During the Summer Project our MPP students had the opportunity to apply what they’ve learned throughout the year to a real-life environment, and we were keen to see them in action. So we asked them to send us the most interesting and representative pictures of their experience for the first edition of the ‘Spirit of the Summer Project’ photo competition.

We’ve received some fantastic entries, and picking the winners was no easy task. After whittling the photos down to a final few, we are pleased to announce the winners of our three categories:

• ‘Facebook Love’ Award for the photo which received the most ‘likes’ on our Facebook page: Louis Chambers and Rafi Kakar with their photo of the human alphabet at the Taj Mahal, India. They said: “We recruited some friends to spell BSG for us. As you can see, it was a struggle, but we hope you get the picture. Our relationship with the Blavatnik School is a living one that will grow and develop for many years yet to come. To capture this, we have chosen a sculpture made from fellow humans, recruited during our time in India.”

• ‘Brand Ambassador’ Award for the photo that shows the best Blavatnik School​​​​​​​ name placement: Nicolas Robinson Andrade with his image of him walking around the highest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Morro dos Prazeres, wearing our branded t-shirt. We like it because it’s a beautiful image that represents the interaction between Nico as a Blavatnik Schoo​​​​​​​l student and the city where he lived during his summer project placement.

• ‘Staff Choice’ Award for best representation of the Spirit of the Summer Project: we have joint winners for this category, Briar Thompson and Qingling Kong. We think both these images convey the spirit of the summer project: a hands-on, exciting experience in a new environment and a precious opportunity to learn in the field.

Qingling carried out her summer project at environmental NGO Imaflora in Brazil, and she sent us a photo of a visit to a coffee plantation where she picked fresh coffee beans for the first time in her life. She said: “It was really inspiring field work to know more about coffee plantation and coffee certification with Imaflora.”

Briar was in the Kingdom of Tonga, where she worked in the Ministry of Environment and Communications. This image was taken during the recording of the voice over for a documentary about the Pacific Adaptation to Climate Change project and we liked seeing her take every opportunity to get involved with different activities in her workplace.

Congratulations to the winners and a big ‘thank you’ to all the students who took part. 

See the photogallery with all of this year’s entries to the Spirit of the Summer Project photo competition.

Explore the infographic with our students’ destinations.