This spring, the Parliaments and Legislatures SG held the first essay competition open to all undergraduate students. This essay competition was open, where students were asked to write about a parliament, legislature, or a specific matter concerning legislative studies.
The judging panel consisted of Michael Rush (emeritus professor of politics at the University of Exeter), Ben Worthy (lecturer in politics at Birkbeck College, London) and Paul Evans (senior clerk at the House of Commons). They judged the essays on four criteria (originality, rigour, strength of analysis and quality of presentation/style). All essays were anonymised for the purpose of evaluation. We had a very strong set of essays submitted and the judging panel noted how impressed they were with every one of them.
We are very pleased to announce that the winning essay was by Leicester University student Andrew Jones (nominated by Richard Whitaker), for his excellent work on “What explains government defeats in the House of Lords?”. You can read the winning entry if you click here.
On Monday, 29 June, Andrew received an award in the House of Commons for his winning entry, which was presented to him by the Clerk of the House of Commons, David Natzler. Andrew will receive a prize of £150.
Thank you to those of you who submitted essays to the competition and those who helped promote it. We very much look forward to next year’s competition. Our particular thanks, of course, to the panel for agreeing to judge the essays and for the quick turnaround.
All best wishes and many congratulations to Richard and his student, Andrew!