Sir Ron Cooke, an eminent physical geographer and former President of the Society, kindly supports an award for A Level students.
The award recognises students’ work towards the independent investigation, also known as the NEA. The first Ron Cooke Award was presented to a student who completed an NEA for the 2018 examinations, at our medals and awards ceremony in 2019.
Ron Cooke Award 2026
Student’s outstanding NEAs must be submitted by their teacher and we aim to celebrate students’ work which has engaged them with new ideas, provided opportunities for innovation and/or demonstrates their personal interest in geography.
Entries must be a fully marked NEA; please submit a copy of the NEA (this does not need to show annotations) plus the supporting form.
We are delighted that the examination boards are supportive of this award and will also be encouraging their centres to submit outstanding scripts for consideration.
Entries for the 2026 Ron Cooke Award are now open. Entries for the 2026 Award shut at 5pm on Friday 13 March 2026.
Teachers can submit their students’ work by emailing an electronic copy of their scripts and your student's proposal/planning form to competitions@rgs.org. More than one submission can be made by a school.
Please write Ron Cooke Award in the email subject box and include the following details:
- Teacher and school contact details
- Student name and final marks for the NEA
- A short supporting statement from the teacher explaining why the script(s) have been submitted.
Ron Cooke Award 2025
We are delighted to announce that the winner of the Sir Ron Cooke Award for 2025 is Claudia Acker - for an outstanding independent investigation at A Level: ‘To what extent does the carbon content of trees differ between urban woodlands in Highgate Wood, London, and rural woodlands in Parnholt Wood, Hampshire?’.
Ron Cooke Award 2024
We are delighted to announce that the winner of the Sir Ron Cooke Award for 2024 is Ella Herbert from Langley Park School for Boys for the best A Level independent investigation (NEA) titled ‘To what extent are the key players impacting the development of Cambers sand dunes’.
Ron Cooke Award 2023
The 2023 Ron Cooke Award has been awarded to Elysia Sanders, Lady Eleanor Holles School for her A Level project titled ‘How have glacial and physical post-glacial processes caused variation in the landscape of the Troutbeck Valley’.
Ron Cooke Award 2022
The 2022 Ron Cooke Award has been awarded to Joelle D’Mello from Trinity School for her A Level Independent Investigation titled “Through economic status, the environment, accessibility, and regeneration, how does quality of living vary between a rural and urban area?”
Ron Cooke Award 2021
The 2021 Ron Cooke Award has been awarded to Hollie Daw from Queen Mary's College for her A Level Independent Investigation "An examination of the factors affecting infiltration rate at Ashford Hill National Nature Reserve."
Find out more about our medals and awards.