This year the number of entries to the Julia Wood Essay Prize Competition almost doubled, rising to 234, the highest number ever.
Unusually, the Prize was divided equally between two candidates: Oscar Baker, in the Lower Sixth of Alleyn’s School, Dulwich, for an essay on the American Revolution and Samuel Killcross, in the Upper Sixth of Birkenhead Sixth Form College, for an essay comparing the films of Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky.
The winning essays will be published on the St Hugh’s College website.
The fund for the Julia Wood Prize was established by the parents and friends of Julia Wood in May 1971. Originally, the prize was awarded to a second year History undergraduate student at St Hugh’s College. The first prize awarded went to Miss Anne Johnstone for her “striking progress” and she was marked out as “distinguished for industry, vigour and enthusiasm”. The letter informing Miss Johnstone of her award, sent on 16th June 1972, stated that “the prize is £15, to be used for the purchase of books”.
In 1994, the Governing Body of the College agreed that, for an experimental period of three years, “the Prize should be awarded to Sixth Formers on the basis of an essay competition”. The success of the competition resulted in the recommendation that the Prize take on the format of a Sixth Form essay competition permanently and the Prize remains in this format to this day.
