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The Orwell Award is a Sixth Form scholarship programme that offers fully funded places to talented boys whose life opportunities have been limited.
What is the Orwell Award?
If you would like to attend our Orwell Award Open Day in September 2025, please contact Admissions.
As an Orwell Award holder, you will be a fully-boarding member of our school community with allowances to enable you to fully participate in the life of the school, enjoying all the academic and co-curricular opportunities that all our students receive. Eton’s outstanding facilities will be yours, with our staff ready to support you every step of the way.
There are two further strands of the Orwell Award, the Sixth Form Music Award and the MCM Drama Award, which are available to outstanding musicians and exceptional drama students.
Applications for 2026 entry are now closed.
We aim to give recipients a transformative educational experience they otherwise would not have been able to access.
This life-changing opportunity is for boys with potential; you will need to embrace the breadth of the Eton experience in and out of the classroom and have the academic aspiration, with our support, to apply to the most competitive universities. To be a successful applicant you will need intellectual curiosity, an openness of mind and character, and the willingness to step outside your comfort zone. If this is you, we want to meet you.
The Orwell Award is aimed at boys at a UK state school and recognises that academic achievement may sometimes have been held back by personal circumstance. Applicants are therefore assessed on academic potential and against specific criteria, for example:
if they have refugee status or are a Looked After Child
if they are in the first generation of their family to go to university
if they are in receipt of Pupil Premium;
or if they currently attend a school Ofsted has identified as ‘requiring improvement’ or in ‘special measures’.
Parents will be required to submit their financial information as awards are means-tested.
Candidates will need to complete the application form, which will include their predicted GCSE grades and answers to ‘personal statement’ style questions. We will also request a reference from their current school. Candidates will then be shortlisted for the assessment which will take place in the November and will consist of an online cognitive test, written assessments (maths and general papers), an academic interview and a general/pastoral interview. There is no registration fee for this entry route. Candidates coming from further away will be required to stay overnight at Eton.
Results are normally announced in early December.
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