Year 12 student Lana Crocher attended a prize giving ceremony at Newnham College, Cambridge after winning the third place prize in the college’s Archaeology annual essay writing competition.

Newnham College’s annual essay prize competitions are designed to encourage female sixth-form students to explore university-level subjects, including such subjects as Classics, Maths, and Engineering, and to develop their independent research and writing skills. Lana entered the Archaeology essay prize competition, writing a response to the question: ‘What are the differences between relative and absolute dating methods and why is dating important in Archaeology?’

Winners were selected by a panel of Newnham academics after hundreds of essays were received. Lana’s essay was praised by the judges as being ‘a strong essay that responds well to the prompt’ with a ‘convincing argument’ support by a range of examples. 

On her motivation for participating in the competition, Lana commented: ‘I wanted to partake in the competition to gain an insight into to what it’s like writing at a university level. My essay was focused on the differences between absolute and relative dating and why this is important in archaeology, which is a subject area I am eager to pursue further into higher education. I had rarely been exposed to the skills needed like referencing and in-depth independent research, so this has definitely given me a head start in developing these abilities.’

Lana attended the prize giving ceremony on Saturday 10th July, and commented upon the beauty of the college and the warm welcome she received from the staff. Lana also received a tour of the college and afternoon tea following the prize giving ceremony.

Each of the Newnham essay writing competitions has a prize of £400 for first place, £200 for second place, and £100 for third place. The prize money is equally split between the winner and their school, and Lana has made the suggestion that the prize money DSFC have received should be used to contribute towards a trip to a local site of archaeological

significance which can benefit other students.

Many congratulations to Lana on her achievement!