We are delighted to announce the winners and finalists of the u3a Essay Competition 2026, on the theme ‘The most incredible journey’.

This year’s competition attracted 140 entries from u3a members across the UK. From these, our judges selected a shortlist of outstanding essays exploring journeys of many different kinds.

The overall winner is Sandy of Bedford u3a, with Operation Genesis.

Our two runners-up are Susan of Guildford and Woking u3as, with Chekhov’s Journey to Sakhalin, and Jackie of Melbourne Area Derby u3a, with The Match Women’s Strike – A Journey from Oppression to Workers’ Rights.

Each of our three winners will receive a prize book kindly donated by HX Expeditions.

Thank you to everyone who entered the competition and shared their writing with us, and to all our judges for the time and care they gave to reading the entries.

You can read the three winning essays, together with the full shortlist, below.

All the essays below provide excellent food for thought and could be used to inspire discussion and further learning in u3a groups.

To show how the essays might be explored further, we have created three learning packs based on shortlisted entries: Perpetual Summer, exploring the extraordinary migration of the Arctic tern; When Distant Minds Come Together, Cherries Blossom, telling the story of the Satsuma students and their journey to Britain in 1865; and Margery Kempe, following the remarkable travels of the medieval pilgrim.

Each pack includes discussion questions, suggested activities and links to further resources, providing a starting point for groups to explore the subjects and ideas raised by the essays. We hope they will also inspire groups to use other essays from the shortlist as a springboard for their own discussions and learning.

Read the essays from the shortlist, in no particular order:

Thank you so much to all 22 judges who offered insights into our Essay Competition this year.  The competition could not run without you!

Thank you also to Richard Franklin (Subject Adviser for Health and Well-being) who advised on the creation of the competition and who awarded our winners.

And finally thank you to all entrants to the u3a Essay Competition 2026. We hope you enter again next time.

Click the button to view the rules of this year's competition

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