Kavita Singh, St. Hugh’s Alumna, is a pioneer in India’s college admissions space. As CEO of Futureworks, she’s coached 10,000+ students, sits on several scholarship committees, created breakthrough education programs and helped established tertiary educational institutions to widen access.
The Principal and Fellows of St Hugh’s College are pleased to be offering a prize, worth up to £500, for the best essays submitted by a pupil who, at the closing date, has been in the Sixth Form of a state-funded school or college for a period of not more than two years. Candidates are required to write an essay in response to one of these three questions:
Philosophy
Can you be certain of anything other than what goes on inside your mind? If not, what makes you think that there is anything else?
Politics
“Democracy will not help us solve the issues facing the world today.” Discuss.
Economics
The most important consequence of introducing a universal basic income would be the effect on labour supply. Do you agree or disagree? Argue for your standpoint.
Students entering this competition might be interested in the following undergraduate courses offered at St Hugh’s College: PPE, History and Politics, Philosophy and Modern Languages, PPL (Psychology, Philosophy and Linguistics), Economics and Management, Computer Science and Philosophy, Mathematics and Philosophy.
Entries should be 2000 – 4000 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.
The 2024 competition is now closed. Details of this year’s winning essays can be found to the right of this page.
Details of the 2025 competition will be published in late January/early February 2025.
Please direct any enquiries to outreach@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk
2024 Kavita Singh Prize Winners
Philosophy
Hugo King – London Oratory School (Year 13)
Politics
Daniel McClean – Ripon Grammar School, North Yorkshire (Year 12)
“Democracy will not help us solve the issues facing the world today”. Discuss.
Economics
David He – Forge Valley School, Sheffield (Year 13)
The winners and a number of others who were highly commended were invited to a celebratory tea in College in September.
Kavita Singh
