A Level Politics student Natalie Sodzi won Highly Commended at a prize-giving ceremony for The New College of The Humanities Essay Competition in London on 25th June. This prestigious competition is open to students who are in their penultimate year of secondary education, and who are interested in studying humanities or social sciences at university. Students from anywhere in the world were invited to respond to seven essay titles, one for each of the seven subjects in the humanities. Natalie wrote about the crisis in participation in formal politics, the first unit she studied in her A Level Politics course, and is the only Politics student in the School to have entered this competition. A total of 3,600 entries were submitted, so it was a fantastic achievement to be shortlisted. Natalie travelled to London on 25th June for the prize-giving ceremony, details below, and you can read her full essay in the latest issue of the School magazine, The Richian, which is currently at the printers and will be available as printed copies and on the School website from 9th July.

“It was a lovely evening. I received Highly Commended and got a certificate and an Amazon gift-card. The Politics professor and Professor AC Grayling discussed my essay with me and said that they were interested in sending a few of my ideas to a think tank/parliamentary research centre. Overall it was brilliant, and although I didn’t win the £1000 prize, I’m very pleased to have made the shortlist of 12 out of 3,600.” Natalie Sodzi, 12B.