Big Think Competition 2024 Results

We are delighted to share the results of our Big Think Competition for 2024.

Each year, the Big Think invites UK state school students aged 15 to 18 to answer one of our tutors’ ‘big’ tutorial-style questions with a five-minute video essay. Allowing students an opportunity to strengthen their personal statements and explore university-style study, the competition culminates in a day in Oxford for the winners.

With 15 subjects on offer and 245 entries, 2024 marked the biggest year of the competition to date. This year, questions included: “Is Shakespeare better than Taylor Swift?”, “When did complex life on land evolve?” and “How is artificial intelligence shaping the future of medicine and biomedical sciences?”

We are pleased to announce that Oluwatewamise Oni won first prize, answering the question “Is there such a thing as an untranslatable word?” Oluwatewamise’s entry was praised for exploring different perspectives and challenging what we mean by ‘good translation’. Natalie Wang took second prize by applying a thoughtful and balanced analogy of baking to: “Historians disagree all the time, so how can we trust what they write?” The Hall also awarded a winner in each subject together with a number of Special Commendations, in recognition of the wealth of high-quality entries.

In June we welcomed the prize-winners to Hall, where they had a chance to meet current students and the tutors who marked their entries, as well as finding out more about life at university.

You can watch the winning entries and learn more about the competition on our Big Think Competition webpage. A huge thank you to the tutors involved this year and also to the many students who entered for creating such fantastic videos!

“It’s great to have received so many entries. I kept thinking that I hope some of these students apply and apply to us: I would really like to teach them!”
– Big Think tutor

“I am extremely delighted to hear I have been selected [as a winner of the Big Think Competition]. The question was heavily linked to subjects which I hope to take further into university, and winning this award is heavily encouraging in my academic endeavours. It has made me want to pursue further ideas linked to the topic and expand my areas of understanding, which I am extremely grateful for.”
– Prize-winner

“I really enjoyed this project and being selected a subject winner is an additional joy.”
– Prize-winner