uk essay competition 2022

THE QUEEN'S COMMONWEALTH ESSAY COMPETITION

​The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition (QCEC) is the world’s oldest international writing competition for schools and has been delivered by the Royal Commonwealth Society since 1883. It has been delivered in Her Majesty The Queen's name since 2015, in recognition of Her Late Majesty The Queen’s selfless commitment to the Commonwealth and, in the past decade alone, the competition has engaged over 140,000 young people, 5,000 schools and 1,000 volunteer judges.

The QCEC seeks to introduce young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, under-represented demographics and remote communities to the idea of writing for fun, developing key literacy skills and working to increase academic attainment. Through its promotion of literacy and writing skills, the QCEC contributes to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4 (Quality Education) in over 60 countries and territories and the Society aims to reach even more young people throughout the Commonwealth in the coming years through our digital literacy initiative. 

Each year, young people write on a theme that stems from the Commonwealth’s values and principles, developing key literacy skills whilst also fostering an empathetic and open-minded world view. Recent themes have focused on the environment, inclusion, the role of youth leadership, and gender equality. Their pieces drew out innovative ideas for positive change and encouraged young people to consider new perspectives.

Past winners have gone on to become leaders in their fields, including the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Mei Fong, and the renowned author, the late Elspeth Huxley CBE.

As Vice-Patron of the Royal Commonwealth Society Her Majesty The Queen Consort is a passionate supporter of shining a spotlight on the importance of literacy across the Commonwealth. Annually, winners of the QCEC are invited to travel to the United Kingdom for a week of educational and cultural activities, which culminates in a special Awards Ceremony, held at Buckingham Palace, that is hosted by Her Majesty. As part of the BBC's Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II, our Vice-Patron spoke to the BBC Cultural Frontline about the importance of literacy and the competition for a special programme, 'Celebrating Commonwealth writing' with previous competition winners Hiya Chowdhury and Ethan Charles Mufuma. 

All entrants and all participating schools receive a Certificate of Participation and one Winner and Runner-up from the Senior and Junior categories win a trip to London for a week of educational and cultural events. For more information about the competition, please see Terms and Conditions and  Frequently Asked Questions .

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition is supported by the Lagos State Government.

Essay Competition

 “the ideas of economists… both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood… indeed the world is ruled by little else” ,     j. m. keynes (general theory, 1936), essay competition 2024.

The Marshall Society Essay Competition for 2024 has officially opened!

We are proud to announce that the 2024 Marshall Society Essay Competition is being sponsored by Cambridge Global Connect (http://www.camgc-edu.com) .

Cambridge Global Connect are a subsidiary of Oxbridge Global Connect, an award-winning education technology platform and research think tank founded at the University of Cambridge that offers premier tutoring services.

Marshall Society Essay Competition 2024

The competition.

The Marshall Society, the economics society of the University of Cambridge, is excited to launch its 2024 essay competition! This is an opportunity for all students who have not begun their university studies to demonstrate their ability to write a convincing and well-structured essay. Emphasis should be placed on sound explanation of economic theory and well-reasoned, original arguments, drawing on relevant real-world evidence.

Participants are invited to submit an essay response to one of the following questions:

• In the face of disinflation, policymakers are hesitant to reduce interest rates. Is this in line with economic theory?
• What are the causes and consequences of low fertility rates in advanced economies? How can we combat them?
• Is the attention economy necessarily harmful? 
• To what extent is a merger between two big firms beneficial to consumers?
• “In an efficient market, at any point in time, the actual price of a security will be a good estimate of its intrinsic va lue.” – Eugene Fama. To wh at extent does this apply today?
• Why did Britain choose to return to the $4.86 gold standard rate in 1925? Was this the right decision?
• Has the field of Economics become too mathematical? Is this a problem?

Writing the essay

Your essay should be written in English with good grammar and structure . We will evaluate your essay based on the logic and persuasiveness of the arguments presented, the quality of the evidence used to support your points, and the originality of your ideas.

Your essay should be properly referenced , citing all sources along the way. It is recommended to use the APA (Author, Year) style of citation in the text. (For example, “The persistence of high unemployment rates is mainly associated with rigidities in the labour markets (Bertola and Rogerson, 1997).”)

Please also provide a bibliography , where you list all your sources at the end of the essay. Don’t worry too much about sticking to one citation format for this; spend your time writing your essay instead (although look to the APA format as a guide for this). Just make sure all the information needed to verify your sources is in here.

Before submitting your essay, do a word count. Words in your bibliography and in any data tables don’t count towards the limit, but everything else does, including footnotes. The limit is 1,250 words (we will check!). We put a word limit so you can focus on what the really important aspects of the question are. Because of the limit, you shouldn’t worry about providing a complete overview of the topic; rather, focus on getting a really good insight into the key aspects, with facts to back it up. You may assume that the judging panel have a basic understanding of the question topic, i.e., there is no need for lengthy definitions or background information.

