ma, Law 1st prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Regina Lai, Law joint 2nd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Kai Wen Kyra Chong, Law joint 2nd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Cora MacGregor, Woolf Essay Prize 1st prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Nina Rutman, Woolf Essay Prize 2nd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Olivia Cherry, Woolf Essay Prize joint 3rd prize-winner
Professor Dame Carol Black with Amber Sidney-Woolett, Woolf Essay Prize joint 3rd prize-winner
Dr Sam Lucy, Admissions Tutor and Director of Admissions for The University of Cambridge, with Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal of Newnham College, and all of the winners of the 2016 Newnham College Essay Prizes.