Essay Writing Competition

Essay writing competition winners 2022

We are delighted to announce the winners for our annual essay competition. The essay theme ‘Friendship’ was set by the world renowned writer and  Oxford university academic  Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, (see bio. below).  The competition was open to all our schools, primary, secondary and special, and this year we had more submissions than ever before, so for a student even to get shortlisted, let alone win,  is a truly #worldclass achievement.  

We are a charity run by and for our schools and our students, so we are indebted to the students of our #worldclass St Albans Girls School, who, with the support of their teachers, shortlisted for us this year.  

Robert Douglas-Fairnhurst was blown away by the quality of submissions, hence his decision to choose two winners, three runners up and five honourable mentions. He encountered writing which was “generous, fun, original,  and unusually smart and sophisticated for students at this stage.” 

“Our annual essay writing  competition gives us the opportunity to prove what we have always known; that students at our non-selective state schools have skills and competencies that are the best in the world, as judged, in this instance, by an Oxford University professor.” Miranda Perry, Director of WCSQM. 

• The essays of winners and runners up  will be made available to download from the WCSQM website.
• The winner and runners up will be invited to join Robert Douglas -Fairhurst at Magdalen College, Oxford University,  where they can enjoy a tour of the college, and an undergraduate lecture.
• The winners will receive the prestigious glass engraved World Class Essay Competition trophy, and runners up World Class Essay Competition medals, and honourable mentions certificates. 

Winners  

Primary

Secondary 

Runners up  

Honourable Mentions 

The 2022 essay writing competition

We were delighted to work with this year’s competition judge, Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, who has set this year’s challenge and will be choosing the winning entries. ROBERT DOUGLAS-FAIRHURST is a Fellow of Magdalen College and Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. His books include Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist, which won the Duff Cooper Prize, and The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland, which was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award. He writes regularly for publications including The Times, Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, and Literary Review. He has also

acted as a consultant on BBC productions of Jane Eyre, Emma, and Great Expectations, and the 2019 feature film Enola Holmes. In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He lives in Oxford.

Shortlist

We are delighted to announce the shortlist for our annual essay competition. The essay theme ‘Friendship’ was set by the world

renowned writer and  Oxford university academic  Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, (see bio. above).  The competition was open to all our schools, primary, secondary and special, and this year we had more submissions than ever before, so for a student to get shortlisted is a truly #worldclass achievement.  

We are a charity run by and for our schools and our students, so we are indebted to the students of our #worldclass St Albans Girls School, who, with the support of their teachers, shortlisted for us this year.  

We believe that the sky is the limit for the students at our schools, if aspirations are high enough, so students are expected to achieve undergraduate level in their writing, to be short- listed. 

The essays will now be passed on to Robert, who has the almost impossible job of choosing a winner and runners up for us. 

• Shortlisted students will be honourably mentioned on the WCSQM website.
• The essays of winners and runners up  will be made available to download from the WCSQM website.
• The winner and runners up will be invited to join Robert Douglas -Fairhurst

  

  at Magdalen College, Oxford University,  where they can enjoy a tour of the college, and an undergraduate lecture.

• The winner will receive the prestigious World Class Essay Competition trophy, and runners up World Class Essay Competition medals. 

Shortlisted students

Primary

Secondary 

International