Who won last year? And why?

Many of the schools and students who won awards in previous Festivals have returned for Festival 2025. The Topical Talk team would like to send a warm welcome to everyone who is taking on the challenge again, and to our newcomers!

Other schools have been unable to join us this year, including the Topical Talk schools in Palestine. Our thoughts are with the teachers and students in Gaza who are affected by the war.


Want to do well in Festival 2025?

Take a look at what some of the schools and students did last year to become the winners of Festival 2024.

Alastair Burnet Award winners

Last year, Mary N Raptou School students and teachers won the top prize. They were chosen for their consistent effort in making the most of all the Festival has to offer and for the originality and personality of their comments and contributions. They also made links between global news stories and their own communities.

The school received £1,000 to spend on building their achievements from the Festival. Take a look at the moment they found out here!

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Leaderboard winners

In Festival 2024 we gave awards to the schools and students who won the most stars. The winners showed a high level of commitment throughout the Festival and made sure to reply to comments from other students and skills volunteers.

Take a look at the overall-stars leaderboard from Festival 2024. Can you get to the top of a leaderboard this year?


Standpoint Award winners

Senior editors and producers at The Economist chose five students to win awards for their Standpoints – their final say on one of the Festival’s topics. You’ll learn more about these from February 12th.

Each of the winners stuck to the Standpoint success criteria, followed the instructions carefully and came up with unique ideas.

Don't forget: the Festival is a great opportunity to learn from others. So keep coming back here if you need a reminder of these tips.

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