Queens’ Estelle Prize for English 2018 awarded

This year, the Fellows judging the essays agreed that there were a number of fine and varied submissions, making it particularly hard to choose between them. Thus, they chose to reward one winner and one runner-up.

The winner was Lucy from Lady Margaret School in Fulham, who submitted an essay entitled ‘A Hunger for Articulation: examining the encounter between the “tongue-tied” and “articulation” in poetry’. The judges commented that they were very impressed with the scholarly footwork of her essay, her comprehensive research in both paper and online sources, her careful and well-judged composition of a complex mass of perspectives and quotations, and her sustained commitment to thinking about the social and political aspects of poetic articulacy.

The runner-up was Helena from Lady Eleanor Holles School in Hampton, who submitted an essay entitled ‘Is poetic language its own language’. In their feedback, the judges commented that Helena's essay was 'simply superb'. They noted that it was meticulous, thoughtful, well-constructed and engaged critically at an intense and productive level with a difficult text.

The College has made undergraduate admission offers to both last year’s 2017 winner and runner-up.

The Estelle Essay Prize 2019 competition guidelines and questions are now available on our website.  The Estelle Prize has been endowed by an alumnus of the College via The Estelle Trust.