Karen Becher Essay Award: Winner Announcement

In January 2024, we lost our dear colleague and friend, Karen Becher. Karen was a passionate educator who touched the lives of so many through her warmth, kindness, and dedication to combatting hatred.

Karen worked at the Museum for nearly a decade and was the driving force behind our ‘Breaking the Cycle’ intervention tool for fighting prejudice. Her legacy continues to inspire us daily.

To honour her memory and her work, we launched the Karen Becher Essay Award, a new national competition for 16 - 18 year olds. We asked students to explore the thought-provoking question:

“Does free speech build or break a community?”

We were blown away by the quality of the submissions, which were filled with originality, critical insight, and passion. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who took the time to write and submit their essay.

The winners

1st place:

Marcus from Surrey 

Marcus has received a £500 cash prize and his work will be published on the Holocaust Listening Project website.

Read Marcus' essay here

Joint 2nd Place:

Max from Sheffield

Max's work will be published on the Holocaust Listening Project website.

Read Max's essay here

Joint 2nd Place:

Marith from Lincolnshire

Marith's work will be published on the Holocaust Listening Project website.

Read Marith's essay here

Congratulations to our winners, and to every student who submitted, for your outstanding essays.

In conversation with our winner, Marcus

We sat down with Marcus, the winner of this year's Karen Becher Essay Award, to discuss his fantastic response to the question, his inspiration, his writing process, and what free speech means to him. 

Q: Why did you choose to explore free speech and community in the contexts that you did? Was your essay inspired by any personal or academic interests of yours?

I was inspired by a mix academic and personal reasons. I love history, I studied Protestantism in History classes at school and the Gay Rights Movement in RS which provided some of my case studies for this essay. I’ve been playing a game called ‘Kingdom Come Deliverance’, which is where my interest in 15th Century Bavaria has come about, so I was able to include some examples related to this too. We have also covered the benefits of diversity and diverse opinions in History (specifically, in relation to women gaining a larger role in politics in the late 20th century) which helped me when thinking about how to answer the question. 

Q: Was there a specific idea or event that inspired your argument?

Q: Did your views on free speech change at all when you were researching or writing this essay?

No, I don’t think so. I think now that for the early stages of World War 2, control of free speech may have been needed. But ultimately free speech enables social discourse, especially on social media, which is important. 

Q: Since this competition is hosted by us at the National Holocaust Museum, do you have any opinions on how free speech is involved in Holocaust history or current Holocaust education?

There is so much misinformation in Holocaust education. I think there needs to be safe spaces for people to ask questions and discuss their misunderstandings, and survivors should definitely be protected and allowed to share their experiences freely. I think open conversations could quell the misunderstandings people have and reduce the amount of misinformation being spread. 

Q: Do you have any plans for higher education?

I definitely want to go to university, but I’m still deciding what I want to do. I am considering doing Computer Science, or Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Or maybe even Engineering. 

Q: What’s your advice to someone taking part in this competition next year (or a competition like it)?

I think my first piece of advice is to do lots of research before you start. Don’t just write down what you think is true - find out for yourself and back up your arguments with evidence. My second piece of advice is to plan before you write and ensure your argument makes sense throughout. And I think my third piece of advice is to choose a question or topic that will motivate you - you’ll do a lot better if you like the topic you’re writing about. I really like history, so that’s why I chose to go for an historical approach in this essay.