Finally, some notes on style:

• Include page numbers on every page
• Format your essay in Times New Roman, size 12, with line spacing 1.5
• On the first page, include the question, question number, your name and your school .

Use of Generative AI

The use of Generative AI programmes, such as ChatGPT, is not prohibited in producing your essay, and you will not be penalised for fair usage. However, any use of AI must be declared on the form used to submit your essay. All essays will be passed through software which detects plagiarism and the use of AI, including where passages have been produced by AI and manually rewritten. Any essays found to have used AI without proper declaration will be disqualified.

Use the submission form below to submit your essay. Do not email your essay to us: we will not read it if you do!

If you encounter any issues while submitting your essay via the Google Form below, please email [email protected] at least 48 hours prior to the deadline.

We have extended the deadline for submissions to Sunday 18 th August 2024, 11:59pm BST . Late submissions will not be considered.

Before submitting, please convert your file to a PDF and change the file name to “[your name] Q[question number].pdf” . (For example, “Adam Smith Q4.pdf”). Make sure this is no larger than 10 MB in size.

Competition results will be published on the Marshall Society website by late-August 2024. Prizes are as follows:

First place: £100 Finalists: £50 Commendation: No monetary prize, awarded to excellent submissions shortlisted for finalist.

Selected winning essays will be featured in the Marshall Society’s annual publication, The Dismal Scientist .

Terms and Conditions of Entry Please also observe that by entering you agree to the terms and conditions listed below:

• Your submitted essay must be your work alone and any assistance given to you must be declared in the form used to submit your essay. This includes the use of Generative AI software such as ChatGPT.
• You cannot make any revisions to your essay once it has been submitted.
• Only students who have not started an undergraduate degree can enter. Please note that you do not have to be studying in the UK to enter.
• Any personal data relating to entrants will be used solely for the purpose of this competition and will not be disclosed to any third parties for any purpose without prior consent.
• The essay that is entered may not be entered into any other competition.
• The winner, runners up and those with shortlisted essays will be contacted via the email used to submit the essay. Unfortunately, any other feedback will not be possible to any of the entrants.
• The Marshall Society reserves the final right, where necessary, to make amendments to the above terms and conditions and to select the winners of the competition.

We look forward to reading your submissions!

Jing, Research Director 2024/25 Chiara, Magazine Editor 2024/25

Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, the short list for the 2024 global essay prize was released on wednesday, 31 july..

The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Entering an essay in our competition can build knowledge, and refine skills of argumentation. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. All of our essay prizes are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities including Oxford and Princeton, under the leadership of the Chairman of Examiners, former Cambridge philosopher, Dr Jamie Whyte.

The judges will choose their favourite essay from each of seven subject categories - Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law - and then select the winner of the Grand Prize for the best entry in any subject. There is also a separate prize awarded for the best essay in the junior category, for under 15s.

Q1. Do we have any good reasons to trust our moral intuition?

Q2. Do girls have a (moral) right to compete in sporting contests that exclude boys?

Q3. Should I be held responsible for what I believe?

Q1. Is there such a thing as too much democracy?

Q2. Is peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip possible?

Q3. When is compliance complicity?

Q1. What is the optimal global population?  

Q2. Accurate news reporting is a public good. Does it follow that news agencies should be funded from taxation?

Q3. Do successful business people benefit others when making their money, when spending it, both, or neither?

Q1. Why was sustained economic growth so rare before the later 18th century and why did this change?

Q2. Has music ever significantly changed the course of history?

Q3. Why do civilisations collapse? Is our civilisation in danger?

Q1. When, if ever, should a company be permitted to refuse to do business with a person because of that person’s public statements?

Q2. In the last five years British police have arrested several thousand people for things they posted on social media. Is the UK becoming a police state?

Q3. Your parents say that 11pm is your bedtime. But they don’t punish you if you don’t go to bed by 11pm. Is 11pm really your bedtime?

Q1. According to a study by researchers at four British universities, for each 15-point increase in IQ, the likelihood of getting married increases by around 35% for a man but decreases by around 58% for a woman. Why?

In the original version of this question we misstated a statistic. This was caused by reproducing an error that appeared in several media summaries of the study. We are grateful to one of our contestants, Xinyi Zhang, who helped us to see (with humility and courtesy) why we should take more care to check our sources. We corrected the text on 4 April. Happily, the correction does not in any way alter the thrust of the question.

Q2. There is an unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people. Can we fix this? How?

Q3. What is the difference between a psychiatric illness and a character flaw?

Q1. “I am not religious, but I am spiritual.” What could the speaker mean by “spiritual”?

