God, soul, free will: Inaugural Chadwick Essay Competition 

This term, all Second Year Religious Studies pupils at Tonbridge were given the opportunity to write an extended essay for the inaugural Chadwick Essay Competition.

They were asked to respond to a question on God’s existence, the soul or free will. Pupils independently researched and wrote their essays over the course of two weeks, with shortlisted candidates being put forward to Julian Dobson (Head of Divinity) for adjudication.

The quality of work across the whole cohort was impressive, but Oscar McIlwham (PS2), Nicholas Laidlaw (WW2), Tim Laurencin (Sc2), Andrey Popov (HS2) and Johnnie Averdieck’s (WW2) essays stood out. They all received a ‘Guide to Philosophy’ at a prize-giving in the final week of term.

The overall winner was Johnnie Averdieck, whose essay was chosen by Julian Dobson for its “rigorous analysis of free will, inclusion of complex scientific arguments and beautifully engaging style”.