School Essay Competition
The School Essay Competition, organised in partnership with the Financial Times, invites students to answer a topical geographical question.
2025 competition
The 2025 School Essay Competition, organised in partnership with the Financial Times, invited students to answer the following question:
What are the implications for different countries of international trade policies in the contemporary world?
Our 2025 awards
Winner
Sylvester Parmar-Wickham from Fortismere, Muswell Hill
The winning essay will be prepared for publication at FT.com. A link will be shared here, when available.
Highly Commended
Caitlin Arthur from St Mary’s Catholic School, Newcastle upon Tyne
Peter Atanasov from Queen Elizabeth’s School, Barnet
Rhiannon Green from Bristol Grammar School
Jonathan Heen Long Shiu from Westminster School
Noah Houston from Sevenoaks School
Tristan Jones from Kirkbie Kendal School
Rose Pasteur from Norwich High School for Girls
Anastasia Tymoftey from The Heathland School, Hounslow
Nishka Somani from St Dominic’s Sixth Form College, Harrow on the Hill
Ruijun Ye from Shenzhen College International Education, China
Congratulations to the winner and highly commended entrants. Well done to everyone who participated – we received some amazing entries.
The judges look for:
- A clear essay or ArcGIS StoryMap that is well-evidenced and reaches a clear conclusion
- Submissions that do not exceed 1,000 words (excluding the title and references) – submissions over 1,000 words will not be considered. The word count must be provided in the document.
- Referenced sources of information and data, including the FT
- Submissions which are the entrant’s own work and relevant to the question and guidance
The Society runs this competition in partnership with the Financial Times as part of its education programme to support geography teachers and their pupils. The competition is open to all schools and advertised through our wide networks. Submissions are judged without seeing the entrants’ details.
There will be an awards celebration at the Society for the winner and highly commended entrants, with their teachers and guests, in the afternoon on Monday 13 July 2026.
