BSA Young Sociologist of the Year Competition 

If you are aged 16-19 and would like to take part in a project which potentially can be included as part of your course work, you could win yourself a fabulous Apple iPad as well as £500 for your school!

We invite you to conduct and submit research on the following: ‘To what extent and in what ways have social media changed people's lives?’

What are you interested in? How does this relate to the above and use sociology to answer the question as part of a research project?

Entries are expected to refer to results obtained from your own primary method of research using a suitable sample.  This could be an observation, an interview, a questionnaire based study.  All research carried out for this competition has to abide the ethical guidelines of research, as stated in our Statement of Ethical Practice.  If you have any questions regarding the competition criteria, please contact the BSA Membership Team.

The BSA Young Sociologist of the Year Competition, is open to anyone currently studying at A level, A/S level, Scottish Higher Level or equivalent post-16 qualifications in Sociology and we encourage you to be as creative as possible with your answers! The closing date for entries is Friday, 1 November 2024, 4pm.

Useful Resources

To assist you with your research for the competition, here’s a list of carefully selected journal articles that could be helpful.

• Benjamin N Jacobsen (2022) ‘You Can’t Delete a Memory’: Managing the Data Past on Social Media in Everyday Life
• Digitizing Sociology: Continuity and Change in the Internet Era
• Empathy Rituals: Small Conversations about Emotional Distress on Twitter
• ‘Not the Real Me’: Social Imaginaries of Personal Data Profiling
• Accomplishing Reality Media: The Affective Lure of Online Crime Discussions

How to Enter

Please email your entry with a completed entry form to BSA Membership Team or post it to: BSA Membership Team, British Sociological Association, Chancery Court, Belmont Business Park, Belmont, Durham DH1 1TW.

Terms and conditions:

• Entries must be accompanied by confirmation from a Sociology teacher that it is the work of the pupil.
• Entries must be lone submissions (not joint).
• Reports must 2,000 words (excluding bibliography, figures, tables etc.)
• Entries submitted in the form of a video or podcast must not exceed 10 minutes.
• We reserve the right to check submitted works for plagiarism using online tools.
• Reference to other scholars (including teachers, books, articles and websites) should be acknowledged.
• All work must be written or presented in the English language.
• The judges’ decision is final and we reserve the right to publish your entry with your permission.

The British Sociological Association (BSA) is the national subject association for sociologists in the UK and its primary objective is to promote sociology. The BSA is the largest sociological network in the UK and is the public face of sociology in Britain.