Winners announced for 2017 essay prize competition after record number of entries

First prize winners

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.

A record-breaking number of entries were received from a wide range of schools across eight different categories; Architecture, Biological Sciences, Engineering, History, Modern and Medieval Languages, Philosophy, Physical Sciences, 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 after hundreds of essays were received. Each competition has a prize of £400 for first place, £200 for second place, and £100 for third place.

All of the winners were invited to the women’s college at the heart of Cambridge University on Saturday (June 24) 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 this year was particularly strong, with a record number of entries, and the judges were impressed by the range and quality of the research undertaken by the entrants.

“Whittling that field down to the winners and runners-up of the eight prizes involved some hard decisions, 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.

Questions for the 2018 Essay Prize Competitions will be announced in November 2017.

Read more about the 2017 questions and categories and the entries from the winners.

Photograph caption: Professor Dame Carol Black, Principal and Dr Sam Lucy, Admissions Tutor and Director of Admissions for the University of Cambridge, with the group of Year 12 students who won first prize in each category

The full list of 2017 Essay Prize Winners/Highly Commended/Commended:

Architecture

1st Prize: Poppy Mitchell, The King’s School, Canterbury
2nd Prize: Lucy Dabbs, St Peter’s School, York
3rd Prize: Dorothy Zhang , King Edward VI High School for Girls

Highly Commended: Lydia Cronin (Chichester High School), Lucy Jones (Sandon School), Catherine Sheridan (The Tiffin Girls’ School), Bernice Wong (Cheltenham Ladies College).

Biological Sciences

1st Prize: Amelia Irwin, Sevenoaks School
Joint 2nd Prize: Elina Ganatra, Nottingham Girls’ High School
Joint 2nd Prize: Srishti Agarwal, Aylesbury High School
3rd Prize: Rachel Jones, St Paul’s Girls’ School

Highly Commended: Chloe Palma (Santa Maria del Pilar), Hannah Lin (Hills Rd Sixth Form).

Engineering

1st Prize: Thea Krumins, St Paul’s Girls’ School
2nd Prize: Sita Tailor, Guildford High School
3rd Prize: Tamilore Ayo-Famola, Cheltenham Ladies College

Highly Commended: Alice Ertle (Brighton College), Anna Mills (St Albans School), Amelia Standing (The King’s School, Chester)

Commended: Rosanna Fresen (The King’s (The Cathedral) School, Peterborough), Justine Hong (Wycombe Abbey School), Bridget Whithers (Wycombe Abbey School), Shannen Zeller (The Tiffin Girls’ School).

History

1st Prize: Ashlan Richards, The Tiffin Girls’ School
2nd Prize: Sanjana Gunasekaren, The Grammar School at Leeds
Joint 3RD Prize: Eleanor Graham, Epsom College
Joint 3rd Prize: Helen Markus, Hills Rd Sixth Form

Highly Commended: Helena Heyndrickx, (Alleyns School), Eve McMullen, (Southwell Minster School), Georgia Brown (Wilmslow School).

The Modern and Medieval Languages (MML) Essay Prize

1st Prize: Hemma Jari, Withington Girls’ School
2nd Prize: Effie Webb, Twyford C of E High School
3rd Prize: Mary Osborne, Beauchamp College

Highly Commended: Georgia Findlay (Withington Girls’ School), Daisy Coombes ( Eirias High School), Emma Tinn (The Abbey School, Reading)

Commended: Anna Zakonyi (Oxford High School), Esther Leong (Backwell School).

Philosophy

1st Prize: Cherry Dicko, Hills Rd Sixth Form
2nd Prize: Heléna Vegas Quinn, Stratford Girls’ Grammar School
3rd Prize: Maia Webb, Alleyns School

The Weston-Smith Physical Sciences Essay Prize

1st Prize: Josephine Jones, St Olave’s Grammar School
Joint 2nd Prize: Charlotte Ghali, King Edward’s School, Bath
Joint 2nd Prize: Sarah Walberton, Guildford High School

Highly Commended: Anna Stevenson (St Paul’s Girls’ School), Urvi Sonawane (The Tiffin Girls’ School), Eve Pope Gordano School, Aine McColgan, St Benedict’s Ealing.

Commended: Neha Ramu (The Tiffin Girls’ School) Claudia Chavasse (Withington Girls’ School).

The Woolf Essay Prize

1st Prize: Eleanor Graham, Hitchin Girls’ School
2nd Prize: Charlie Matheson, Kingsbridge Community College
3rd Prize: Georgia Mitchell, Hills Rd Sixth Form

Highly Commended: Kate Lucas (Wimbledon High School), Evie Patel (Kimberley College).

Commended: Florence Anderson (Alleyns School), Suzanne Azim (Coombe Girls’ School), Millie Bloom (Putney High School), Hanna Hughes (The King’s (The Cathedral) School, Peterborough), Eliza Jones (The Latymer School), Cassandra Somers-Joce (Queen Ethelburga’s Collegiate), Annabel Stock (Stratford Girls’ Grammar School).