ra butler essay prize

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Politics and International Relations: The Butler Prize

Resource details.

The R.A. Butler Prize for essays in Politics and International Studies is a competition that can be entered by students in Year 12 or the Lower 6th. Candidates are invited to submit an essay on a topic to be chosen from a list of general questions announced in March each year, and to be submitted in August.

The Prize is jointly organised by Trinity College Cambridge and Cambridge University’s Department of Politics and International Studies. The Prize was established in memory of the former Master of Trinity College, Lord Butler, who most famously served as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and who was responsible for the introduction of free secondary education for all students in the UK.

The objectives of the R.A. Butler Prize are twofold. Firstly, it aims to encourage students with an interest in modern politics and world affairs to think about undertaking university studies in Politics, International Studies or a related discipline; it is not limited to those already studying these subjects or indeed other social sciences. Secondly, its intention is to recognise the achievements both of high-calibre students and of those who teach them.

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ARCHIVE - R. A. Butler Politics Essay Prize 2018

The R.A. Butler Prize for essays in Politics and International Studies is a competition that can be entered by students in Year 12 or the Lower 6th.

The Prize is jointly organised by Trinity College Cambridge and Cambridge University’s Department of Politics and International Studies. The Prize was established in memory of the former Master of Trinity College, Lord Butler, who most famously served as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and who was responsible for the introduction of free secondary education for all students in the UK.

DEADLINE IS 20th AUGUST 2018

https://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/undergraduate/essay-prizes/politics/

2018 competition

https://share.trin.cam.ac.uk/sites/public/Tutorial/Admissions-UG/Butler%20questions%202018.pdf

o Is war an inevitable feature of modern politics?

o What role, if any, should religion play in democratic politics?

o How can a government encourage interaction between segregated communities?

o Is the internet ruining politics?

o Why is it important that women participate in government?

o How should governments respond to the challenge of automation?

o Is a legitimate process more important for a democracy than good results?

o How is the shift in global economic power to Asia changing the world order?

o Is global nuclear disarmament politically possible?

o Does history repeat itself in politics?

Essays must be submitted by email to [email protected] by 28 August 2017, and should be accompanied by a signed statement of originality as per the website of the Butler prize

Prize . 

Prize . The competition carries a First Prize of £600, to be split equally between the candidate and his or her school or college (the school or college’s portion of the prize to be issued in the form of book tokens), and a Second Prize of £400, which again is to be shared equally between the candidate and his or her school or college. Winners will be announced in September, and will be invited to visit the College to meet some of the teaching staff.

Format . Essays should be between 2,000 and 4,000 words (not including the bibliography). It’s worth considering the use of examples in your essays: the best essays often use a diverse selection of contemporary, historical or literary examples. We encourage you to provide references to your sources of information, and to include a bibliography at the end of the essay.

Submission . Essays must be submitted by email to [email protected]. Word or PDF file formats are acceptable. It will be helpful if you could name the file with your surname and initial, in the style (for example): SmithJ.pdf or SmithJ.docx . On the first page of your essay, please include the following information: your name, email address, school name and address, your year at school (e.g. Year 12), and the subjects you are studying and to what level (e.g. A-level). Please include a statement of originality: “I confirm that this essay is written in my own words and is the result of my own work. All sources used have been acknowledged in the essay.” Please ‘sign’ that statement (i.e. put your name, electronically is fine) and put the date on which you are submitting the essay.

If you cannot submit the essay electronically, please post it to R.A. Butler Prize, c/o Dr Glen Rangwala, Trinity College, Cambridge CB2 1TQ.

Eligibility . The Prize is for students in Year 12 or Lower 6th at the time the questions are released (in the school year 2017-18). Students based abroad are most welcome to participate. They should, however, be in their penultimate year of school.

Contact . Any queries from teachers with students who may be interested in submitting work for the prize should be directed to Dr Glen Rangwala by email to: [email protected] .

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Compelling and Outstanding Essay from Julia

Judges on the UK’s most prestigious essay writing competition, the Trinity R A Butler Politics Essay Competition, have commended Year 13’s Julia on her essay which questions, ‘Do wealthy nations owe anything to poor nations?’ for its ‘compelling arguments’ and ‘outstanding insights’.

A competition open to students in Year 12, R A Butler Prize competition candidates choose a topic from a list of general questions announced in advance.  Jointly organised by Trinity College Cambridge and Cambridge University’s Department of Politics and International Studies, the prize was established in memory of the former Master of Trinity College, Lord Butler.  Famously serving as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Butler was responsible for the introduction of free secondary education for all students in the UK. 

Recognising achievements of high calibre students and their teachers, the prize is offered to encourage students with an interest in modern politics and world affairs to consider studying politics or international studies at university, or a related discipline.

Commenting on her commendation, Julia said, “I was really interested in the question because I felt that it was an important topic to look at, particularly when considering the issues with global vaccine distribution. I was mostly struck by (in some cases) the problematic situation of aid given from wealthy countries. I enjoyed working on this essay and am very pleased with the outcome.” 

Miss Wright, our Oxbridge co-ordinator, commented, “I am thrilled for Julia. She has an incisive, original mind and had to carry out a great deal of research in order to write an essay of such commendable quality. Moreover, this is the second success in two years which Julia has had in essay competitions, because she was also shortlisted for the John Locke Philosophy Competition when in Year 11.”

This commendation is particularly special because, in the last three years, Woodbridge School has had significant success in highly prestigious essay competitions, with eight essays winning or being rated very highly.

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Human, Social, and Political Sciences

Human, Social, and Political Sciences (HSPS) is a three-year degree in which students can study Politics & International Relations, Social Anthropology or Sociology. Students take a range of these subjects in the first year and then specialise in the second and third years. Trinity College has particular teaching strengths in Politics and Social Anthropology, and is keen to identify and select applicants interested in these subjects.

