Three finalists studying at Oxford have been awarded prizes in a national student writing competition.
The Student Prize, organised by the London Library, was awarded to Ben Mason, a Philosophy and German finalist at Trinity College, while Caroline Criado-Perez from Keble, and Andrew McCormack, a finalist at Mansfield, were named as runners-up.
Mason was awarded £5,000 for his 800-word piece responding to the statement, “The future of Britain lies with the right-hand side of the brain”. His winning entry will be published in The Times and the London Library Library Magazine later this year.
On being named as the winner, Mason said, “I am thrilled to have won. It was very refreshing to spend some time thinking about ideas totally unrelated to my course, and to write something in a totally different style to a tutorial essay. Of course it was a surprise to be named winner and the prize is extremely generous.”
When asked for his thoughts on the essay topic, Mason told Cherwell, “I think it was really well chosen – there’s enough material out there to write something fairly informed, but it’s not so well-trodden either, and there was plenty of scope for taking an original line.”
The runners-up were each presented with a cheque for £1,000. Caroline Criado-Perez stated that the prize money would be “very useful” as she “scrabbles for funding for a Master’s”.
Both the winner and the runners-up also received a year’s membership of The London Library and a year’s subscription to The Times, as well as the opportunity to take part in a mini-internship at the newspaper.
The entries were judged by a distinguished panel, including Bill Emmott, former editor of The Economist and Chairman of the London Library, The Times Books Editor, Erica Wagner, and actress and author Sheila Hancock OBE.
Wagner stated that The Times were “keen to foster talent in the brightest and the best, and this is a wonderful way to do that.”
He added, “The quality of entries received, including Ben’s particularly fine effort, show the depth of talent out there among students whose original thinking and clear, persuasive communication indicate they have exciting futures ahead of them.”
A London Library spokesperson told Cherwell that the prize was launched “to discover the next generation of writers, thinkers and opinion formers.”
The London Library Student Prize will run for the next three years, offering final year undergraduates a “fantastic opportunity to kick-start a career in writing,” the spokesperson added.
