Art History for Everyone Student Wins Great Debate 2025!

AHLU is very proud to announce that a student on our Art History for Everyone course has won the Great Debate 2025. Congratulations Quinn! You can read more about this in his own words below.

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I am currently a student on AHLU’s free Art History for Everyone course for sixth form state students, studying for an A Level and EPQ at the Courtauld, Somerset House. Before that, two year’s earlier, I took AHLU’s free Introduction to Art History course at Dulwich Picture Gallery. Throughout these two Art History Link-Up courses, my passion for art history has continued to grow. One of the main reasons for this is that art history encompasses all the disciplines that interest me most: the visual arts, English, religion, politics, and especially history. History has always fascinated me. I think it is impossible to fully understand a work of art without knowing something of the context in which it was created and vice versa. That’s why I was overjoyed at the prospect of taking part in the Great Debate 2025, a public speaking competition organized by the Historical Association (HA) for students aged 16-19. The final was held at Windsor Castle!

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The debate took the form of five-minute speeches from each of the twenty participants. The question we had to address was: “How can your local history teqll a global story?” When I began writing my speech earlier this year, I found that my knowledge of art history was invaluable. Art is a perfect example of how local history can tell a global story: something created in a small workshop by one individual can influence the religion, politics, and history of an entire continent.

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I spoke about a 1960s and 70s hovertrain project in the East Anglian fens. While the project ultimately failed, it offers a lens through which to understand the local landscape and a platform from which to discuss climate catastrophe. In my Art History for Everyone course, we have been studying the ways in which nature has been represented by artists over the millennia, from Aztec serpents to J. M. W. Turner’s Rain, Steam and Speed. Each of these artworks served as a departure point for broader discussions about our relationship with the natural world.

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Moreover, it was the visual tools and argumentative structures of art history that enabled me to construct a compelling argument. Art history doesn’t just teach us about artworks but it also equips us to think critically and see connections that others might not.

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I am very proud to say that I won the debate. For this, I am hugely grateful to AHLU, and I am thoroughly enjoying continuing my studies with the charity for my Art History A Level and EPQ.

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You can read more about Quinn's victory on the Historical Association Website:

https://www.history.org.uk/secondary/categories/945/news/4409/great-debate-final-2025