Alastair Burnet Award: winners announced!

The Economist Educational Foundation is delighted to announce the winner of the Alastair Burnet Award for Topical Talk Festival 2026.

Watch the video to see the moment the teacher found out.

Video not working? Follow this link: https://vimeo.com/teef/award-2026

IPS October 2 school in Egypt was chosen for this award for showing outstanding commitment to the Festival.

This is the third year that IPS October 2 school has taken part in the Festival. Their commitment and well-researched contributions showed their incredible discussion skills. It has been impressive to see the students develop each year.

This year, the students showed creativity and were able to use examples from their daily lives to explain the topics being discussed. Students were great at interacting with others on the Student Hub and replying to comments.

The school will receive a trophy and a £1,000 grant to further their students’ media literacy education.

Congratulations!