Essay prize encourages school pupils to engage critically with colonial past

Oriel College has launched the 2025 Rex Nettleford Essay Prize. The competition aims to encourage sixth-form pupils to engage critically with colonialism and colonial legacies, and there are two £250 prizes for the best submissions. Rex Nettleford, the eponymous Jamaican scholar and social critic who served as the vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies, studied at Oriel in 1957.

Oriel’s Tutor for Admissions and Outreach, Professor Julien Devriendt said:

“Colonialism has left a lasting imprint around the globe. The Rex Nettleford Essay Prize at Oriel College offers secondary school students a unique opportunity to explore its legacies. It also serves as excellent preparation for competitive applications to top-tier universities such as Oxford.”

Outreach Officer Carys Owen said:

“Year after year the Rex Nettleford Essay Prize has received outstanding essays on colonialism and its legacies from brilliant young minds.

“I look forward to seeing this year’s submissions — particularly those from pupils at schools and colleges in Oriel’s seven outreach regions in the UK.”

All UK pupils in year 12, or lower sixth, are eligible to enter the Rex Nettleford Essay Prize but Oriel will award at least one of the prizes to a pupil from a non-selective state school in one of the seven link regions where it focuses its outreach programme (Walsall, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Kensington and Chelsea, and Richmond upon Thames).

To enter, pupils are required to submit an essay that answers one of four questions. British colonialism provides the specific context for the essay prize. However, essays can address any relevant aspect, historical phase, cultural manifestation or geographical centre of colonialism, ancient or modern.

The deadline for submissions is 10am on Friday, 21 February, 2025, and prizes will be awarded at the 2024 Rex Nettleford Lecture on Thursday, 22 May 2025. The judges will look for a clear grasp of issues addressed, clarity in structuring and presentation of the argument, a critical approach to primary and secondary source materials, and originality of thought.

For media enquiries, interviews or visual asserts please contact:

Jared Smith — Communications Officer, Oriel College

email: communications@oriel.ox.ac.uk

tel: 01865 286541

Notes to editors

A high-res image of a portrait of Rex Nettleford at Oriel College (credit: Stuart Bebb) is available at: https://we.tl/t-buOshNE4AG.

For more information or additional visual assets please contact Jared Smith.

About Oriel College

Oriel College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford delivering world-class teaching and research. In the past century alone, it has produced two Nobel Laureates, at least nine Olympic medallists and numerous luminaries in culture and the arts.

Oriel College has c.350 undergraduates, c.270 postgraduate students and c.45 fellows. In recent years it has become a centre for environmental science and energy demand research, as well as the science of longevity and aging. In 2026 it is celebrating 700 years since its foundation in 1326