Record Number of Entries for Humanities Essay Prize
As the RGS Worcester Humanities Essay Prize entered its third year, the competition proved more competitive than ever, with nearly forty entries submitted by Lower Sixth students across a range of Humanities subjects. Following winners from Philosophy and Geography in previous years, the 2026 overall winner was Zac for his Politics essay exploring whether we should care about the morals of politicians, a question that perhaps feels especially timely at the moment.
In January, the Lower Sixth students took up the challenge of researching and writing an essay under timed examination conditions. Students completed the essays with two hours to research and write their response using a one-page plan and two pages of notes. Each Department selected a subject winner before the final judging was undertaken by Dr Elspeth King from the History, Politics and Sociology Department at the University of Worcester.
Dr King said: “This is the third year I have judged the competition and both the quality and number of entries I read is going from strength to strength. Everyone whose essay I read had done their research and thought carefully about how to answer their question, key to writing any essay. I learnt much from reading the entries and there was plenty of high-quality writing on display. Well done to everyone who entered. Essay writing is a craft and in doing this you will have nudged yourself a little further along this learning pathway, whether in research, planning or writing up.”
Amelia, with her essay on whether the Cold War was lost by the communists or won by the capitalists and Daniel, who explored whether society should prioritise happiness over traditional economic metrics, were named joint runners-up.
Subject winners were Albert in Business, Henry in Classics, Daniel in Economics, Maxie in Geography, Amelia and Poppy jointly in History, Holly in Law, Zac in Politics, Olivia in Psychology, Mia in Sociology, Joe in Religious Studies and Thomas in Philosophy.
Very well done to Zac, the runners-up and the subject winners and thank you to all of the students who took part.
Mrs J Harrison, Head of History & Politics
