The National Schools Geology Challenge is a competition where students showcase their interest in geology, learn more about the way geoscience impacts our lives, and put their teamwork and presentation skills to the test!
Participants don’t have to study geology to enter – the competition is open to any interested students who are currently studying geology, geography or science A-levels (England/Wales/Northern Ireland), or Advanced Highers (Scotland).
The 2021 Challenge took place entirely virtually, and was won by The Alice Smith School. The runners up were The Tiffin Girls School and Cirencester College.
We also welcomed finalists from:
Chelmsford County High School For Girls
William Howard School
Torquay Boys’ Grammar School
Ermysteds Grammar School
Sheffield High School
Reading Blue Coat School
Wells Cathedral School
Congratulations to all our winners and finalists.
Our 2021 Winners - The Alice Smith School
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India Kolb and Emily Chong, from the Alice Smith School, had this to say about their experience:
" We came across the National Schools Geology Challenge, whilst searching for ways to broaden our geological knowledge within practical applications. The two of us had just finished our mock examinations and we thought that this would be a great opportunity to stretch ourselves outside of our geography A-Level. As we both enjoyed physical geography, we decided to submit a video explaining paleomagnetism. We were absolutely thrilled to have been selected into the final 10, yet slightly nervous as this was our schools first time competing.
During the final, we faced an applied geological problem-solving challenge, where we had to choose a location to build a hydropower dam for a sustainable future, using the resources provided, paired with our own geographical knowledge. We initially decided to create a Spearman’s rank-esque system, establishing a set of parameters that we felt were integral to the construction of our dam, including factors such as angle of strata dip, glacial meltwater and potential for tourism. Through this application, we were able to determine that building two hydroelectric dams would be the most appropriate response. After this, we created a budget for the costs, as well as a proposal detailing the reasoning behind our decisions and any extra add-ons we wanted to implement along our hydroelectric dams. 
We won £200 to further geoscience education at Alice Smith as well as a 1-year membership each to The Geological Society and a trophy. Our teacher Mr. Williams is planning to use the £200 to purchase geological teaching resources and is keen to procure a school rock collection to facilitate a tactile learning experience.
This was a thrilling experience and we enjoyed the challenge immensely! It was a very exciting approach to learning beyond the curriculum, and we thoroughly enjoyed applying our knowledge to real-life scenarios, problem-solving and meeting people with such accomplished and diverse careers."
Prizes
Competition winners receive:
- A trophy
- A certificate for each team member
- £200 to use towards geoscience education in their school
- A year’s Fellowship to the Geological Society
Runners up receive:
- A certificate for each team member
- £100 to use towards geoscience education in their school
Stay tuned for our 2022 competition!
You can also keep updated on further competitions and education news from the Geological Society by signing up to our Schools Affiliates Scheme.