Richael, from Eastlea Community School in London, stood out for her essay ‘Cocoa farming: a story of struggle resistance and hope for change’, which shines a light on the rights, needs and challenges of cocoa farmers in her country, Ghana.
Richael’s essay will be published on the BBC News website alongside the work of professional science writers. She will receive her award – including £1000 to help with her writing development, a year’s ABSW membership, and mentoring from a senior science writer – in front of her classmates at a special event in the Royal Institution Theatre, today, 26 June 2023.
Also highly commended by the judges were 15-year-old Owian Ruddy at Ysgol Gyfun GWYR in Swansea, Wales and 14-year-old Syeda Mahdiya Suraiya, from Aberdeen's Harlaw Academy, who have been named a joint runners-up. Owian’s essay examining the ethics of cloning, and Syeda’s essay, exploring the endless stories to be discovered through mathematics, will both be published on the Royal Institution website. Each will receive £250 for use to support their further development as a science writer.
Andy Extance, Chair of the ABSW, said: "I'm delighted that by opening up the Young Science Writer Award to the entire country, we got great entries on a wide range of interesting subjects. It's wonderful to see our runners up telling fascinating stories about cloning and the nature of infinity, and the winner taking on the way climate change and other environmental issues affect cacao farms like her grandfather's."
Jeff and Alex O’Brien, the primary funders of the Young Science Writer Award, said: "We were thrilled when the ABSW decided to take the award national this year to give even more students the opportunity to shine.
“We also were excited to hear that 10 commendation prizes would be awarded, as we know there is so much quality in the submissions that more students deserved recognition."
Daniel Glaser, Director of Science Engagement at the Royal Institution, said: “The Young Science Writer’s Award is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the potential of our young people. In meticulously researching and crafting these original works, our winner and runners-up have each showcased the relevance of science to everyday life and, I hope, will help inspire others to have a future with science. Many congratulations to Richael, Owian and Syeda.”
Running for its second year since being established by the ABSW and the Ri in 2022, the Young Science Writer of the Year Award was open to teenagers at non-selective, state-funded schools throughout the UK.
Conceived by the O’Brien family, the Award is designed to get students aged 14-16 thinking and writing about the big questions in science, technology, engineering and maths, at a time when the rise of mis-information and dis-information, which is disproportionately consumed online by young people, is of increasing concern to children’s charities worldwide.
By nurturing aspiring young science writers now, the ABSW, Ri and BBC hope that the Award will help maintain robust, evidence-based science writing in the future, while supporting educators to engage in children’s media activities, help develop their critical thinking, and support media and information literacy programmes.
About the commended entries
In addition to the 2023 Award winner and joint runners-up, the following students submitted essays that were highly commended by the judges:
- Haleema Khan
- Arina Zarubina
- Hang Ming Zheng
- Sarma Hassan
- Taya Cooksey
- Tiffaney Thirukumar
- Sabrine Zamit
- Avril Lansangan
- Zayd Shaikh
- Reda Pathan
Read the 2022 highlights
- Winner: Are fungi the answer to our climate crisis? written by Zara Hussan
- Runner-up: Computational forensic: privacy or protection? written by Sanjana Ahmed
- Runner-up: How has the introduction of Argentine ants affected ecosystems and human life? written by Oisin Wagstaff-Dent