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Magdalene College Cambridge

Armstrong Arts and Humanities Essay Competition

Magdalene College is delighted to announce the 2025 Armstrong Arts and Humanities Essay Competition.

The competition is open to students attending state-maintained schools in the UK, and who are in their penultimate year of education (Year 12 in England and Wales, S5 in Scotland, or Year 13 in Northern Ireland).

The essay questions cover the breadth of arts and humanities subjects offered at undergraduate level at the University of Cambridge.

Questions are often multi-disciplinary, designed to encourage entries to consider the connections between various subjects, and to allow entries to approach the question from varying angles. Effective essays will present a clear argument supported by specific, relevant examples.

Essay Questions

Essay Questions

1. "If no one is truly responsible for their actions, then there is no justification for punishing people". Discuss.

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Human, Social and Political Sciences, Law, Philosophy, and Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion.


2. When should a judge have to withdraw from a case, if it is alleged that they are biased?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Human, Social and Political Sciences, and Law.


3. "I think we ought to read only the kind of books that wound or stab us. If the book we're reading doesn't wake us up with a blow to the head, what are we reading for?" (Franz Kafka, 1883-1924)

What is the purpose of literature? Discuss in the light of the Kafka quote.

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, English, and Modern and Medieval Languages.


4. “The atheist staring from his attic window is often nearer to God than the believer caught up in his own false image of God.” – Martin Buber (1878-1965)

“If you comprehend it, it is not God.” – St Augustine (354-430 AD)

Using examples from any religious or philosophical tradition, discuss the significance of ‘knowing’ and ‘unknowing’ in religious belief and unbelief. If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Classics, History, Philosophy, and Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion.


5. "Translation is entirely mysterious. Increasingly I have felt that the art of writing is itself translating, or more like translating than it is like anything else." – Ursula K. Le Guin (1929 – 2018)

Reflect on your experiences of reading fiction in the original and in translation in the light of this quote.

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Classics, and Modern and Medieval Languages.


6. “Cars restructure topography by destroying the street as a place for gathering. Since the level of social interaction between neighbours in a given street is inversely related to the amount of traffic passing through it, cars undermine the cohesive social structures of the city by eroding shared social space. They require space to have essentially the function of permitting motion so that this space becomes meaningless unless it can be subordinated to free movement.” (Paul Connerton, How Modernity Forgets, 2009)

Should cars be banned from cities? Do cars make cities more or less human? Answer either of these questions, or both together, with reference to the quotation above.

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Geography, Human, Social and Political Sciences, and Land Economy.


7. “Tradition is not the worship of ashes, but the preservation of fire.” – Gustav Mahler (1860-1911)

Do you agree? Discuss the relationship between novelty and tradition in artistic creation, with reference to any area of the arts (for example: music, painting, sculpture, literature, or architecture).

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Architecture, Design, English, History, History of Art, Music, Philosophy, or Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion.


8. ‘The state of a man’s mind is as much a fact as the state of his digestion.’ (Bowen LJ in Edgington v Fitzmaurice). What difficulties may arise with proving an individual’s intentions?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Law and Philosophy.


9. “…we fail to see the big wide real world at all because we are blinded by obsession, anxiety, envy, resentment, fear. We make a small personal world in which we remain enclosed. Great art is liberating, it enables us to see and take pleasure in what is not ourselves.”

“Love is the extremely difficult realisation that something other than oneself is real. Love, and so art and morals, is the discovery of reality.” – Iris Murdoch (1919-1999)

What role does art play in a well-lived human life? Are there connections to be made between aesthetics and ethics? Discuss with reference to the quotations above.

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Architecture, English, History of Art, Modern and Medieval Languages, Music, Philosophy, and Theology, Religion and Philosophy of Religion.


10. "Writers make national literature, while translators make universal literature." – José Saramago (1922 – 2010)

Discuss whether literature reflects the writer's national identity and how. If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, English, and Modern and Medieval Languages.


11. “The target nowadays is not to discover what we are, but to refuse what we are.” – Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

What would we be refusing and why should we refuse it?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in History, Human, Social and Political Sciences, and Philosophy.


12. “The culture of a people is an ensemble of texts…which the anthropologist strains to read over the shoulders of those to whom they properly belong” (Geertz, 1973). Discuss.

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, History, and Human, Social and Political Sciences.


The essay questions are available to view in PDF format here:

Entering

Submissions should adhere to the word limit of 2,000 words, which does not include footnotes or bibliographies. The word count should be stated at the end of the essay.

All sources should be cited and listed in a bibliography. We understand that entrants may not have prior experience of referencing and would recommend Harvard referencing system website for an explanation of the Harvard referencing system. Entrants are welcome to use alternative reference styles if they prefer.

Entrants should submit one essay only. The submission must be entirely the entrant’s own work, and should not contain any work generated by ChatGPT or other forms of artificial intelligence. The competition judges are mindful of the advancements in generative AI and will disqualify any submissions which demonstrate similarities to responses produced by AI tools. Entries must not be submitted or have been submitted to an exam board as part of any coursework, extended essay, or Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), either in part or in full.

The deadline for submissions is 30 April 2025 at 23:59.

Essays should be submitted by the form at the link below.

Essay Competition Entry Form

Prize

First prize: £300
Second prize: £200
Third Prize £100.

Honourable mentions may also be awarded. Prize winners will be invited to visit Magdalene College in Summer 2025.

The webinars below, recorded in 2023, may provide some advice and inspiration for researching, writing, and refining your essay.

If you have any questions regarding the competition, please contact Natalie and Tess, Widening Participation and Schools Liaison Team, by emailing access@magd.cam.ac.uk.


Essay-writing Webinars

Magdalene College Schools Liaison Officer is delivering a series of webinars to provide advice on the stages of the essay-writing process.

Planning and Researching

The Writing Process

Refining and Referencing

If you have any questions regarding the competition, please contact the Schools Liaison Officer, by emailing access@magd.cam.ac.uk.