Young Geographer of the Year is a national competition run by the Society to encourage pupils to engage with geographical issues. This year, the Society received over 1,600 entries from more than 250 schools, with thousands of additional pupils taking part in in-school competitions.
This year’s Young Geographer of the Year competition was an opportunity for geography pupils to explore the geography of their favourite place.
Steve Brace, the Society’s Head of Education and Outdoor Learning, said:
“Our winners chose locations near and far – from the Isles of Scilly to Mount Fuji and from Braithwaite to the Galapagos Islands. In all of their entries they demonstrated high levels of geographical knowledge and understanding in order to reveal the diverse geographies of their favourite places.”
Young Geographer of the Year recognises the best entries across four categories: Key Stage 2 (pupils aged 9-11); Key Stage 3 (11-14); Key Stage 4 or GCSE (14-16); and Key Stage 5 or A Level (16-18). Pupils in the first three categories were asked to submit an annotated diagram or poster, while A Level pupils were asked to submit a 1,500 word essay, which could include illustrations, maps or graphs.
The awards were presented by Alastair Humphreys to the overall winners and highly commended pupils at an award ceremony at the Society on Friday 24 November.
The overall category winners are:
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9-11 years: Charlotte Dunn, Caterham Prep School, Caterham
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11-14 years: Sophie O’Riordan, Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham
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14-16 years: Katy Williams, St Helen and St Katharine, Abingdon
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16-18 years: Phoebe Jackson, Peter Symonds College, Winchester
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Rex Walford Award (new or student teachers): Rhianne Quigley, Wales High School, Sheffield
The Young Geographer of the Year competition and the Rex Walford Award are run by the Society in conjunction with Geographical magazine and are kindly supported by Esri UK, Ordnance Survey, Stanfords, Philip’s and Cotswold Outdoor.