Rosie Anfilogoff of Norwich Liberal Jewish Community has won a prestigious journalism award for her article on the exclusion of disabled people from higher education.

Rosie was named as the winner of The Guardian Foundation’s Hugo Young Award (19-25 age category), which was created to recognise young talent in political opinion writing.

Rosie Anfiligoff

Her op-ed for The Guardian, which you can read here, argues that higher education was easily accessible to disabled people during Covid – but that they are being shut out now.

Rosie said: “I’m honoured to have been selected for this award and so grateful to The Guardian Foundation for this opportunity. While the failure of higher education to adequately accommodate disabled students is something I face personally, the issue is so much bigger than me, and I hope my piece can bring attention to the unnecessary exclusion many students experience.”

The competition is now in its seventh year and was created in memory of Hugo Young, one of the most influential figures in British political journalism.

Commenting on Rosie’s article, the judges said: “This is a powerful and interesting piece that had a clear solution set out. The piece was written passionately and convincingly on a topic that is not frequently written about and has the potential to make a difference by being published.

“It shows originality in discussing the intersection of disability and universities, engagement with counter-arguments, bringing in a relevant post pandemic debate and the ability to prompt the reader with some of their own thoughts on this issue.”