Q2. Is it reasonable to thank God for protection from some natural harm if He is responsible for causing the harm?

Q3. Does God reward those who believe in him? If so, why?

JUNIOR prize

Q1. Does winning a free and fair election automatically confer a mandate for governing?

Q2. Has the anti-racism movement reduced racism?

Q3. Is there life after death?

Q4. How did it happen that governments came to own and run most high schools, while leaving food production to private enterprise? 

Q5. When will advancing technology make most of us unemployable? What should we do about this?

Q6. Should we trust fourteen-year-olds to make decisions about their own bodies? 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS & FURTHER DETAILS

Please read the following carefully.

Entry to the John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2024 is open to students from any country.

Registration  

Only candidates who registered before the registration deadline of Friday, 31 May 2024 may enter this year's competition.

All entries must be submitted by 11.59 pm BST on  the submission deadline: Sunday, 30 June 2024 .  Candidates must be eighteen years old, or younger, on that date. (Candidates for the Junior Prize must be fourteen years old, or younger, on that date.)

Entry is free.

Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration). 

The filename of your pdf must be in this format: FirstName-LastName-Category-QuestionNumber.pdf; so, for instance, Alexander Popham would submit his answer to question 2 in the Psychology category with the following file name:

Alexander-Popham-Psychology-2.pdf

Essays with filenames which are not in this format will be rejected.

The candidate's name should NOT appear within the document itself. 

Candidates should NOT add footnotes. They may, however, add endnotes and/or a Bibliography that is clearly titled as such.

Each candidate will be required to provide the email address of an academic referee who is familiar with the candidate's written academic work. This should be a school teacher, if possible, or another responsible adult who is not a relation of the candidate. The John Locke Institute will email referees to verify that the essays submitted are indeed the original work of the candidates.

Submissions may be made as soon as registration opens in April. We recommend that you submit your essay well in advance of the deadline to avoid any last-minute complications.  To submit your essay, click here .  

Acceptance of your essay depends on your granting us permission to use your data for the purposes of receiving and processing your entry as well as communicating with you about the Awards Ceremony Dinner, the academic conference, and other events and programmes of the John Locke Institute and its associated entities.  

Late entries

If for any reason you miss the 30 June deadline you will have an opportunity to make a late entry, under two conditions:

a) A late entry fee of 20.00 USD must be paid by credit card within twenty-four hours of the original deadline; and

b) Your essay must be submitted  before 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 10 July 2024.

To pay for late entry, a registrant need only log into his or her account, select the relevant option and provide the requested payment information.

Our grading system is proprietary. Essayists may be asked to discuss their entry with a member of the John Locke Institute’s faculty. We use various means to identify plagiarism, contract cheating, the use of AI and other forms of fraud . Our determinations in all such matters are final.

Essays will be judged on knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the competent use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force. The very best essays are likely to be those which would be capable of changing somebody's mind. Essays which ignore or fail to address the strongest objections and counter-arguments are unlikely to be successful .

Candidates are advised to answer the question as precisely and directly as possible.

The writers of the best essays will receive a commendation and be shortlisted for a prize. Writers of shortlisted essays will be notified by 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 31 July. They will also be invited to London for an invitation-only academic conference and awards dinner in September, where the prize-winners will be announced. Unlike the competition itself, the academic conference and awards dinner are not free. Please be aware that n obody is required to attend either the academic conference or the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London.

All short-listed candidates, including prize-winners, will be able to download eCertificates that acknowledge their achievement. If you win First, Second or Third Prize, and you travel to London for the ceremony, you will receive a signed certificate. 

There is a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US$2000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme, and the essays will be published on the Institute's website. Prize-giving ceremonies will take place in London, at which winners and runners-up will be able to meet some of the judges and other faculty members of the John Locke Institute. Family, friends, and teachers are also welcome.

The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, which comes with a US$10,000 scholarship to attend one or more of our summer schools and/or visiting scholars programmes. 

The judges' decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

R egistration opens: 1 April, 2024.

Registration deadline: 31 May, 2024. (Registration is required by this date for subsequent submission.)

Submission deadline: 30 June, 2024.

Late entry deadline: 10 July, 2024. (Late entries are subject to a 20.00 USD charge, payable by 1 July.)

Notification of short-listed essayists: 31 July, 2024.

Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024.

Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024.

Any queries regarding the essay competition should be sent to [email protected] . Please be aware that, due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, we cannot guarantee to answer every query. In particular, regrettably, we are unable to respond to questions whose answers can be found on our website.

If you would like to receive helpful tips  from our examiners about what makes for a winning essay or reminders of upcoming key dates for the 2024  essay competition, please provide your email here to be added to our contact list. .

Thanks for subscribing!

