14 March 2025
THE RESULTS OF THE FINNBRIT WRITING COMPETITION 2025
The Federation of Finnish-British Societies annual English Writing Competition was held for the 42nd time on the 15th and 16th of January 2025. This year, the participants were students who started upper secondary school in 2024. 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 37 shortlisted texts were received from a total of 19 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 Venni Kallikari from Tammerkosken lukio for a philosophical reflection on ways to nourish one’s soul, a text that impressed the jury with its elaborate language and down-to-earth examples. A special mention from the judges goes to Elina Widmeyer from Lahden yhteiskoulun lukio for a touching story of seeing light at the end of the tunnel, a person’s last visions before death.
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 organized the competition in so many schools this year.
Päivi Kuivalainen
Chair, Writing Competition
| First prize | 500€ for a trip to the UK |
| Venni Kallikari | Tammerkosken lukio, Tampere |
| Runner-up prizes | Books |
| Elina Widmeyer | Lahden yhteiskoulun lukio |
| Iiris Olivia Harma | Sibelius lukio, Helsinki |
| Susanna Joensuu | Otaniemen lukio, Espoo |
| Nuutti Jussila | Vihdin lukio |
| Arobynn Kaski | Jyväskylän normaalikoulu |
| Kielo Kleemola | Kuusankosken lukio |
| Minea Koivula | Martinlaakson lukio, Vantaa |
| Ronja Mäkelä | Alppilan lukio, Helsinki |
| Saana Ripatti | Alppilan lukio, Helsinki |
| Inka Tanskanen | Tampereen klassillinen lukio |
15 January 2025
THE WRITING COMPETITION ESSAY TOPICS ARE:
| 1. How do you nourish your soul? |
| 2. I love lists |
| 3. Light at the end of the tunnel |
| 4. My favourite person |
| 5. The culture shock of my life |
Good luck!
13 November 2024
AN INVITATION TO TAKE PART IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE WRITING COMPETITION
For the 42nd time, the Federation of Finnish-British Societies, together with Finnish-British Society Helsinki (Finnbrit), is organising the annual national English language writing competition. The 2025 competition is for those students who started lukio (upper secondary school) in 2024.
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 on either Wednesday, 15 January or Thursday, 16 January 2025. The topics will be published on the Finnbrit website on 15 January 2025 at 8:00 a.m.
Only those students who started lukio in 2024 can take part. The writing time is 90 minutes, and the length of the text should be 200–250 words (articles and prepositions count as words) or 1250 characters. Texts 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 text must contain the name and age of the writer and the full name of the school.
SUBMITTING TEXTS TO FINNBRIT
The deadline for submitting the texts is Friday, 7 February 2025. Teachers should use their own judgement in selecting two texts per group or class (or two texts per approximately 25 students if there are many students not divided into groups or classes). Please do not send all the texts from the group or class you are teaching. The selected texts 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 B 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, 14 March 2025. 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 text on its website and in the magazine of the Federation of Finnish-British Societies.