Gabriel Gatehouse delivers the 2025 Philip Geddes Memorial Lecture

Geddes Student Journalism Prizes 2025

Shortly before the lecture, a prize-giving reception was held for this year’s recipients of the Geddes Student Journalism Prizes. The prizes recognise and support emerging journalistic talent, with the awards contributing towards a media project or expenses needed to support an internship in the media. In the past, prize-winners have gone on to work for eminent publications such as The Economist, The Times and The Guardian.

The prizes awarded include the Philip Geddes Memorial Prize, the Ronnie Payne Prize for Foreign Reporting and the Clive Taylor Prize for Sports Journalism. For the first time, the Paddy Coulter Prize for Opinion Journalism was also awarded in memory of Paddy Coulter, a highly committed board member of the Trust and trail-blazing journalist turned activist who sadly died last year. The Chair of the Geddes Trust, John Ryley, commented that the standard of entries was very high this year and that the winners should be proud of their achievements. The other judges were Wes Williams, Professor of French Literature and a Hall Fellow; Iain Martin, a Times columnist; and Shingi Mararike, a Sky News correspondent.

Many congratulations to this year’s winners!

Philip Geddes Memorial Prize: Anuj Mishra, a final-year English Literature student at Exeter College

Anuj has already notched up significant journalistic experience with stints as Editor-in-Chief, Culture Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Stage Section Editor at the Cherwell. His internships have included the Manchester Evening News, MyLondon, and The Bolton News. His winning project is to travel to America to explore the influence Indian Americans are having on politics in the United States and the links between India’s BJP party and the Republican party.

Ronnie Payne Prize: Simar Bajaj, a first-year Master’s in Health Science student at St Anne’s

Simar has substantial freelance experience that includes writing for The Washington Post, Scientific American, TIME, The Atlantic and STAT News, the medical arm of The Boston Globe newspaper. He will report on the issue of stigma in contemporary society. He plans to spend two weeks travelling across rural America, investigating stigma in healthcare and speaking to patients whose stories have gone untold.

Clive Taylor Prize: Samantha Martin, a second-year History student at Somerville

Samatha, a horse racing fan, wrote a couple of hard-hitting pieces for The Times last year that captured the chaos of the Cheltenham Festival. She will spend the Geddes prize money reporting from France on the sporting and cultural differences between France’s top race, the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and Britain’s Grand National at Aintree. She hopes to place the report in The Times in October.

Paddy Coulter Prize: Flora Prideaux, a third-year History student at Somerville

Flora has already chaired the Oxford Student Publishing company and The Oxford Blue along with work experience at the Daily Mail. Flora will travel to the next UN Climate Change Conference – COP 30 in Brazil – to report on how the proceedings can be made more relevant to people experiencing the climate crisis around the planet.