PRME Chapter UK and Ireland
Responsible Business and Management Writing Competition 2021/22
Sixth Annual Competition
Announcement of Prize-Winners
28 April 2022
Against a backdrop of continuing pandemic-related impacts on higher education, it has been both encouraging and inspiring to read the entries in this year’s Responsible Business and Management Writing Competition. The PRME Chapter UK and Ireland and Oxford Brookes University are delighted to announce the very worthy winners in this sixth year of the competition. Announcing the 2022 results, Dr Jonathan Louw, Chapter Chair and Oxford Brookes competition organiser, has applauded the winners, other finalists and indeed all entrants on “the creative, thoughtful and often provocative ways in which they have addressed an impressive array of sustainability, responsibility and ethical challenges”. He has also praised “the committed contributions of this year’s 11 volunteer judges from 11 different universities (listed below), whose investment of time and thought have led to a rigorous and fair judging process”.
The Undergraduate (UG) judging panel have reported how impressed they were by the quality and diversity of the undergraduate submissions this year. Students addressed a wide range of highly relevant topics from ethical tourism to edible insects; sustainable fashion to responsible entrepreneurship. The first prize in the UG essay category is awarded to Natasha Donkin of the University of Durham. Co-Chairs of the UG Panel, Angie Lench and Dr Laura Steele, praised her “exemplary piece of work that demonstrated deep critical insight in relation to 'The Struggle to Make Fashion Sustainable'”. The second prize is won by Alexe Eames (Sheffield Hallam University) for an examination of the need for responsible and ethical business in the Wholesale Foods Industry. The third prize goes to Natasja Lowe (Oxford Brookes University) for an investigation that addressed the question, ‘Are Consumers Eating Responsibly?’
The winner of the first prize in the postgraduate (PG) essay category is Anushka Patil, of the University of the Arts London. Reflecting on Anushka’s winning entry, Dr Karen Cripps, PG Panel Chair, commended her “penetrating analytical eye and excellent primary data gathering” in relation to her insights into the transparency of sustainability claims at the fashion brand Zara. Ruth Kilsby of the University of Bath wins the second prize for her application of Kantian ethics to the morality of the decision made by a law firm to represent ExxonMobil in a climate-related lawsuit in 2019. The third prize is awarded to Akshatha Bhaskaran, also of the University of Bath, for an investigation into the ‘Moral Case for keeping Furlough Money: An Ethics of Duty Analysis of Penguin Random House’.
In the category of Alternative Media (AM), Queen’s University Belfast has once again made a strong showing in the form of first prize-winner Lydia McAlister’s video titled ‘OnlyFans: A breakthrough for the destigmatisation of sex work, or just another opportunity for exploitation?’. Dr Amir Keshtiban, Chair of the AM Panel, praised an “insightful analysis and thought provoking reflection on a highly topical subject”. In second place is Hannah Stephens from Glasgow University with a visual diary addressing how equality, diversity and inclusion practices and approaches speak to “the pivotal and historic social event of the #MeToo Movement”. As there were substantially fewer entries in this category than in the other two (a contrast to last year), the panel has decided to award only two prizes in 2022. The panel and competition organisers hope for renewed interest in this category next year.
For further information
This sixth annual competition received entries from the 17 institutions listed in the table below. The organisers would like to thank most sincerely all those staff who encouraged entries. 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 about their prizes and/or certificates. Please copy any local publicity about the prize-winners to our Twitter feed: @PRME_UKI
For more information about the PRME Chapter UK and Ireland see: https://www.unprme.org.uk/
FULL PRIZE-WINNER LIST
Undergraduate Category
First Prize (£500) Natasha Donkin, University of Durham
Second Prize (£300) Alexe Eames, Sheffield Hallam University
Third Prize (£100) Natasja Lowe, Oxford Brookes University
Other Undergraduate Finalists (in alphabetical order)
Said Ali (University of Brighton); Annabel Brookes (University of Durham); Radeena Dheensa (Aston University); Adam Garnett (University of Winchester); Sophie Hurst (Oxford Brookes University); Anna Schwinge (Oxford Brookes University); Chloe Spinks (Oxford Brookes University); Grace Walshaw (Sheffield Hallam University).
Postgraduate Category
First Prize (£500) Anushka Patil, University of the Arts London
Second Prize (£300) Ruth Kilsby, University of Bath
Third Prize (£100), Akshatha Bhaskaran, Universityof Bath
Other Postgraduate Finalists (in alphabetical order)
Sophia Eyo (University of Winchester), Thomas Givens (University of Bath)
Alternative Media Category
First Prize (£500) Lydia McAlister, Queen's University Belfast.
Second Prize (£300) Hannah Stephens, University of Glasgow
Other Alternative Media Finalists
Patrick Casement (Queen’s University Belfast)
PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS
Many thanks to the staff who encouraged entries from the 17 institutions below.
Aston University
Glasgow Caledonian University
Nottingham Trent University
Oxford Brookes University
Queen's University, Belfast
University of the Arts London
University of Birmingham
University of Brighton
University of Durham
University of Hertfordshire
University of Newcastle
University of Winchester
Royal Holloway University of London
Sheffield Hallam University
University of Glasgow
University of Southampton
University of Bath
University of Surrey
Prize-winners and finalists were this year drawn from 10 of the above institutions.
JUDGING PANELS
The Chapter is most appreciative of the time and efforts of our volunteer judging panels. More information on these panel members can be found here.
Postgraduate Panel
Dr Karen Cripps University of Winchester (Chair)
Professor Peter Stokes Leicester Castle Business School, De Montfort University
Dr Karen Neville Cork University Business School
Undergraduate Panels
Dr Laura Steele Queen’s University Belfast (Panel 1 Chair)
Angie Lench University of the Arts London (Panel 2 Chair)
Jela Webb University of Brighton
Dr Julia Calver Leeds Beckett University
Dr Zeineb Djebali University of Surrey
Alternative Media Panel
Dr Amir Keshtiban University of Northumbria (Chair)
Dr. Sara Ravan Ramzani Arden University
Dr Chandres Tejura Queen Mary University of London
The UG, PG and AM panels work independently, reporting to the organisers at Oxford Brookes. Anyone interested in joining a panel next year should contact Jonathan Louw (prme@brookes.ac.uk)