The 2026 Essay Competition
See below for a report of the 2025 Essay Prize
The Richard III Society is offering a prize of £200 for the best essay on a topic relevant to
The Life and Times of Richard, duke of Gloucester, Richard III, 1452-1485
There will be second prize of £100 and a third prize of £50.
We are open to receiving entries in the format of NEAs, EPQs, IB EEs or closely similar, well-researched and referenced essays of between 3,000 and 5,000 words by a student under the age of 19 on 31st August 2026.
The broad topic may be interpreted to include discussion of questions about the political influence of contemporaneous individuals; social conditions in England in the second half of the 15th century; international relationships with European powers under either Yorkist king; marriage policies of monarchs and the nobility and so on. Other suggestions may be found within this website.
Send your essay as a pdf to essay@richardiii.net
Deadline for entries is 31st May 2026.
Include the name of your school, your History teacher and their contact email.
Iain Farrell
Education Officer
Richard III Society
Report on the 2025 Essay prize
This year’s A-Level essay competition was a great success. The high numbers of entries are due to the ongoing success of the Schools Conference. As always, the essay prize money comes from the surplus generated from the proceeds of this event.
All the essays submitted this year were by A-level students in English schools. Roughly half of the work was submitted by girls; it is always good to see an equal gender balance. Furthermore, the participants were selected from a broad spectrum of educational institutions, encompassing both private and state schools. This selection accurately represents the diversity of students who pursue medieval history at A-level.
As expected, the open-ended nature of the competition, which invites essays on “The Life and Times of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Richard III, 1452-1485”, led to a diverse array of researched topics. This year, most of the essays were about Richard III. The themes discussed included Richard’s kingship, his reputation and image, and his military campaigns in Scotland. Other essays examined broader themes, such as the role of Warwick the Kingmaker and the influence of mothers and wives on fifteenth-century kings.
It is essential to note that all this year’s essays were written in accordance with the regulations of the three English A-level Examination Boards: AQA, Edexcel, and OCR, which restrict the methodologies and sources that can be used. It was good to see the extensive use of both medieval sources and modern writers for analysis, evaluation and interpretation in the essays. However, as we are aware of the extent to which the exam rubrics restrict students’ choices of primary materials and historians studied, the marking panel assesses their performance accordingly.
Assessing the high standard of work from such a dedicated group of young people is always a challenging task. Each essay is thoroughly reviewed to ensure it is free of plagiarism and has not utilised AI technology. All shortlisted essays are anonymised by having all personal information, including names and schools, removed before they are circulated to the assessors. I am grateful to Duncan Rowe, Ian Farrell and Joanna Laynesmith for their invaluable assistance in this process. Their expertise and dedication have been instrumental in ensuring a fair and thorough evaluation of the essays. Also, thanks to Jane Trump (Secretary) for updating the prize winners’ certificates and to Neil Trump (Treasurer) for distributing the prize money.
We are pleased to announce the following results.
First prize of £200 for this year’s best essay to Caleb Matthews, of Wymondham High Academy, for his essay “A self-obsessed opportunist who cared next to nothing about the welfare of England.’ – To what extent is this a fair judgement of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick?”.
Second and third prizes of £100 each were awarded to students of Hereford Sixth Form College and Ardingly College respectively
Their essay titles were “From Villain to Victim: Why has the image of Richard III changed so dramatically?” and ” ‘Frivolous Expenditure’ for ‘Trifling Gain’ How accurate is the Crowland Chronicle’s interpretation of Gloucester’s war with Scotland in 1482?”
Well done to all our young historians this year! Thank you to all teachers, tutors, and parents who have supported the essay writing process and encouraged participants to enter the competition. We eagerly await more essays for next year’s competition.
Julie Bungey
Essay Competition Co-ordinator