A second year student from QE is celebrating after finishing runner-up in the prestigious MASSOLIT video essay competition. Genevieve Ferrari, who studies A Level English Literature, German and History at QE, entered the national contest earlier this year which asked participants to write and record a video in the MASSOLIT format and submit their entry via YouTube. MASSOLIT is an international educational platform which provides academic video lectures across a variety of different subjects with the term MASSOLIT stemming from Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel, The Master and Margarita. Genevieve’s entry focused on the theme of women in Beowulf and hers was one of approximately 160 videos which were then shortlisted by MASSOLIT founder, Chris Tudor, before being passed to a panel of experts from Brasenose College, Oxford, including the principal. Reflecting on the competition, the 18-year-old from Richmond explains: ‘The contest allowed me to explore elements of my chosen subject that I have thoroughly enjoyed researching and it is these aspects of specialisation and independence that make me even more eager to study it further’.
As a runner-up, Genevieve was invited to an awards ceremony at Brasenose College where she was accompanied by Course Leader for A Level English Literature at QE, Julie Ashmore. As part of her prize, Genevieve met the MASSOLIT team, received a tour of Brasenose College and had lunch with the principal. She adds: ‘The event Brasenose hosted was very rewarding and proved to me how a person’s own intuition and passion does not go unnoticed. I am extremely grateful to both MASSOLIT and Brasenose for providing me with this opportunity’. Genevieve’s new found love of Brasenose has led her to apply to study English there in September 2023.
Julie Ashmore concludes: ‘I am incredibly proud of Genevieve. She is an excellent ambassador for QE and I hope that she is successful in her application to Brasenose College. It was wonderful to be able to spend some time with her in Oxford and we were even able to meet up with two former students who are now studying there’.
Picture caption – The runners-up and winners of the MASSOLIT competition receive their certificates. Genevieve is pictured far left.
