"My time in the Department of Politics has been thoroughly enjoyable. I am grateful to have gained a range of research skills and worked on many challenging yet fascinating topics, courtesy of leading academics. The academic staff come from across the world, themselves having studied at some of world’s top universities and it has been a privilege to work with them. They have been committed to their teaching and have consistently inspired genuine interest amongst students. In particular, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Athanassios Roussias and Dr Maria Grasso, my project and dissertation supervisors respectively, for all their instrumental support over the past years. "

"I feel proud to be regarded as an outstanding student. I see it as a form of recognition for the amount of time and effort that I have put into preparation for seminars, assignments and examinations. I also see it as a reflection of the support and guidance that my academic tutors have provided me, which has been crucial in achieving the results I have."

"And when you show that you want to learn you are sure to get amazing support from your supervisors. Indeed, I couldn't have asked more from Chris Kitchen, Asa K. Cusack and Mark Bailey, among others. "

"Further, speaking of the personal tutor, Rhiannon Vickers was understanding of personal circumstances and extended the helping hand when it was needed"

"Before beginning work on this dissertation, I requested Dr Maria Grasso as my supervisor given her expertise on political participation, in particular young people’s participation. It was a privilege being Maria’s supervisee, and her guidance throughout the development of the dissertation, from the early production of a questionnaire to the quantitative and qualitative analysis of subsequent data, was invaluable."

"I am delighted to have been awarded a share in the Bernard Crick Prize, especially considering I studied several of Crick’s works on Citizenship Education during a review of current literature. I was proud of the work I had produced but it is extra special for it to be recognised by the academic staff in one of the country’s leading Politics Departments. Not only does it make all the hard work worthwhile, a share in the prize also gives me confidence that I can make a success of whatever I approach next. "

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"Winning a share in the Bernard Crick Prize is a real honour, and I am thrilled that my hard work has paid off. I have learned so much throughout my three years at Sheffield, and have great respect for the academics and tutors who have contributed to making my undergraduate experience so positive".

"My supervisor, Alasdair Cochrane, was exceptional in supporting my dissertation research. He was generous with his time and I felt I was able to approach him with any problems I came across. The department gave clear guidance on what was required for the dissertation module, and I was encouraged to seek a variety of resources, which I did using the British Library. "

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"Maria Grasso was a truly wonderful supervisor. She was remarkably supportive throughout the process: encouraging meetings, reading (a lot) of drafts and continuously challenging me to improve. She even invites her students to audit her Masters courses on research design and quantitative analysis, which made the prospect of writing a dissertation a lot less daunting!"

"As I intend to go into the market and social research industry, having a YouGov Dissertation Prize on my CV is invaluable. It took a lot of effort (and caffeine) but receiving the Award has definitely boosted my confidence in being able to conduct my own research and I feel very privileged to have won. Getting namedropped by YouGov on Twitter was pretty awesome too!"

'In this rapidly developing era of Big Data, an understanding of how to interrogate, analyse and critically evaluate quantitative results is increasingly important to set yourself apart. Joanna's excellent work demonstrated top-level understanding of the data, but also the broader context in which it its exists. Her findings were insightful, thorough and illuminating, and I am delighted she has been awarded the YouGov Quantitative Dissertation Prize for 2013.' - Joe Twyman, Director of Political and Social Research, YouGov.

2012-13 Awarded to Daniel Atherton, Bethan Ratcliffe, Bethany Garratt and Philippa Machin for their poster Out of the Blue. Understanding the Process of Change in Latino Voter Behaviour During the US Presidential Elections.