Supported by
londonlibrarystudentprize.com
Judges 2013 Bill Emmott Journalist and Chairman of The London Library Tom Gatti Deputy Editor, The Times Saturday Review Patrick Ness Award-winning author and London Library member Erica Wagner Books Editor, The Times
We are deeply grateful to the Stanley Foundation, which also enabled us to establish the Student Prize in 2011/12, for providing the prize money for this year’s Student Prize winner and runners-up. 20 THE LONDON LIBRARY MAGAZINE
After a wonderfully promising start in 2012, The London Library Student Prize has grown and flourished in its second year. Established to help raise awareness of the Library among potential future members, and to recognise emerging literary and journalist talent, the Prize is open to final-year undergraduate students, in any degree discipline, at any UK higher education institution. Entrants are invited to write an 800-word response to a theme chosen for its relevance to students studying the widest possible range of subjects; in 2013, the theme was ‘Gap years – a new form of colonialism?’ We were delighted to receive 178 entries from universities as diverse and far-flung as Aberdeen, Falmouth, Bangor and Leeds, indicating that our promotional campaign – ranging from postcards and flyers to social-media activity and large advertisements in The Times – reached students across the UK, studying at a wide range of institutions. While most entries came from students taking degrees in literature and languages, essays also came from those studying astrophysics,
business and psychology, to name just a few of the disciplines represented. Our winner this year, Kathryn Nave (Philosophy, King’s College London), receives a cheque for £5,000, as well as a year’s subscription to The Times, a year’s London Library membership and a miniinternship at The Times. Kathryn’s essay appears overleaf and will also be published in the Opinion pages of The Times. The two Prize runners-up – Jacob Burns (History of Art, Goldsmiths, University of London) and Paul Creeney (Ethical World Journalism, Staffordshire University) – receive £1,000 each, along with London Library membership, Times subscriptions and mini-internships at the newspaper. Our warmest congratulations to this year’s winners. Thank you to all who took the time to submit essays, and to London Library Student Prize partners The Times and milkround, with whose help we are able to reach thousands of students around the UK. By ensuring that near-graduates nationally hear about the Prize, we also raise the profile of the Library among the talented, clever and engaged members of the future.
