Geography Triumphs in the Battle of the Humanities

After success for a Philosophy essay in 2024, the Humanities Essay Prize for 2025 was won by Lower Sixth student Ellen McGettigan with her Geography entry, while responses from History and Law took second place.

In January, twenty-six Humanities students undertook the challenge of the Humanities Essay prize. They prepared their research in advance and then wrote up their ideas under examination conditions. The top essay for each subject was then sent to Dr Elspeth King at the University of Worcester to choose the overall winner. The Humanities Faculty at RGS Worcester found choosing their top essays this year incredibly hard, as the standard was very high: this is a real testament to the achievement of all the students who took part.

On Wednesday this week, Dr Elspeth King and Dr Jenny Lewins-Jones ran a really interesting and informative session on Humanities at University before announcing the winners. Ellen McGettigan’s essay on ‘whether overpopulated countries should consider bringing in a one-child policy’ won the competition. In joint second place were Arran Niccol’s essay on ‘whether the Cold War was lost by the communists rather than won by the capitalists’ and Joseph Kington’s ‘exploration of issues around the rights of the UK government to interfere in judicial procedure’. With essays from Classics, Economics, Philosophy, Politics, RS and Sociology as well, the Humanities Essay Prize was hugely competitive – it will be fascinating to see which subject will triumph in 2026!

Mrs Jane Harrison, Head of Humanities