Bennett Prospect Prize 2019/20
Winner and Finalists
The Bennett Prospect Prize for Public Policy is awarded by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge and is held in partnership with Prospect Magazine. The goal is to encourage early career researchers and policy professionals to explore creative and generative solutions to a pressing public policy question of our age.
In 2019/20 we asked:
‘Which single public health intervention would be most effective in the UK?’
In this publication we share with you the winning essay by Dr Vageesh Jain as it appeared in Prospect Magazine on 16 April 2020, with a new introduction in context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
We are also delighted to share the essays from the other finalists for the prize, Bessie O’Dell, Kendall Jamieson Gilmore, and Dr Oliver Mytton.
Many of the entries this year focussed on the need to improve physical and mental health across societies for wide-ranging benefits and protection against a range of health problems – our final four writers all approach public health from this perspective. Each one presents insightful policy proposals worth further exploration.
WINNER
The Food & Beverage Industry Levy (FBIL)
Dr Vageesh Jain, Public Health Registrar, London Borough of Hackney
FINALISTS
Access Mental Health Services (AMHS): A proactive approach to the identification and treatment of depression
Bessie O’Dell, DPhil Student in Psychiatry, University of Oxford, UK
Building healthier communities
Kendall Jamieson Gilmore, PhD student at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy
The Healthy Food Act
Dr Oliver Mytton, public health doctor and Clinical Lecturer in public health at the MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge.