School Essay Competition 2023 winners announced

The Society and the Financial Times are delighted to announce the winning and highly commended entries to our joint School Essay Competition. This year’s competition asked students to outline the risks associated with climate change in their submissions, and to tell us what they think humanity should be doing about it.

The competition was open to all students aged 16-18 studying A Level geography or equivalent, and the judges were looking for clear essays or ArcGIS StoryMaps that were well-evidenced and reached a clear conclusion. 

We received many excellent submissions that have not made the final awards list, and we congratulate everyone who entered for the exceptionally high standard of submissions.

The overall winner of this year’s competition is:

• Emily Blanchfield, Fettes College, Edinburgh

In addition, given the range and depth of entries received, the Society and the Financial Times have recognised nine of the essays submitted with highly commended awards. These are by:

• Cyrus Chang, Harrow School
• Jemima Davey, Tormead School, Guildford
• Ben Musk, Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge
• Niamh O’Connell, The Holy Cross School, New Malden
• Adam Patrick Osborne, Watford Grammar School for Boys
• Parnika Parulkar, The Tiffin Girls’ School, Kingston upon Thames
• Amar Singh Mashiana, Royal Wootton Bassett Academy
• Johannes Timm, Gordonstoun, Elgin
• India Worthington, Manchester High School for Girls

Congratulations to Emily and all the highly commended entrants on their engaging and well-evidenced submissions.

Emily’s winning essay will be published on the Financial Times’ and the Society’s websites, and they will also receive a £50 Amazon voucher. All highly commended essays will be published on the Society’s website.