The BSHM are delighted to announce the following winners and runners-up for our 2023-24 Schools Prizes:

Schools (11-15)

• First Prize, Shriyaa Varadpande, ‘The Power of Nothing (and other discoveries)’, Cargilfield School, Edinburgh.
• Runner-Up, Ciara Dobson, ‘The life, inventions, and discoveries of Zu Chongzhi’, Chelmsford County High School.

Schools (16-19)

Joint First Prizes

• Robert Thackray, ‘The Unique Mathematics of the Pirahã’, Colchester Royal Grammar School.
• Huaiyu Wu, ‘An Ancient Algorithm from the East: Chinese Remainder Theorem’, Francis Holland School, London.
• Rosie Tarboton, ‘Ancient Ethiopian Multiplication and Modern Computing’, Wimbledon High School.

Joint Runners-Up

• Wing Lam Wong, ‘The Jiuzhang Suanshu and Ancient Chinese Methods to Solving Systems of Linear Equations’, Wimbledon High School.
• Issa Sourani, ‘A Mathematical Odyssey: The Kerala School's Legacy’, Altrincham Grammar School For Boys.

Every year the British Society for the History of Mathematics gives prizes for the best essays or presentations on some aspect of the history of mathematics. We give awards to two age groups: 11-15 year olds and 16-19 year old students. Please note previous winners or runners up in a specific age group cannot submit another entry for that age group. The competition is only open to those studying in schools in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. 

For 2023-24, we asked strudents to write or make a presentation/film/song (or make a submission in any other medium) on Non-western Mathematics (i.e. the indigenous mathematics of Africa, the Americas, Asia or Australasia). No topic within this area was off limits, but the story of course had to relate to a real historical development or event. Submissions which did not relate to this subject area were not considered.  For further details, please continue reading and any queries can be sent to Education Officer Ciarán Mac an Bhaird.  

Essay submissions should be 1000 words max in length (excluding references), other media submissions should be of equivalent length–video/audio content might be approximately 5 minutes in length. If you are submitting in a format other than writing, please upload your submission to a cloud storage provider and submit a covering document with a link to this upload. 

There will be two first prizes (£100) in the above groups, and as many run-up prizes (£20 each) as we find appropriate. As a winner or a runner-up, apart from the financial reward, you will also get a certificate, and a free BSHM subscription for a year. For a list of previous winners and their essay topics, please see here.

The deadline for the 2024-25 competition is expected to be in June 2025, and competition details will be announced in January 2025.