Young Science Award 2023
The 2023 award celebrated young writers who asked bold questions, communicated evidence clearly, and brought complex ideas to life for all readers.
The Young Science Writer Award 2023 was a milestone year for the programme: it was the first time the competition opened nationally across the UK, inviting pupils from a far wider range of schools to take part and bringing an even broader diversity of voices into the award.
Across the submissions, young writers demonstrated impressive ambition and maturity, tackling timely scientific questions with clear structure, careful reasoning, and a strong sense of audience. The 2023 entries showed the value of science writing as a discipline in its own right - combining responsible research, evidence-led argument, and the ability to make complex ideas accessible and engaging.
This page celebrates our 2023 finalists. Each essay featured here was selected for originality, clarity, and the quality of its scientific explanation for a general reader. We extend our warmest congratulations to all finalists, and our sincere thanks to every pupil who entered - your curiosity and commitment to accuracy made this first UK-wide year a truly memorable one.
The 2023 finalists and winners were celebrated at the Royal Institution in London, as part of our annual awards ceremony recognising outstanding young science writing.
**We are working to publish the 2023 essays - please check back soon**
Young Science Writer of the Year 2023
Richael Forson
Eastlea Community School - Newham, London
"Cocoa Farming: A Story of Struggle, Resistance and Hope for Change"
Anchored in family history in Ghana, this essay reveals cocoa farming as a livelihood shaped by climate volatility, disease, and unstable prices - despite cocoa’s global economic importance. It explains how changing rainfall and pests drive yield losses and can push farmers towards migration and deforestation, creating a damaging feedback loop for ecosystems and local climates. The essay ends by highlighting the role of farmer-led advocacy and sustainable practice, including a personal tribute to the author’s grandfather as a community leader.
Runners-Up
Owain Ruddy
Ysgol Gyfun Gwyr - Gowerton, Swansea
"Cloning - science fiction fantasy, or ethical reality?"
Beginning with Dolly the sheep, this essay explains what cloning is, how it works, and why it has generated intense ethical debate - especially around the prospect of human cloning. It contrasts reproductive cloning with therapeutic cloning, then shows how induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) have reduced the need for embryo-based approaches. The piece closes by weighing modern uses - pet cloning, conservation, and even “de-extinction” - and argues that society must think carefully about where the science should go next.
Syeda Mahdiya Suraiya
Harlaw Academy - Aberdeen
"Maths Tidbits"
In an engaging, story-led style, this essay introduces “maths tidbits” that feel like mysteries - starting with infinity and the puzzles it creates, then moving to π and why its never-ending digits still underpin everyday life. It explores how concepts like zero and infinitesimals shape modern technology, while reflecting on the strange gap between mathematical ideas and the physical world. The overall message is that mathematics can be both abstract and deeply practical - and that curiosity is what makes it powerful.
Highly Commended
Taya Cooksey
Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr - Cardiff
"What does our previous knowledge of evolution suggest about how we could possibly evolve in the near future?"
Using human evolutionary history as a guide, this essay explores what “future evolution” might realistically look like - and what it probably won’t. It explains natural selection and punctuated equilibrium, then considers credible predictions such as longer lifespans (linked to lower mortality) and ongoing changes in body size, while noting evidence that human brain size may be decreasing rather than expanding. The piece ends by arguing that we can make informed forecasts, but certainty remains out of reach.
Sarma Hassan
Plashet School - East Ham, London
"Could AI potentially replace humans?"
This essay considers whether AI will ultimately improve society or introduce new risks we are not prepared to manage. It highlights potential benefits - from more efficient public services to crime detection - while emphasising major concerns including unemployment, deepfakes, privacy intrusion, and algorithmic bias (particularly in facial recognition). The piece concludes by arguing that AI’s impact will depend on how responsibly it is developed, regulated and used.
