• The winning essay will be published in Pensions Aspects magazine and Professional Pensions.
• Runner up essays will be published on the Pensions Aspects website
• Essay submission deadline: Friday, 29 April 2022 5pm
• Announce results: Friday, 20 May 2022

How to enter the 7th PMI Student Essay Competition

Entrants should write an essay of 700 words on the following topic:

What benefits could be realised by further diversifying trustee boards and other governance bodies in pensions (e.g. IGCs)? What steps can be taken by the next generation of pensions professionals and the industry as a whole to improve diversity in this area?

Guidelines and judging criteria

Entries will be judged a panel of experts including:

• Lesley Alexander, President, PMI
• Tim Middleton, Director of Policy and External Affairs, PMI
• Jonathan Stapleton, Editor, Professional Pensions
• Emma Barry, Head of Marketing, ITM

Read the tips below: 

1. Remember you are writing an essay, not an article
2. Make sure you read the question thoroughly and answer the question
3. Tell a story in your answer: what you are going to say, what are you saying, and what have you said?
4. Keep the background information to a minimum and don’t take too long to get to the relevant points. As a guide, the introduction should generally make up a maximum of 2 paragraphs
5. Ensure you give a complete and detailed argument rather than a high-level overview
6. Include enough evidenced examples throughout to support your point. If you cannot include enough detail of the example due to word count, you can include links to further information in the footnotes
7. Ensure your examples are appropriate to the question
8. Make your essay engaging and interesting to the reader
9. Avoid using too many colloquialisms
10. Be ruthless with your editing – it’s easiest to cut from the introduction if you are struggling with word count
11. Ask someone to proofread your essay before submitting
12. Check your facts!

Previous winners

August 2021

Winner: Jed Newton, Senior Pension Administrator, Willis Towers Watson. Read essay here.

Runner up: Claire Bryant, Associate Consultant, Lane Clark & Peacock LLP (LCP). Read essay here.

Runner up: Camilla O’Brien, Senior Pensions Administrator, XPS Pensions Group. Read essay here.

April 2021

Winner: Molly McCarthy, Associate, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Read essay here.

Runner up: Jed Newton, Pensions Administrator, Willis Towers Watson. Read essay here.

Runner up: Camilla O’Brien, Pensions Administrator, XPS Pensions Group. Read essay here.

September 2020

Winner: Jennifer Harrison, Analyst, Willis Towers Watson. Read essay here.

Runner up: Ben Picknett, Senior Consultant, Muse Advisory. Read essay here.

Runner up: Jed Newton, Pension Administrator, Willis Towers Watson. Read essay here.

March 2020

Winner: Michelle Cracknell, Independent Pension Consultant here.

Runner up: Ben Picknett, Senior Consultant, Muse Advisory here.

Runner up : Jennifer Dean, Pensions Administrator, First Actuarial LLP here. 

September 2019

Winner: Ella Purkiss, LCP

Runner up: Jed Newton, Willis Towers Watson

Runner up: Richard Goldring, Smart Pension

Runner up: Peter Laurence, Trafalgar House

May 2019

Winner: Chris Burtenshaw, Barnett Waddingham

Runner up: Joanne Carr, First Actuarial

Runner up: Jed Newton, Willis Towers Watson

Special mention: Zak Cuerden, Capita Employee Solutions