The Science Essay Prize is an opportunity for Oundelians of all ages to follow their intellectual curiosity within any area of the sciences. Pupils are challenged to write an essay on an area of science they find fascinating. Dozens of pupils enter every year, submitting essays about enormously varied topics. Pupils receive no direct help from their teachers other than a nudge towards something they might find interesting, and they complete the essays entirely in their own time.
These are prizes to win, but most write an essay because they just want to know more about the world around them, and because they find the pursuit and communication of knowledge reward in itself.
This year’s winners were: Arun (Sco); Rupert (L); jointly Lydia (K) and Tom (F) with essays that covered “What should be the limits to Human Cloning?”; “Fighting Antibiotic Resistance”; “The Planet is Dying; We need to Move”.
Highly Commended essays were submitted by Roshan (Sco); Billy (F); Mahitha (L) on “Why it is impossible to drive 1000mph in a car”; “The Extensive and Important Scientific Works of Edmund Halley”, “There is a Place for Alchemy in Modern Society”.
