The winning and highly commended entries to the 2016 Young Geographer of the Year competition were announced on Friday, at an awards ceremony at the Society’s headquarters in Kensington, London.
The winning and highly commended entries to the 2016 Young Geographer of the Year competition were announced on Friday, at an awards ceremony at the Society’s headquarters in Kensington, London.
Young Geographer of the Year is a national competition run by the Society to encourage pupils to engage with geographical issues. Each year, the competition receives entries from thousands of pupils from hundreds of schools.
This year’s Young Geographer of the Year competition was an opportunity for geography pupils to answer the question ‘How is Britain changing?’
Steve Brace, the Society’s Head of Education and Outdoor Learning, said:
“This year students explored geographical change from many different perspectives.
“We were incredibly impressed with the entries we received. Many focused on how Britain’s physical features are changing in response to a wide range of geographical processes, while others focused on social, cultural or political change.”
Dr Rita Gardner CBE, Director of the Society, said:
“With humans now being recognised as the driving influence on our environment, and at a time of significant social change, it’s more important than ever that the next generation of geographers are able to identify and analyse geographical change. We’re delighted to see so many pupils considering how Britain is changing in such a thoughtful and knowledgeable way.”
The Society’s Young Geographer of the Year competition recognises the best entries across four categories: Key Stage 2 (students aged 9-11); Key Stage 3 (11-14); Key Stage 4 or GCSE (14-16); and Key Stage 5 or A Level (16-18). Pupils in the first three categories were asked to submit an annotated diagram or poster, while A Level pupils were asked to submit a 1,500 word essay, which could include illustrations, maps or graphs.
The overall category winners were:
- 9-11 years: Isabella Green; St Paulinus Primary Catholic Voluntary Academy, North Yorkshire
- 11-14 years: India Wood; St Helen and St Katharine, Oxfordshire
- 14-16 years: Katie Banks; Millais School, West Sussex
- 16-18 years: Hannah Thom; Skipton Girls’ High School, North Yorkshire
The Society also announced the winner of this year’s Rex Walford Award for new or student teachers. Richard Sutton, from Sir Frederic Osborn School, was judged to have produced the best set of teaching resources linked to this year’s Young Geographer of the Year competition question.
The Young Geographer of the Year competition is run by the Society in conjunction with Geographical magazine and is kindly supported by Esri UK, Ordnance Survey, Stanfords, Philip’s and Cotswold Outdoors.