The Tom Morrison Essay prize exists to encourage new thinking and recognise original approaches to governance.
Tom Morrison was an active member and former CGIUKI President and a leading light in the Institute’s Registrars’ Group. A highly regarded and influential member of the share registration industry, Tom was an early supporter of the unique work of ShareGift. The charity instigated this competition after his death in 2014 and made a generous donation to The Chartered Secretaries’ Charitable Trust in order to establish it and fund the prizes.
Every year in December we launch our new question for the forthcoming year. Essay entries are received through to March of the next year, and judging of the entries takes place between March and May. In May each year, we announce the winner and runner up.
2025 topic:
In what ways does corporate governance act as an enabler for good business within organisations, and as a driver of economic growth? Draw on at least one recent example.
Previous winners
Essay question 2024: Is the challenge of governing AI any different to previous scenarios that have required boards to increase their business oversight? Compare the introduction of AI to a previous situation that has precipitated significant governance changes.
Winner: Luke Cargan
Runner-up: Joel Christoph
Essay question 2023: Can governance be understood as a force for good? How can good governance lead to improved outcomes for organisations and their stakeholders during challenging economic and social times? Please draw upon examples where possible.
Winner: Josiah Wamwere-Njoroge
Runner-up: Chris Jardine
Essay question 2022: Climate change: the existential threat of the century. Discuss the opportunity for the governance professional to be a part of the solution.
Winner 2022: Tristan Weller
Runner-up: Stuart Riddick
Entry Information
- Essays must be received by 5pm (GMT) on Monday 31st March 2025.
- Winners will be announced in May 2025. The prize winner is awarded £1000 and the runner up is awarded £500.
- All essays must address the proposed question.
- Entry to the competition is only open to students (the Institute's or other), recent graduates or governance professionals with a maximum of two years’ experience in a governance role.
- All entries must be written in English.
- Essays should be 2,000-2,500 words in length, with 2,500 being the maximum number of words that will be accepted. The word limit does not include references.
- All entries must be submitted electronically as both a Word document and a PDF. Hand written essays are not accepted.
- A statement of originality is mandatory. This is included in the submission form.
- All entries are subject to plagiarism and AI checks. Essays where clear evidence of plagiarism or AI misuse is found will be disqualified.
- All prizes are awarded based on the decision of an independent panel of judges.
- Entries are judged anonymously, with no indication within the essay of the author’s name, employer’s business or place of work.
- There are no geographical restrictions regarding entries. Governance professionals or students from any country can enter.
- The judges’ decision is final, no correspondence will be entered into and no reasons given for decisions.
- Judges absent themselves from any discussions where they have a vested interest.
- The Institute reserves the right to publish in full or in part all winning essays and will own the copyright for all winning essays.
Judging criteria
Essays are judged on:
- The originality of the ideas the essays contain and the impact they might have on governance – at an organisational, national or international level.
- The extent to which they challenge conventional thinking and approaches or incorporate principles or practices from other fields.
The judges also take into account:
- Clarity of expression, including logical flow of content.
- Correct use of the English language, including spelling and punctuation.
- Correct use of referencing and or acknowledgement of material drawn from other sources.
Guidance
When writing your essay, you might like to consider the following:
- What explicit assumptions am I making? Can they be challenged?
- What implicit/taken-for-granted assumptions am I making? Can they be challenged?
- How logical is my reasoning?
- How sound is the evidence for my assertion(s)?
- Whose interests and what interests are served by my assertions?
- What values underpin my reasoning?
- What are the implications of my conclusions?
- What meaning is conveyed by the terminology employed and the language used?
- What alternative conclusions can be drawn from the evidence?
Supporters
Tom was an early supporter of the unique work of ShareGift, the share donation charity, which instigated the Tom Morrison Essay Prize and made an initial donation to The Chartered Secretaries’ Charitable Trust in order to establish it and fund the prizes.
Tom was a much loved employee of Computershare, which has hosted a dinner for the winners of the Tom Morrison Essay Prize for the past few years. Tom joined Computershare in 1998 when Computershare acquired the Royal Bank of Scotland Registrars business. Recognised for his major contribution to making the acquisition a success and, as Chief Registrar, for being a senior steward in leading the UK share registration business forward, Tom is widely remembered for his significant contributions to the development of the UK securities industry.
Acknowledged to be one of the "fathers of CREST", for his efforts to guide and assist the development and successful introduction of the CREST settlement system, Tom also helped shape industry policy and UK corporate law. In 2012 Tom was given an Outstanding Achievement Award by The Institute to a standing ovation.
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Contact
Valentina Dotto, Policy Advisor, Chartered Governance Institute
Email: vdotto@cgi.org.uk