Armstrong Essay Competition Winner

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

The competition invited Year 12 students from UK state-maintained schools to submit a response to one of twelve essay questions, which encompassed a variety of Arts and Humanities subjects available to study at undergraduate level at the University of Cambridge. This year, the competition received 256 entries of fantastic quality. The best 30 essays were shortlisted for consideration by the judging panel, comprised of Fellows Dr Simon Ravenscroft, Dr Michelle Taylor, Professor Silke Mentchen, and Mr Alistair Mills.

First Prize was awarded to Lydia Davenport from Holmes Chapel Comprehensive School, Cheshire. Lydia’s essay discussed the question, ‘If no one is truly responsible for their actions, then there is no justification for punishing people.’ You can read Lydia’s essay below.

Two entries were deemed deserving of Second Prize, which was awarded jointly to Mia Travis from Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney, and Oliver Dunbar from Sutton Grammar School, Sutton. Mia’s essay responded to the questions, ‘What role does art play in a well-lived human life? Are there connections to be made between aesthetics and ethics?’. Oliver’s essay, entitled ‘Vanishing Steets: The Social and Spatial Costs of Car Dependency’, discussed the extent to which cars diminish the human qualities of urban life.

Honourable Mentions were also awarded to Abdulhamid Olawuwo (Alsop High School, Liverpool); Sophie Ho (The Tiffin Girls’ School, Kingston-upon-Thames); and Zahra Boudarouafi Axon (Thomas Mills High School, Suffolk).

All winners and their guests have been invited to a prize-giving celebration at Magdalene College in September 2025.

The judging panel provided the following feedback to entrants:

“The judges thoroughly enjoyed reading and evaluating contributions to this year’s Armstrong Essay Competition. The overall quality of entries was again very high. We were impressed by the creativity, intelligence, and depth of research displayed in many of the essays we read. Our particular congratulations go of course to the prize-winners and honourable mentions, but we would like to stress how many excellent essays we have not been able explicitly to recognise, simply because of the high standard of competition. We would like to express our gratitude to all those who prepared and contributed work, and hope everyone found it to be a rewarding experience.”

You can read Lydia’s First Prize-winning essay below.