13 March 2024
THE RESULTS OF THE FINNBRIT WRITING COMPETITION 2024
The Federation of Finnish-British Societies annual English Essay Writing Competition was held for the 41st time on the 17th and 18th of January 2024. This year, the participants were students who started upper-secondary school in 2023. The essay titles were posted on the Helsinki Finnish-British Society website for download on the first competition day. Teachers then sent in the best essays of their schools, and in all, 90 shortlisted texts were received from a total of 33 schools throughout Finland.
The jury was composed of five judges, including representatives from the Finnish-British Society and the Association of Teachers of English in Finland. The judges gave first prize to Anna Phan from Mattlidens gymnasium in Espoo for her mature, thoughtful, and relatable description of three wishes, a text that impressed the jury with its clarity, subtlety, and realistic imagery. A special mention from the judges goes to Ilon Kuisti from The English School in Helsinki for an exciting, haunting, and powerful story of mental health problems, a mother’s battle against her own demons.
The standard of essays was as usual extremely high, and the many years of English studies showed in the essays. The judges would like to congratulate the winner and the runners-up and thank all those who took part in the competition, not forgetting the English teachers who organised the competition in so many schools this year.
Päivi Kuivalainen
Chair, Essay Writing Competition
| First prize | 500€ for a trip to the UK |
| Anna Phan | Mattlidens gymnasium |
| Runner-up prizes | Books |
| Ilon Kuisti | The English School |
| Ingrid Kähäri | Ressun lukio |
| Mairit Laksberg | Lohjan yhteislyseon lukio |
| Pratham Makwana | Ressun lukio IB World School |
| Vedika Mathur | Mattlidens gymnasium |
| Emilia Merikari | Tampereen klassillinen lukio |
| Sofiia Nikitchenko | Turun klassillinen lukio |
| Sanni Salokannel | Halikon lukio |
| Vilma Tuominen | Turun normaalikoulun lukio |
| Eveliina Viramäki | Ressun lukio |
17 January 2024
THE WRITING COMPETITION ESSAY TOPICS ARE:
| 1. The forest |
| 2. Restless world |
| 3. The day I learned a lesson |
| 4. The Arts and the Sciences: Do they dance in time with one another, or is one out of step with the other? |
| 5. If I had three wishes |
Good luck!
10 November 2023
AN INVITATION TO TAKE PART IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE WRITING COMPETITION
For the 41st time, the Federation of Finnish-British Societies, together with Finnish-British Society Helsinki (Finnbrit), is organising the annual national English language writing competition. The 2024 competition is for those students who started lukio (upper secondary school) in 2023.
PRIZES
The first prize is 500€, which is to be put towards travelling to the UK (tickets refunded after purchase). The prizes for the nine runners-up are novels in English.
RULES AND INSTRUCTIONS
Each teacher will arrange an invigilated writing event for the essay writing on either Wednesday, 17 January or Thursday, 18 January 2024. The essay topics will be published on the Finnbrit website on 17 January 2024 at 8:00 a.m.
Only those students who started lukio in 2023 can take part. The essay writing time is 90 minutes, and the length of the essay should be 200–250 words (articles and prepositions count as words) or 1250 characters. Essays longer than 300 words will not be considered.
All texts must be written using Abitti, and only if that is not possible, by pen and paper. Use of dictionaries or any other supporting material is not allowed. Texts written on word processing applications such as Microsoft Word will not be considered. Each essay must contain the name and age of the writer and the full name of the school.
SUBMITTING ESSAYS TO FINNBRIT
The deadline for submitting the essays is Friday, 9 February 2024. Teachers should use their own judgement in selecting two essays per group or class (or two essays per approximately 25 students if there are many students not divided into groups or classes). Please do not send all the essays from the group or class you are teaching. The selected essays should be sent by email as pdf attachments to finnbrit@finnbrit.fi. They can, if necessary, be sent by post to Finnish-British Society, Fredrikinkatu 20 A 9, 00120 Helsinki, in which case early posting is required.
THE PANEL OF JUDGES
The panel of judges consists of representatives from the Association of Teachers of English in Finland and Finnish-British Society.
ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS
The prize winners will be announced on the Finnbrit website on Friday, 15 March 2024. The book prizes and certificates will be sent to each school. The winner of the first prize will be contacted through the school.
Finnbrit reserves the right to publish the winner’s name, the name of the school, and the winning essay on its website and in the magazine of the Federation of Finnish-British Societies.