17 year old student wins Lord Speaker/Hansard Society essay writing competition

Matthew Edwards from Merchant Taylors’ School to meet the Lord Speaker

Click here to read the winning entry – Matthew Edwards essay [17KB]

Click here to read the two runners up – James Wilson essay [18KB] and Tianwu Zhang essay [17KB]

Matthew Edwards from Merchant Taylors’ School in Middlesex has won first prize in a nationwide essay competition on the House of Lords.

The winner and two runners-up will spend a day in Parliament on 17 July, touring both Houses in the morning and then meeting the Lord Speaker and members of the judging panel to discuss their essays. In the afternoon they will watch question time in the House of Lords. The winner will have the opportunity to spend a day shadowing the Lord Speaker in the autumn, learning from the inside how the Lord works.

Hundreds of 16 to 18–year-olds from across the country entered the competition on the subject ”First Class Second Chamber: the challenges and merits of an Upper House”. The judging panel comprised, Peter Riddell (Chief Political correspondent for the Times and chair of the Hansard Society), Baroness (Estelle) Morris of Yardley (a former teacher and Secretary of State for Education) and Elizabeth Hallam Smith (Director of Information Services at the House of Lords).

Matthew Edwards is studying politics, French, geography and physics and his interests range from sports to architecture. He is a regular visitor to the Edinburgh Festival and hopes to study politics, philosophy and economics at university. On hearing the news, he commented: “I’m astonished to have won this essay competition and am very much looking forward to speaking with the judging panel about why they liked my submission. I would also like to congratulate the two runners-up on their success.”

James Wilson (17) also from Merchant Taylors’ School and Tianwu Zhang (17) from Aylesbury Grammar School were the two runners-up and will be joining Matthew on the trip to Westminster on 17 July.

The Lord Speaker, Baroness Hayman, commented:
“I am delighted that so many young people entered the competition. One of my most important roles is to try and better engage the public, especially young people, in the work of the House of Lords and parliamentary democracy more generally. Hopefully this competition has stimulated interest about the Lords, as well as being enjoyable for the participants.”

Peter Riddell, Chair of the Hansard Society and an essay judge, commented:
“The essays show a range and diversity of thinking about the future of the House of Lords not always matched in the debates earlier this year in Parliament itself. Young people are not all for a fully-elected House. Some prefer a largely appointed House, recognising the dilemmas of the relative balance between the two chambers.”

For further information, contact Virginia Gibbons, Communications Manager at the Hansard Society on 0207 438 1225 or 07812 765 552
Notes for editors

Notes for editors

• The Hansard Society is an independent, non-partisan educational charity, which exists to promote effective parliamentary democracy. Our activities, meetings and publications focus on educating people, especially the young, in how the UK Parliament works.
• The Hansard Society’s Citizenship Education Programme works with young people through schools and colleges to educate and inform them about parliamentary democracy and develop innovative ways to involve them in participatory democratic activities.
• The essay competition was paid for out of the Woolsack Fund, the Lord Speaker’s personal charitable fund set up to support initiatives related the improving the understanding of Parliament.
• The Lord Speaker has just completed her first year in office, having been elected as the first Lord Speaker on 4 July 2006. Aside from her duties presiding over the House of Lords from the Woolsack, she also acts as am apolitical ambassador of the House, engaging the public and especially young people in the work of Parliament. For more information on the Lord Speaker’s activities please see: www.parliament.uk/lordspeaker