University of Cambridge English Prize Winners

Four of our Latymer Upper School English A Level students have achieved outstanding success in this year’s Trinity College Gould Prize and  Queens’ College Estelle Prize for English, both run by the University of Cambridge. Each student conducted independent reading and research into their chosen topics, producing insightful and original essays. 

Amelia took 1st place in the Estelle Prize for her research into the interdependency of place, memory, and the poetic imagination in Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey. She was also highly commended for the Gould Prize.

Orla achieved 2nd place in the Gould Prize for her examination of Edmund Spenser, W.B. Yeats, Seamus Heaney, and the ‘taste’ of Irish poetry.

Archie was longlisted for the Gould Prize for his exploration into the interplay between T.S. Eliot’s The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock and WIlliam Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Jimena was also longlisted for the Gould Prize for her essay considering mortality and legacy in Ian McEwan, Shakespeare, Horace, and Mexican funeral traditions.

Finally, Valeria earned an honurable mention for the Estelle Prize with her analysis of Edward Thomas’s poem The Mill-Pond.

Our Head of English, Mr Mitropoulos-Monk, says: “In addition to Amelia’s wonderful victory in the Estelle Prize, there were 231 entries for the Gould Prize this year, with the top 25 longlisted. To have all four Latymer entrants making the top 25 is astonishing. We are rightly proud of Valeria, Jimena, Archie, Orla and Amelia. It is extremely gratifying to see their passion for literature and hard work recognised in such a special way.”

English at Latymer continues to thrive with close to 100 students studying the subject in the Sixth Form.

Author: Sohni Malde