Big Think Competition 2026 Prizewinners’ Day

Last Thursday, we were delighted to host the Prizewinners’ Day for our 2026 Big Think Competition.

Each year, St Edmund Hall’s Big Think Competition invites UK state school students aged 15 to 18 to tackle one of our tutors’ “big” tutorial-style questions through a five-minute video essay. The competition gives students the chance to engage with a subject at university level, develop their research and communication skills, and think more creatively about their academic interests.

We are thrilled to announce that Annabel Steer won first prize this year with her response to the question, “Will quantum computers make all our data public?” Annabel’s entry was praised for its “excellent use of top-down camera angles and Lego characters to make an engaging presentation.”

Our other overall winners, Iniyal Suthgar and Ro Gatrick, won second and third prize respectively, for their responses to the questions “Can economics turn climate risks into opportunities for peace?” and “Are humans rational?”. We also invited our subject winners to the event, with 17 subject prizewinners in total and 20 winners altogether.

On Thursday 18 June, we welcomed our winners and subject prizewinners to Teddy Hall. They enjoyed a tour of the College led by current students, met the tutors who marked their entries over a buffet lunch, and found out more about life at university and the Oxford application process.

2026 was another record-breaking year for the competition, with 562 video essays submitted from across the UK – more than double the number of entries we received last year. We also had more subjects taking part than ever before, with almost every undergraduate subject offered by St Edmund Hall represented, from Modern Languages to Materials Science. This was also our biggest Prizewinners’ Day yet, with 18 prize winners, 14 tutors and 6 student helpers attending.

A huge thank you to the tutors involved this year for taking the time to set their subject’s “big” question and mark all the entries. We would also like to thank the many students who entered for their thoughtful, creative and insightful videos.