ASPIRING marine archaeologist Amy Matthews has won the national Gerald Averay Wainwright Schools senior essay prize for her essay on ancient Egypt’s maritime history.

Amy, who hopes to go to Bournemouth University in September to study marine archaeology, is a second year student at Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh.

She said: “The main reason for entering the competition was to help support my university application and show that I have an interest in marine archaeology.”

The competition is organised by the University of Oxford and is named after Egyptologist and archaeologist Gerald Averay Wainwright, who donated money to the college to encourage students to study non-classical archaeology.

Amy won a certificate and £250.