Course Details

Politics & international relations.

Trinity has a long history in the study and practice of politics, both national and international. It has taught six prime ministers of the UK, and prime ministers or presidents of India, Australia, France, Thailand, Jordan, Ireland and Singapore. It has provided many of the most influential thinkers about politics, from Sir Robert Filmer in the 17th Century to Amartya Sen in the present day. Although there is no distinctive ‘Trinity approach’ to politics, many of its most famous political figures and analysts demonstrate both a close critical engagement with the concepts and theories of politics, and a keen interest in and engagement with real-world political problems. It is those attributes that the study of politics at Trinity seeks to foster.

Students with these interests take first year courses in Politics, International Relations, and two out of a range of options that includes Sociology, Social Anthropology and Psychology. The objective of the first year is to create a broad understanding of how to study politics, informed equally by history and theory. In the second year, most students take courses in international organisation, political thought, and comparative politics. The third year allows greater specialisation, with around 30 courses to choose from, in subjects ranging from the politics of particular regions of the world (such as Africa, China and the Middle East), to themes such as gender and political philosophy. Students can opt to write a dissertation, and are able to draw upon grants from the College to fund their research.

The College’s Director of Studies in Politics is Glen Rangwala, who works primarily on the politics of the Middle East. He is particularly interested in how people in this region argue about and discuss politics, and how political beliefs do or don’t translate into action. Dr Rangwala was awarded the university’s 2012 Pilkington Prize for excellence in teaching and the College’s 2018 Teaching Prize. Other College fellows include Dominic Lieven, who works on Russian politics and history; and Amartya Sen, who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economics and is a key thinker in the study of modern politics.

Trinity organises the annual  R.A. Butler Essay Prize  competition to encourage students in Year 12 or Lower 6th at the time the questions are released with an interest in modern world affairs to think about undertaking university studies in Politics, International Studies or a related discipline. It also has a lively student-run Politics Society, referred to by the university newspaper in 2008 as ‘the pre-eminent political group in Cambridge’.

Students interested in studying Politics & International Relations may also be interested in the new joint degree programme in  History and Politics .    This programme enables students to take a range of historical papers in the first year alongside those in Politics and International Relations. Students can then elect to transfer to the single-subject track of Politics & International Relations for their second and third years.

Social Anthropology

From Sir James George Frazer, scholar of mythology and comparative religion and author of seminal work  The Golden Bough , through to Dame Marilyn Strathern, whose work on bioethics continues to shape contemporary academic and policy debates, Trinity College has been home to some of the most globally influentially social anthropologists of the 20th Century and beyond. The current Director of Studies is Joel Robbins, whose work on the anthropology of Christianity, radical cultural change, and the cross-cultural study of ethics has been based in Papua New Guinea. Also within the College, there is Nick Thomas, who directs the university’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and works on history and art in the Pacific; and Heonik Kwon, who works on memory and violence, particularly in the context of East Asia.

Students of anthropology at Trinity take a first year introductory course. In the second year they study papers on kinship, economic anthropology, religion and politics, and anthropological theory. Third year students take two core courses, on ‘Ethical Life and the Anthropology of the Subject’ and ‘Power, Economy and Social Transformation’, respectively. These papers explore the interface and overlaps between social anthropology and other important social and human sciences, such as philosophy, economics, politics and psychology. They also study in depth the anthropological literature on a specific region of the world: options they may choose between include Africa, Europe, Inner Asia, Latin America, Middle East, the Pacific, and South Asia. They also have a good range of optional papers available to them, including the anthropology of science and law; gender, kinship, and care; cities and space, development, poverty, and social justice; and media and visual culture. Many choose to write a dissertation based upon an original ethnographic study that they conduct. Trinity social anthropologist students have studied over recent years a huge range of subjects, from religious communities in India to on-line communities of editors of internet encyclopaedias.

After the degree

Trinity’s HSPS graduates have a wide range of careers open to them. Some graduates secure jobs in fields that come directly out of their studies. Trinity’s politics students have a wide range of careers open to them. Its recent graduates have taken careers in the Foreign Office, the United Nations, journalism, education, and various forms of public research. Social Anthropology graduates have taken jobs in the NGO sector, in consultancy, marketing and management, in government and public service, and in cross-cultural aspects of law and medicine.

Applications

Candidates for the HSPS degree are not expected to have any particular subjects at A-level, and no previous study of a social science is necessary. Almost any combination of school subjects is acceptable. The main qualifications required are the ability to reason analytically, to read widely, and to appreciate how to construct arguments on the basis of empirical evidence.

Students applying to the HSPS programme at Trinity will be asked to submit two samples of written work. We ask you to submit a coursework essay or dissertation, not a set of short answers or personal opinion piece. If your schoolwork does not include essays, it is best to ask your teacher to set you an essay to write in your own time, and then to confirm that the essay is your own work in an attached statement. You will be asked to submit an on-line questionnaire which asks you about your interests in more detail.

If you are invited to interview, the essays from your coursework may form part of the discussion. You can expect to have two interviews, each lasting 25 to 40 minutes, and organised according to the interests mentioned in your response to the questionnaire. Offers are usually at the level A*AA for A-level students; comparable conditions are set for those taking the IB and other school-leaving examinations.

Further information

The University’s pages for HSPS are at  https://www.hsps.cam.ac.uk/prospective-students .  Until 2016, students interested in Archaeology would apply to HSPS.  Archaeology now has a separate Tripos and entry point, see the Archaeology subject page .

Teaching Staff

• Dr Glen Rangwala
• Professor Joel Robbins

Course statistics from recent years

Applications received, offers made.

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