PRME Chapter UK and Ireland
Responsible Business and Management Student Writing Competition 2025/26
10th Anniversary Competition
Announcement of Prize-Winners and Finalists
30 April 2026
The PRME Chapter UK and Ireland and Oxford Brookes University are honoured to announce the winners of the 10th Responsible Business and Management Student Writing Competition. Announcing the 2026 outcome, Professor Nick Wilton, Dean of Oxford Brookes Business School, has highlighted how “it’s been another tough year for the judges with so many excellent contributions – congratulations to the winners and to everyone who took part and who, in doing so, demonstrated their personal commitment to responsible management practice. Congratulations also to the Writing Competition itself which celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2026”. Competition organiser, Dr Jonathan Louw, has also noted how “when I encounter the insights and creativity of our entrants, and I engage with the imaginative and demanding assignments they are responding to, then I realise how much this competition is also a celebration of the academics who have sparked all these achievements”. As always over the past ten years, the Chapter and organisers would also like to publicly acknowledge the invaluable role of the 14 judges from eight universities (listed below) whose expertise and time have made this competition possible.
The increasing quality of the submissions in the Alternative Media category has continued to impress this year. Dr Laura Steele, Panel Chair, has noted that the entries “served to showcase a powerful collective commitment to sustainability, highlighting innovative approaches to responsible consumption, circular design, ethical supply chains, urban resilience, and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across industries. Together, they also reflect growing interest in systems-level change amongst students, exploring how emerging technologies, corporate responsibility, governance, and behaviour change can help shape a more sustainable and inclusive future".
The first prize in the Alternative Media category is won by Xiaoli Dai of the University of Dundee, whose video and report considered whether a mobile app can help convert green intentions to green actions and, in the judges’ words, “distinguished itself through its originality, analytical quality, and strong evidential foundation". The second prize is awarded to Anastasia Varvanets of the University of Westminster, whose poster highlighted the findings of her investigation into housing inequality and climate resilience in Copenhagen. Recipient of the third prize is Sevinch Ochilova (University of the Arts London) for her design-enhanced report titled: Reframing luxury: Embedding disability inclusion into Burberry's CSR strategy.
Top prize in the Undergraduate (UG) essay category in 2026 is awarded to Ava Hall-Zschenderlein of the University of Durham. Continuing Durham’s long run of success at the top of the UG category, the Panel Chairs Dr Pallavi Singh and Dr Mohamed Saeudy praised Ava’s work as “an exceptional, highly original essay demonstrating outstanding intellectual depth. The critical analysis of AI, power, and sustainability shows rare conceptual sophistication and excellent integration of SDGs.” The second prize is won by Joseph Pinnells of the University of Nottingham for his critical assessment of whether ASML’s industrial dominance can be aligned with the UN SDGs. The third prize is awarded to Alexander Cox (University of Bath) for a thoughtful exploration of the extent to which the National Grid’s organisational strategy, management practices, and governance framework reflect genuine sustainability.
In the Postgraduate (PG) essay category the first prize this year is awarded to Claire Prothon of King’s College London for her report titled: Chocolate and the limits of ethical markets: marketing, leadership, and a wicked sustainability problem. Commending this work, Dr Sean Tanner, PG Panel Chair, comments “This is an outstanding postgraduate submission that demonstrates exceptional critical depth, theoretical sophistication, and conceptual originality. The essay’s use of the “wicked problem” framing and the perception–impact gap offers a powerful reframing of sustainability challenges in the chocolate sector … overall, this is a highly relevant, intellectually confident piece that merits distinction.” The second prize is earned by Jeremiah Sylvester Ogwuche of Sheffield Hallam University for a study that seeks to re-imagine mental health equity. The third prize also goes to a student at King’s College London, Dannica Batoon, for a further cocoa-focused investigation addressing the question: Who governs “ethical” cocoa? Value chain power and the limits of responsibility-based interventions.
The PG panel’s overall comments highlight a particularly impressive standard of submissions in 2026. The judges note that “the top three submissions this year demonstrate exceptional theoretical depth. While our first and third place submissions both deal with the cocoa sector, they take quite different approaches, with our first-place winner tackling the structural imbalances and limitations of marketing and consumer driven approaches to sustainability, while the third prize winner looks at gaps and challenges in sustainability reporting. Our second-place submission leverages lived experience and draws on theoretically robust critiques to offer a considered, informed and compassionate discussion and proposals to support mental health equity for ethnic African men in the UK. At their core, these three submissions – like those of many other finalists - exemplify an understanding of the environmental, economic and social imperatives which necessitate responsible management education and practice.”
