Prize for King’s Oxford in essay writing competition

23 Aug 2023

Second prize for Arbiana in the Festina Lente essay writing competition

 

EAP students at Kings Oxford recently entered an essay writing competition run by local organisation, Relaxed Snail.

The Festina Lente essay writing competition is designed to help pre-university students explore a subject outside the confines of their classroom, and to help hone essay writing skills and university-level studies in the run-up to application time.

The competition is both challenging and rigorous, and requires students to submit a 1,500-word essay. Students can either choose one of the questions provided, or create their own.

Arbiana was one of a handful of students from the school who submitted an entry, and was delighted to find out she had come second. Her essay compared the focus on people’s welfare in Athenian and current democracies, and feedback from one of the examiners, a medical doctor and researcher in the Physics Department at Durham University, was as follows:

“The essay is an interesting analysis on some of the differences in welfare systems and citizens’ conditions between Athenian and modern democracies. The student has clearly done excellent preparatory work showing a remarkable interest in the topic.”

Speaking about her experience, Arbiana, who is studying A-levels with us and hopes to study Law at university, commented:

“I think it’s a really good and useful thing to have on your personal statement because if they’re going to see that I’ve done an essay competition they’re going to be like ‘OK well her writing skills and research skills’…which are things that I’ve actually read on university websites that they are looking for.”

 

Through Relaxed Snail, Arbiana has also been able to secure some work experience, as well as a meeting with an ex-barrister.

A huge Congratulations to all of our students who participated, and of course especially to Arbiana for her competition success!