A talented sixth form wordsmith from Hitchin has won first prize in a prestigious writing competition awarded by Cambridge University.

Eleanor Graham, 17, who attends Hitchin Girls’ School picked up the honourr from Newnham College, Cambridge in their Virginnia Woolf Essay Prize.

The budding writer will receive £400 at the prize-giving ceremony at the world famous learning establishment later this month for her essay ‘Inequality has been the dominant trend in modern history’.

The accomplished teen told the Comet: “I was attracted to the prize because I have always enjoyed essay writing and thought it would give me scope to be creative beyond my A level subjects.

“One of the suggested essay titles immediately caught my eye because I could see the potential to incorporate some of my own ideas and interests outside traditional academia.

“I am thrilled to have been awarded first place after a couple of months of nervously checking my emails!’

Tina Stojko, Head of Sixth Form, added: ‘I am incredibly proud of Eleanor’s success. She is a hard working and dedicated student’, with her English teacher, Deborah Pearce complementing her by explaining: “Eleanor has a mature and insightful way of interpreting literature; she is a talented student.”

The competition is open to all female students currently in Year 12 at any school in the country.

The Woolf essay prize has been inspired by iconic 20th writer, modernist and feminist Virginia Woolf, and her extended essay A Room of One’s Own with its argument for both a literal and figurative space for women writers.

Read her essay here http://www.epsomcollege.org.uk/news/5th-june-2017-eleanor-graham-wins-coveted-cambridge-history-prize.