At the start of the autumn term, our Biology Enrichment Programme 'KYTOS', launched two of its biggest competitions; the Biology Photography Competition, and the Rosalind Franklin Award for Academic Writing. We are thrilled to announce the winners as follows:

Biology Photography Competition

For our annual photography competition, we asked students to send in portraits from nature or anything from the biological world. Over 180 students from submitted entries which is incredible, and the standard was very high.

From a final shortlist, Hannah Bayliss in Year 2 was selected as the winner - huge congratulations Hannah!

You can see her stunning photograph of a kingfisher on the KYTOS website, alongside our highly commended runners up.

Rosalind Franklin Award for Academic Writing

Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) was a pioneer in the field of Molecular Biology, and it was through her sheer hard work that the double helical nature of DNA was discovered. This award is dedicated to the life and works of this inspirational woman.

For this unique 'KYTOS' competition we asked all students to suggest "What has been the greatest biological discovery of the 20th century?"

Once again, we were thrilled with the number of entries we received for this competition. A final shortlist of 15 were judged by a panel on four key areas; scientific content, breadth, relevance and quality of written communication.

It was a very close call, but Olive Rothwell in Year 1 was awared as the winner for her essay about HeLa cells. Megan Soper also a first year student was judged Highly Commended for her entry about nanoclays.

Both Olive and Megan's essays have been published on the KYTOS website in recognition of the fantastic achievement - congratulations to both.

We are incredibly proud that the Rosalind Franklin Society, based in New York, have fully endorsed our award and have offered to publish the winning essay in their global newsletter.