This year for Women’s History Month we invited students to create a poster which illustrated

• Women & Girls in Science
• 75yrs of the NHS – Past & Present

Senior Category Winner

Katherine Johnson by Srinidhi Balaji poster

The panel were impressed by Srinidhi’s explanation for her eye-catching design:

Katherine Johnson was a competent Physicist and Mathematician who worked for NASA during the space race. She was paramount in calculating the trajectories and windows for the first human spaceflight and the Apollo 11 moon landing. My collage narrates a powerful story that embodies the sweat, tears, and sheer determination that went into making the moon landing a reality. It showcases the various stages of the mission, from calculating in the workspace (located at the top) to the lift-off (located in the center) and the historical moment of the first man on the moon (located at the bottom). Johnson’s contributions were significant not only for the space program but also for society as a whole. As an African American woman working in a male-dominated field during segregation, she broke down barriers, paving the way for future generations of women and people of colour in STEM fields.

Junior winner

Mary Anning by Polina Chuykov

Polina described the choice and design of her poster:

I decided to base my poster on the inspiring work of Mary Anning – an unsung hero of palaeontology. Anning lived in the 19th century, a time when women were not valued for their skill or intelligence, especially not if they were of the working class, like Mary Anning was. Anning’s lower position in society meant that many people could use her discoveries and claim them as their own. For this reason, not many people know about Anning or her discoveries, which seems extremely unfair when you consider the importance of her work. Yet even aside from all her scientific achievements, Mary Anning’s resilience to continue to pursue her passion of palaeontology despite all the difficulties is why I view her as an inspiring figure. So please, join me on this journey through time, as we see how Anning went from collecting seashells on the shore to becoming one of the most influential female scientists in history!

The panel were very impressed with the entry by Polina and we are sure that everyone will agree that this is a worthy winner!

There were so many very popular entries this year so we felt that we would display some highly commended posters from both Junior/Senior categories.  

Highly commended

Sophia Senbanjo – to celebrate the first black nurse in the NHS and her family members in the NHS. Grandmother who is a nurse and her aunt who is a doctor.

Katia Krafft – Volcanologists by Daphne Scantlebury-Roach

Rosalind Franklin by Max Li

Ada Lovelace by Emily Taylor

Maryna Vyazovska Ukrainian Mathematician by Ilona Antoniv

Thank you to all the students that entered this year’s School History Prize! Special thanks to the teachers and parents who sent in entries! All the entries were fantastic! Looking forward to next year!