For further information
The competition is organised by Oxford Brookes Business School (OBBS) on behalf of the PRME Chapter UK and Ireland. It is open to students at any university in the UK and Ireland, who can submit work previously submitted at their home institutions or generate new work consistent with the competition criteria. Prize funds are contributed by both the Chapter and OBBS. This 10th anniversary competition received 128 entries from the 23 institutions listed in the table below. Any enquiries about the results can be directed to Dr Jonathan Louw at prme@brookes.ac.uk
Prize-winners’ and finalists’ work will be published on the Chapter website in due course. Prize-winners and finalists will be contacted individually during early May about their prizes and/or certificates. Please copy any local publicity about the prize-winners to the Chapter’s Linkedin page .For more information about the PRME Chapter UK and Ireland see: https://www.unprme.org.uk/
FULL PRIZE-WINNER AND FINALIST LIST - 2026
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Alternative Media Category
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First Prize (£500) Xiaoli Dai, University of Dundee
Second Prize (£300) Anastasia Varvanets, University of Westminster
Third Prize (£100) Sevinch Ochilova, University of the Arts London
Other Alternative Media Finalists (in alphabetical order by family name)
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Hadeel Alsudani (University of Westminster), Harriet Duncombe (University of Birmingham), Eva Di Cino (University of Westminster), Anna Gennotte (University of Westminster), Kimla Rashidzadeh (University of the Arts London), Gowri Sharma (University of the Arts London), Nora Soliman (University of the Arts London)
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Undergraduate Essay Category
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First Prize (£500) Ava Hall-Zschenderlein, University of Durham
Second Prize (£300) Joseph Pinnells, University of Nottingham
Third Prize (£100) Alexander Cox, University of Bath
Other Undergraduate Finalists (in alphabetical order by family name)
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Sima Almahrous (University of Salford), Bailee Cook (Queen’s University Belfast), Isra Ehbal (University of Salford), Amy Ellison (Queen’s University Belfast), Aimee Kimberley (University of Bath), Millie Laycock (University of Durham), Serabi Opiyo (University of Birmingham), Cara Parkins (University of Bath), Ludovica Iura (University of Bath), Virginia Saffin (University of Birmingham), Adam Sansbury (University of Birmingham), Johnny Seddon (University of Salford),
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Postgraduate Essay Category
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First Prize (£500) Claire Prothon, King’s College London
Second Prize (£300) Jeremiah Sylvester Ogwuche, Sheffield Hallam University
Third Prize (£100) Dannica Batoon, King’s College London
Other Postgraduate Finalists (in alphabetical order by family name)
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Caitlin Baber (University of the Arts London), Ophelia Cruickshank (University of the Arts London), Sophie Ellenburg (University of Stirling), Oluwapelumi Fadairo (University of Salford), Beth Gerrard (University of the West of England), Zeyneb Kosay (University of the Arts London), Maia Lowry (University of the Arts London), Cynthia Ndukaku (University of Salford), Omobidemi Opakunle (University of Salford), Lavinia Schofield (University of the Arts London), Jiaxin Yang (University of Bristol)
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PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS IN 2026
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De Montfort University
King's College London
Oxford Brookes University
Queen's University Belfast
Ravensbourne University London
Sheffield Hallam University
St Andrew's University
University of the Arts London
University of Bath
University of Birmingham
University of Bristol
University for the Creative Arts
University of Dundee
University of Durham
University of Galway
University of Leicester
University of Limerick
University of Nottingham
University of Salford
University of Stirling
University of Sunderland
University of the West of England
University of Westminster
Prize-winners and finalists this year were drawn from 12 of the above 23 institutions.
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JUDGING PANELS
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The Chapter commends the efforts of the following volunteer judges:
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Dr Anjana Basnet University of Salford (UG Panel)
Dr Ben Davies Bath Spa University (PG Panel)
Dr Xinwu He Queens University Belfast (Alternative Media Panel)
Dr Amir Keshtiban York St John University (UG Panel)
Dr Caroline Kom Sheffield Hallam University (PG Panel)
Dr Caroline Linhares Sheffield Hallam University (Alternative Media Panel)
Dr Romas Malevicius King’s College London (UG Panel)
Dr Stuart McClure Queen’s University Belfast (PG Panel)
Dr Divya Patel University of Salford (Alternative Media Panel)
Dr Mohamed Saeudy University of Bedfordshire (UG Panel 2 Chair)
Dr Pallavi Singh Sheffield Hallam University (UG Panel 1 Chair)
Dr Laura Steele Queen’s University Belfast (Alternative Media Panel Chair)
Dr Sean Tanner University College Cork (PG Panel Chair)
Angie Valentine University of the Arts London (retired) (UG Panel)
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The UG, PG and AM panels work independently, reporting to the organisers at Oxford Brookes.
Links to the professional profiles of the panel members can be found here.
Anyone interested in joining a panel next year should contact Jonathan Louw (prme@brookes.ac.uk)
JL/OBU/30.4.26