ASET Competitions

2021 Student Competition – OPEN for entries from 11th October

These continue to be testing times for all, not least for your students who have been undertaking a Placement/Internship/ Work experience during the last academic year.
With this in mind we are again adapting our competition to enable as many students as possible to qualify for a chance to win.  So, whether their Placement/Internship/Work experience was undertaken in the UK or overseas, remotely or in person, you can encourage them to tell us about their experiences. What they learnt about themselves, their strengths, and how they managed to adapt to change? What have they learnt about working with colleagues, perhaps face to face, and then remotely? Have their experiences shaped their plans for the future? We are particularly interested to hear about how they adapted to their online working vs studying environment. 

The winning entry will receive a prize of £400, and there will also be two Highly Commended awards of £100 each.

We are looking for short accounts (up to 900 words) which inform others about the value of work experience, clearly express the value of the learning, and do so in a lively and enthusiastic manner. This is an ideal opportunity for reflection, and good news to share with all your returning students. Full details of the competition can be found on the 2021 ASET Student Competition flyer which we would encourage you to share with your students.

All entries must be via the 2021 ASET Student Competition entry form and emailed to the [email protected] by the competition deadline 12 noon Friday 26^th November 2021.

Full terms and conditions for entry are detailed on the entry form. Entries will only be accepted from students studying at a current ASET Member institution.

2020 Competition Winners
In 2020, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Trustees decided to broaden the scope of the competition to allow students to participate whether their Placement/Internship/ Work experience was undertaken in person or virtually . The Trustees thought it was particularly important for students to have the opportunity reflect on their experiences – and to have a chance of winning some prize money too.

This year the winning entry, and prize of £400, was awarded to:

Katarzyna Komarowska, Anglia Ruskin University (BSc (Hons) Zoology 2017-2021) who completed her placement with the Institute of Biochemistry and BioPhysics, as an Ecological Surveyor, based in Antarctica.

The judges also awarded two Highly Commended awards of £100 each to inspiring and insightful entries from:

Patrick Brennan, BA Politics, Philosophy & Economics with Placement Year,
Lancaster University on placement at Gist Ltd

David Sharp, BSc Computer Science with a Year in Industry, University of Kent
on placement at Ideaworks

Congratulations to all, and a very big thank you to all who supported students’ entries this year.

Previous Years’ Winners
2019 UK & Ireland -Oliver Symes, Cardiff University
(Highly Commended – Emma Scriven, Anglia Ruskin University )
Overseas – Tiffany Cavinato-Ward, Queen Mary, University of London
(Highly Commended -Hannah Phillips, University of Manchester)
2018 UK & Ireland -Holly Kembrey, Nottingham Trent University
(Highly Commended – Sophie Compton, University of Kent)
Overseas – Karen O’Connell, University College Dublin
(Highly Commended -Holly Hinds, University of Hertfordshire)
2017 UK & Ireland – Andreas Kangari, University of Nottingham
(Highly Commended – Grace Kilpatrick, University of Exeter)
Overseas – Clare Farrell, University College Dublin
(Highly Commended -Harriet Meakin, Nottingham TrentUniversity)
2016 UK & Ireland – Harvey Steele, Loughborough University
(Highly Commended – Sophie Hazelden, Nottingham Trent University)
Overseas – Nikita Crane, Sheffield Hallam University
(Highly Commended -Victoria Powell, Glasgow University)
2015  UK & Ireland – Charlotte Cheesely, Bournemouth University
Overseas – Savannah Mukeshi, Sheffield Hallam University
2014  Kishan Somani, De Montfort University
(Highly Commended – Andrew Head, UCLan and Callum Blumire, University of Bournemouth)
2013  Stephanie Arnold, Royal Veterinary College
(Highly Commended – Julie Forbes, Queen’s University Belfast and Richard Lira, University of Salford)
2012  Chetan Kotur, Loughborough University
(Highly Commended – Shea O ‘Sullivan and Blake Keinanen, NTU, David Jones, Derby University and Danial Chowdhury, Loughborough University)
2011   Paul Brack, Loughborough University
2010  Laura Boggeln, University of Sheffield
(Runner Up – Rebecca Murphy, NTU)
2009  Lucy Armstrong, University of Bath
(Runner Up – Christopher Pagett, LJMU)
2008  Tim Chapman, University of Kent
(Runner Up – Alyxandra Milne, LJMU and Stephanie Rostron Leeds Metropolitan)
2007  Clare Dinham, University of Surrey
(Runner Up – Joshila Oree, Brunel)
2006  Grant Wilson, Robert Gordon University
(Runner Up – Ian Graney, Sheffield Hallam)
2005  Jonathan Walton, University of Kent
2004  Stacey Shepherd, University of Surrey
2003  Georgios Christos Fragiadakis, University of Kent
2002  Timothy White, Sheffield Hallam University