Holy Cross student, Olivia Bonsall, recently came joint first place in Cambridge University's linguistics essay prize competition.

Olivia who is 18 and is half-French, half English currently studies Spanish, English, Tudor History and Italian.

The Essay Prize aimed to raise awareness of the systematic study of language as an interesting and multifaceted subject in itself. It is meant to encourage students with an interest in linguistics to explore this further and to apply for a University course in this subject.

The task was to write 2500 words on: ‘A child exposed to two languages from birth and an adult moving into a country where another language is dominant will both be faced with the challenge and opportunity of becoming bilingual. Discuss the similarities and differences in the processes and outcomes of language learning for these two types of learner.’

Olivia travelled to Trinity College, Cambridge accompanied by Mr Matt Smallridge who is the Head of General Studies and the Extended Project Programme at Holy Cross to receive her prize.

Olivia was delighted to get a £200 cheque from Dr Napoleon Katsos, Senior Lecturer at Trinity College, Cambridge (Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics).

Holy Cross received the same amount in the form of linguistics book tokens.

Olivia is hoping to study French and Spanish with a module of linguistics at university next year.