English student receives global acclaim for essay

Published: 28 September 2017 Origin:  English

Oliver Twist asking for more — James Mahoney's 'Uncaptioned Headpiece for Chapter One', 1871.

3rd-year English student Emma Hills has been Highly Commended in the international Undergraduate Awards Programme 2017 . Her essay, 'The Confessions of an Orphan' was chosen from 6,432 submissions by students in 299 institutions across 47 countries. Judges ranked it in the top 10% of all submissions, and it was chosen to go forward to the Global Winner category.

Emma explains that the essay was inspired by her second-year module, The 19th-Century Novel, taught by Justine Pizzo , Mary Hammond and Matt Kerr . 'I noticed a recurring theme - the figure of the absent mother - in many of the novels we were studying and my ideas sprung from that'. Emma was delighted to hear the news, and hopes it will inspire other Southampton students to enter: 'I never expected to be highly commend - I just felt I couldn't lose anything by trying'.

The awards ask students to submit work they've completed during their degree. The full shortlist can be seen here .

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