New essay prize for state school students passionate about history and Classics
A new essay prize has launched for UK state school students aiming to study history or Classics at university. It is being funded by a bequest from Charles de Lisle, the political journalist who died in 2014, aged 54.
The UNIQ Classical Archaeology Summer Residential. Photo by Ian Wallman
The Charles de Lisle Essay Prize is open to A-level students who are taking part in the UNIQ access programme and have chosen to focus either on history or Classics. The free programme, which is the largest of its kind offered by a single UK university, gives state-educated students a taste of Oxford life before they decide whether to apply for a place. Participants have the opportunity to stay in a college, go to lectures, attend a tutorial and write an essay on their selected subject, which will now be entered, with their consent, for the Charles de Lisle Essay Prize.
The idea for the award came from Charles himself. He studied history at Worcester College, Oxford and left some money in his will to set up a prize for students from state schools. He was especially keen to reward ‘excellence in the field of writing’. Charles’ wishes have been developed by the Faculty of Classics in partnership with his siblings, who are also Oxford graduates and journalists – his brother Tim, a sportswriter and pop critic, and his sister Rosanna, a travel and design writer.
Dr Andrew Sillett, Senior Researcher in Classical Education within the Faculty of Classics, said:
Tim and Rosanna’s gift, honouring the memory and talent of their late brother Charles de Lisle, is a precious contribution to the outreach work carried out by the faculty.
UNIQ is one of the surest means we have of nurturing the abilities of the most talented pupils in the UK’s state schools, and of showing them just how rewarding it is to study the literature, history and cultures of the ancient world. The Charles de Lisle Essay Prize will play an important part in helping us, as educators, to teach these talented prospective students how to interpret sources, weigh up evidence and articulate their opinions through the written word.
Rosanna de Lisle said:
Charlie loved his time at Oxford and would be delighted that the essay prize he thought of is going to become a reality at his old university. It’s testament to his generous nature that he wanted to do something to help A-level students who might be facing obstacles on their way to university.
Tim de Lisle added:
Charlie would be thrilled to see his name on a prize at Oxford and to find that his bequest was going to reach so many students. We’re very grateful to the history and Classics faculties for bringing his idea to fruition, and to all the people we have worked with at Oxford who have made the whole process a pleasure.
On leaving Oxford in 1982 Charles de Lisle trained as a reporter on News Corp daily papers in Adelaide and Sydney. In 1987 he returned to Britain where he joined the staff of the Daily Telegraph, writing mainly about politics and also nurturing young talent on the paper’s diary column. After a stint as the Telegraph’s House of Lords correspondent, Charles was signed up by former prime minister Sir Edward Heath to be the chief ghostwriter on his autobiography. He also wrote about cricket and was the co-author, with Christopher Martin-Jenkins, of the book An Australian Summer: The Story of the 1998-99 Ashes Series.
The Charles de Lisle Essay Prize will run for at least five years from July 2024, with eight winners in history and six in Classics every year. Each winner will receive £100 and be given the chance to have their essay published on the Charles de Lisle Essay Prize website.
