Slaughter and May announces Africa Essay Prize winner

Slaughter and May is delighted to announce the winners of its 2019/20 Africa Essay Prize. The annual competition was launched in 2016, and offers students the opportunity to display their ability to write concisely and persuasively about topics relating to African commerce and law. This year’s competition asked students to answer one of the following questions: What should Africa nations do about climate change? or Are Western corporate reforms suitable for African businesses? The firm was impressed by the high standard of entries this year, particularly due to the 1,000 word limit which made forming and arguing an opinion all the more challenging.

The winner, who will receive £2,000 in prize money and a work placement at the firm, is Bessie Odell. Bessie, who answered ‘What should Africa nations do about climate change?’, explored the unprecedented rise in general warming worldwide and the impact this will have on Africa, and efforts that can be made to address climate change though education and local initiative.

The second and third prizes were awarded to Kweku Asiedu and Samuel Bluteau-Tait, who will be awarded prizes of £1,000 and £500 respectively. The following individuals were highly commended: Talodabioluwa Olu-Odugbemi, Mikolaj Kudlinski, Connor Hounslow, Toju Adelaja, Patrick Irwin, Alexander Mash, Sylvia Raisanens.

We would like to thank all those who entered, the standard was incredibly high and entrants impressed by covering a range of different topics and issues.