The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and the Financial Times are pleased to announce the launch of our School Essay Competition. We are seeking thoughtful and well-argued responses from sixth form geography students for this joint competition.
The winning essay will be published on the RGS-IBG’s website and may also be published on FT.com.
2020 competition details
Title
What is the geographical story behind a chosen set or sets of data?
Guidance
Use FT for Schools and other sources to find data that will help you to tell a story about sustainability and climate change. Your story should be based around the COP-26 2021 aims ‘to increase climate ambition, build resilience and lower emissions’. You should consider a variety of scales – from local to global.
Format and requirements
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A clear essay or ArcGIS StoryMap which is well-evidenced and reaches a clear conclusion
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Submissions should not exceed 1000 words
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You should provide referenced sources of information and data
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Submissions must be your own work
Eligibility
This competition is open to sixth form geography students aged 16-18 who are registered to study A Level Geography or equivalent in Year 12 or 13 on the closing date. Unfortuntely, it is not open to 16-year-old GCSE level students who will be in Year 11 in September 2020.
Submissions
Please read our Terms and Conditions carefully before entering the competition.
Submissions should be sent to eduadmin@rgs.org no later than 30 September 2020.
All submissions must include the following information in the body of the email:
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Name of student
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Contact email, if different to the one used for submission
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School name and address
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Name of geography teacher and email
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Geography course being studied (A Level / IB / Pre-U), including examination board
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Age and year group on 30 September 2020 (must be 16-18, in Year 12 or 13)
ArcGIS StoryMaps should be provided as a hyperlink in a PDF, with your name, a title and brief description less than 60 words in the document (not included in the overall word count).
Essays should be provided as a PDF and include a title and your name in the document.
Typically, we do not expect attachments to exceed email size limits. Please email eduadmin@rgs.org if you are trying to send an attachment and you have received a ‘exceeded maximum size’ message or other delivery failure.
Winner announcement
There will be one overall winner and up to five highly commended awards. We will aim to announce the award winners on the competition webpage around mid-October 2020. Please do not email us to ask for details or exact timescales before the results are published online.
The decision of the judging panel is final.
You can find further information about sustainability and climate change using the RGS-IBG and FT for Schools online resources
The RGS-IBG is launching this competition in partnership with the Financial Times as part of its Education Programme to support geography teachers and their pupils. Your school can become a School Member of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and you and your pupils can join respectively as a Fellow or Young Geographer.