Schools Plus x The Oxford Blue Essay Competition

We’re delighted to announce that the Schools Plus x The Oxford Blue Essay Competition is now open!

The essay title is “Coronavirus and Education: a match made in heaven or hell?”

This year has been tough for all of us. Only now are we seeing restrictions, slowly but surely, being lifted. Yet, the pandemic will have an ongoing impact – children up and down the country have missed out on valuable education. Whilst virtual school is better than none at all, we are seeing the attainment gap between the richest and poorest students grow. Yet the pandemic, arguably, offers the best opportunity to revolutionise the education system to work for the less well off. So, what will the future of education hold? Will the pandemic spark an educational revolution? If not, what can and should be done to close the ever-growing attainment gap in light of Covid?

COMPETITION DETAILS/RULES

There is a rough word count of 700 – 1,000.
The competition shall open to entries from 12:00 UK time on the 1st of August 2021.
Each submission shall be reviewed by the President of the Schools Plus Committee as well as the Editors-in-Chief at Cherwell and The Oxford Blue (“the newspapers”)– or a delegate of their choosing.
Two submissions shall then be selected as the winning entries; one shall be from a candidate between the ages of 11 to 18; another for those 18 and above.
Plagiarism will result in the disqualification of the candidate; this is to include auto plagiarism. Candidates are asked to abide by standard citation and referencing practice – there is no preference as to the referencing format, so long as it is a standard format: for instance, APA, Harvard et cetera.
Members of the Schools Plus Committee, and those involved in the marking and review process shall be ineligible to participate in the competition.
The competition is only to all, barring those ineligible under clause 6.
Candidates may submit ‘joint’ or ‘group’ entries (“collective entry”). Schools Plus shall bear no responsibility for the distribution of prizes within a collective entry.
Each person may submit only one essay – this may be done individually, or as part of a collective entry. A candidate cannot submit both an individual entry and a collective entry.
Where two or more entries are received for a single candidate, the latest entry shall be considered for the competition.
All entries shall remain the copyright of the original author; although, by submitting an entry you agree to grant Oxford Hub a perpetual, non-exclusive and transferable license to use the essay.
No entries received after 23:59 UK time on the 31st of September 2021 (“the Deadline”) shall be accepted. Schools Plus accepts no responsibility for late arrivals.
All essays must be written in English.
It is expected that the winning entry will be published on the website of the newspapers. We cannot, however, guarantee this.
The winning candidate shall receive a signed declaration, certifying that they have indeed won the essay competition.
The decision of the Schools Plus Committee on the interpretation or execution of any of these rules shall be final.