The Principal and Fellows of St Hugh’s College are pleased to offer a prize of up to £500 for the best essay written in response the question:
Defend one of the following two propositions:
- The deployment of juries as part of this country’s criminal trial procedure should be abolished.
- There is no particular reason for our judiciary to be representative of this country’s population.
No detailed knowledge of English law is required to answer it; indeed, while cases reported in the national media may be referred to, entrants should not look to cite any specific case law or statutes in their work. Rather, they are encouraged to think about things a matter of principle. The judges will be looking out for an entrant’s ability to reason from wider precepts and to construct clear and coherent arguments.
Entry is restricted to pupils who, at the closing date, have been in the Sixth Form of any state-funded school or college for a period of not more than two years.
Entries should be 1500 – 2000 words in length, including any material in the footnotes which is additional commentary or content related to your essay. References or citations in footnotes, and your bibliography, are not included in this word count. You are welcome to use whichever style of referencing you prefer. Essays must be submitted in PDF format.
Instructions for submitting your entry can be found on the right-hand side of this page. The closing date for entries is 5pm on Friday 26th July 2024. Prize winners will be announced online by the end of September.
Please direct any enquiries to outreach@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk
2023 winners
First Place
Carmen Buckingham, Y12, Richard Huish College: Are there any legal decisions which judges should not take?
Second Place
Aqsa Mahmood, Y12, Dr Challoner’s High School: Are there any legal decisions which judges should not take?
Third Place
Mariana Fedchyshyn, Y12, Reigate College: Are there any legal decisions which judges should not take?
The winners and a number of those who had done particularly well were invited to tea in College in September.
How to enter the essay competition:
To enter the competition, please complete the following steps.
Please note that these instructions should be followed in one go; do not complete Step 1 until you are also ready to complete Step 2.
Step 1
Please fill out the form here with your personal details:
Gwyneth Bebb Essay Competition 2024 Submission Form
Step 2
Once you have completed Step 1, you will receive an email with a link to submit your essay file (if you do not receive this straightaway, please check your spam folder and double-check that you entered your email into the form correctly). Please follow the instructions on that page, attaching your essay in the format specified.
Please note that any essay submissions received after the deadline of 5pm on Friday 26th July 2024 will not be considered. Therefore, please ensure that you complete both Step 1 and Step 2 ahead of this deadline. Be aware that the submission portal may become very busy around that time, so it is best to avoid attempting submission very close to 5pm.
