Young Science Writer Awards 2025
All the details on how to apply for this year's competition!
Thank you to everyone who entered the Young Science Writer Award 2025!
This year, we received over 600 incredible submissions from passionate young writers across the UK. Your essays made us laugh, moved us deeply, and opened our eyes to new ideas. From exploring the threat of deadly diseases and the ethics of artificial intelligence to compelling calls for action on the climate emergency, your words demonstrated the power of science storytelling to inform, challenge, and inspire.
All entrants should now have received an email with the outcome of their submission. If you're our winner, runners-up, or highly commended entrants, we offer our warmest congratulations. Your work truly stood out this year, and we can't wait to welcome you to this year's awards ceremony at the Science Museum in London.
To those who were not selected this year: please know that the standard was incredibly high, and the judging process exceptionally difficult. Your voice matters, and we strongly encourage you to continue writing, exploring, and sharing your ideas. We hope to see you again in next year’s competition!
Thank you again for making the 2025 award our biggest and most inspiring yet.
Congratulations to our Winner!
Hasset Kifle from St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy - Stoke-on-Trent
Congratulations to our Runners-up!
Philippa Woodley from Ricards Lodge High School - Wimbledon
Faizah Tasnim Suha from St Paul's Way Trust School - Tower Hamlets
Congratulations to our Highly Commended entrants!
Tom Bauss from Alexandra Park School - Haringey
Isabella Goodall from Wickersley School and Sports College - South Yorkshire
Lily Simpson from Penwortham Girls' High School - Lancashire
Lilia Parry from Helston Community College - Cornwall
Tom Stephenson from High Storrs School - Sheffield
Alyssa Croissant from Baysgarth School - North Lincolnshire
Lucia Berrios from Sir Thomas Wharton Academy - Doncaster
Emma Baum from King David High School - Manchester
Sophie Jane Anderson from Buckie Community High School - Moray
Fizza Ali from St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy - Stoke-on-Trent
In the meantime, if you have any questions about the competition, don't hesitate to contact our Young Science Writer Awards Manager, Maisie, at [email protected].
Who can apply?
The Association of British Science Writers invites students from non-selective state funded schools, or those who are home schooled with disabilities and who cannot attend school in person, aged 14-16 years, to submit an 800-word essay on any subject in science, technology, engineering and/or mathematics.
This competition is open to students nationally in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
This competition is designed to get young people writing and thinking about the big questions in science, technology, engineering and maths, with a focus on how science impacts on policymaking and society.
Criteria for Entry:
1. You must be aged 14-16 years old;
2. You MUST be attending a state funded AND non-selective school in the UK.
How to apply?
Write an essay of up to 800 words (this does not include references) and submit it via this website by 23:59 pm on Friday 7th March 2025.
Alongside your essay, we will ask some additional questions which will help us review your submission. You can access this form by clicking on the 'Submit your essay' button which will go live when the competition opens on Friday 17th January 2025.
Please note that the winner and runners-up will need permission from their parent/guardian before any details about them can be made publicly available.
We also ask that you make your school aware you have entered the competition. Should you be selected as a winner or runner-up, we will invite you and your class to our awards ceremony and we will need a point of contact within your school to arrange this with.
Submissions must be in English.
What are we looking for?
Great storytelling. We would love the essay to be an enlightening, informative and engaging read. We would also like it to include analysis, context, and perspective, helping the reader explore and understand the social, ethical, and political implications of scientific advances and the scientific process.
Award Categories
There five award categories to which you can align your essay to:
- Climate & Environment
- AI & Technology
- Engineering the Future
- Healthcare & Life Science
- Maths & Physical Sciences
The topic of your essay may overlap several areas of STEM. Please select whichever category aligns with your essay the most.
What should you write about?
We are keen to hear about whatever STEM topics you are passionate about; it can be anything from the role of AI in societies of the future to the importance of meeting our net zero goals in the next decade.
Here are some ideas on types of questions that could guide your essays:
- How far away are settlements on Mars from becoming reality?
- Should those who make science policy be scientists?
- How is fast fashion contributing to the climate emergency?
- What are the materials of the future and how could they be used to house growing populations?
And finally here are some questions for you to consider when thinking about the content of the essay:
- How does the subject you choose relate to society?
- Who are the winners and losers of scientific advance in this area?
- What role should the public play in policymaking in this area?
Please be aware, we check all essays using AI detection software. If it is discovered that your submission has been written with the help of an AI-based tool, it will be disqualified from the competition.