Haleema Khan
Bishopbriggs Academy - Bishopbriggs, Glasgow
"Is Artificial Intelligence a Tool for Progress or a Threat to Humanity? Exploring the Opportunities and Addressing the Risks"
This essay weighs the remarkable benefits of artificial intelligence - already embedded in everyday life - against the social risks of overreliance. It highlights AI’s potential in healthcare (including improved detection and treatment planning) while raising concerns about creativity, employment disruption, and what could be lost if machines begin to replace human storytelling and meaning-making. The piece argues for embracing AI cautiously, with clearer preparation for its consequences.
Avril Lansangan
Eastlea Community School - Newham, London
"Quantum Mechanics and Medicine"
This essay shows how “invisible” quantum behaviours underpin everyday medical technologies - especially MRI scanning, lasers, and emerging nanomedicine. It explains MRI through proton spin and magnetic realignment, then demystifies how lasers produce coherent light and why that precision matters in surgery. The essay finishes by exploring nanoparticle contrast agents and targeted drug delivery, while recognising the need for careful research and regulation around safety, ethics, and environmental impact.
Reda Pathan
Plashet School - East Ham, London
"Neural Implants: a medical miracle or an invasion of privacy?"
This essay explores whether neural implants could become the future of neuroscience, balancing their life-changing medical potential against serious ethical and security risks. It highlights current and emerging technologies - from cochlear implants and communication aids to experimental “biohybrid” devices for restoring limb function and memory prostheses aimed at supporting people with Alzheimer’s. The piece ultimately argues that brain implants should be limited to medical use, warning that privacy concerns, “brain-jacking,” and the need for neurorights must be addressed before wider adoption.
Zayd Shaikh
WMG Academy for Young Engineers - Solihull, Birmingham
"Reversing Aging - Which Way Do We Go?"
This essay explores ageing as a biological process - and asks whether it should be treated as an inevitable part of life or a problem science could meaningfully slow. It introduces key mechanisms such as cellular senescence, telomere shortening and mitochondrial decline, then discusses emerging approaches (including “senolytics” and NAD⁺-related pathways) that have shown promising results in animal studies. The piece also considers the social consequences of “immortality,” weighing longer healthy lives against pressures on resources, inequality and the environment.
Tiffaney Thirukumar
Plashet School - East Ham, London
"Can doctors really use embryonic stem cells to cure long-lasting health conditions?"
This essay explains what stem cells are and compares embryonic and adult stem cells as potential tools for treating long-term conditions. It sets out both the medical promise of pluripotent cells and the ethical concerns around embryos and consent, then brings in examples of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) and cardiac research to show how the field is developing. The piece concludes by arguing strongly for stem cells as a future route to treating chronic disease.
Sabrine Zamit
Sarah Bonnell - Stratford, London
"1 + 1 = maths error"
This philosophical essay challenges the idea that mathematics is an inherently “perfect” language of the universe, arguing that numbers have no meaning without context. Through examples involving the value of “one” and the paradoxes surrounding zero and division, it suggests that maths is less a set of cosmic truths and more a human tool for making sense of reality. The conclusion reframes maths as powerful - but ultimately dependent on interpretation and purpose.
Arina Zarubina
Garth Hill College - North Bracknell, Berkshire
"Is it possible to see in future the humanity declare its intentions, backed by actions, to relocate to Mars and why should people of younger age be interested in this topic?"
This essay asks whether humanity could realistically commit - through declared intent and meaningful action - to relocating to Mars, and why younger people should care about that prospect. It blends space history with current Mars exploration (including NASA’s Perseverance rover) and weighs the motivations for colonisation - survival, migration, and technological progress - against major barriers such as politics, life-support logistics, water access, and radiation protection. The piece closes with a generational call to turn an ambitious dream into a credible plan.
Hang Ming Zheng
Glenthorne High School - Sutton, Surrey
"How will technology propel us into the future?"
Using iconic sci-fi visions as a springboard, this essay explores how close humanity is to “magic-like” transport - on Earth and beyond it. It explains real technologies already in use or development, including maglev trains and ion propulsion, and considers why cleaner, more efficient propulsion has not yet transformed everyday transport. Looking further ahead, it introduces antimatter as a theoretical engine for interstellar travel and argues that the limiting factor is not imagination, but infrastructure and action.