The John Locke Institute's Global Essay Prize is acknowledged as the world's most prestigious essay competition. 

We welcome tens of thousands of submissions from ambitious students in more than 150 countries, and our examiners - including distinguished philosophers, political scientists, economists, historians, psychologists, theologians, and legal scholars - read and carefully assess every entry. 

I encourage you to register for this competition, not only for the hope of winning a prize or commendation, and not only for the chance to join the very best contestants at our academic conference and gala ceremony in London, but equally for the opportunity to engage in the serious scholarly enterprise of researching, reflecting on, writing about, and editing an answer to one of the important and provocative questions in this year's Global Essay Prize. 

We believe that the skills you will acquire in the process will make you a better thinker and a more effective advocate for the ideas that matter most to you.

I hope to see you in September!

Best wishes,

Jamie Whyte, Ph.D. (C ANTAB ) 

Chairman of Examiners

Q. I missed the registration deadline. May I still register or submit an essay?

A. No. Only candidates who registered before 31 May will be able to submit an essay. 

Q. Are footnote s, endnotes, a bibliography or references counted towards the word limit?

A. No. Only the body of the essay is counted. 

Q. Are in-text citations counted towards the word limit? ​

A. If you are using an in-text based referencing format, such as APA, your in-text citations are included in the word limit.

Q. Is it necessary to include foo tnotes or endnotes in an essay? ​

A. You  may not  include footnotes, but you may include in-text citations or endnotes. You should give your sources of any factual claims you make, and you should ackn owledge any other authors on whom you rely.​

Q. I am interested in a question that seems ambiguous. How should I interpret it?

A. You may interpret a question as you deem appropriate, clarifying your interpretation if necessary. Having done so, you must answer the question as directly as possible.

Q. How strict are  the age eligibility criteria?

A. Only students whose nineteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. In the case of the Junior category, only students whose fifteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. 

Q. May I submit more than one essay?

A. Yes, you may submit as many essays as you please in any or all categories.

Q. If I am eligible to compete in the Junior category, may I also (or instead) compete in another category?

A. Yes, you may.

Q. May I team up with someone else to write an essay?  

A. No. Each submitted essay must be entirely the work of a single individual.

Q. May I use AI, such as ChatGPT or the like, in writing my essay?

A. All essays will be checked for the use of AI. If we find that any content is generated by AI, your essay will be disqualified. We will also ask you, upon submission of your essay, whether you used AI for  any  purpose related to the writing of your essay, and if so, you will be required to provide details. In that case, if, in our judgement, you have not provided full and accurate details of your use of AI, your essay will be disqualified. 

Since any use of AI (that does not result in disqualification) can only negatively affect our assessment of your work relative to that of work that is done without using AI, your safest course of action is simply not to use it at all. If, however, you choose to use it for any purpose, we reserve the right to make relevant judgements on a case-by-case basis and we will not enter into any correspondence. 

Q. May I have someone else edit, or otherwise help me with, my essay?

A. You may of course discuss your essay with others, and it is perfectly acceptable for them to offer general advice and point out errors or weaknesses in your writing or content, leaving you to address them.

However, no part of your essay may be written by anyone else. This means that you must edit your own work and that while a proofreader may point out errors, you as the essayist must be the one to correct them. 

Q. Do I have to attend the awards ceremony to win a prize? ​

A. Nobody is required to attend the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London. But if we invite you to London it is because your essay was good enough - in the opinion of the First Round judges - to be at least a contender for First, Second or Third Prize. Normally the Second Round judges will agree that the short-listed essays are worth at least a commendation.

Q. Is there an entry fee?

A. No. There is no charge to enter our global essay competition unless you submit your essay after the normal deadline, in which case there is a fee of 20.00 USD .

Q. Can I receive a certificate for my participation in your essay competition if I wasn't shortlisted? 

A. No. Certificates are awarded only for shortlisted essays. Short-listed contestants who attend the award ceremony in London will receive a paper certificate. If you cannot travel to London, you will be able to download your eCertificate.

Q. Can I receive feedba ck on my essay? 

A. We would love to be able to give individual feedback on essays but, unfortunately, we receive too many entries to be able to comment on particular essays.

Q. The deadline for publishing the names of short-listed essayists has passed but I did not receive an email to tell me whether I was short-listed.

A. Log into your account and check "Shortlist Status" for (each of) your essay(s).

Q. Why isn't the awards ceremony in Oxford this year?

A. Last year, many shortlisted finalists who applied to join our invitation-only academic conference missed the opportunity because of capacity constraints at Oxford's largest venues. This year, the conference will be held in central London and the gala awards dinner will take place in an iconic London ballroom. 

TECHNICAL FAQ s

Q. The system will not accept my essay. I have checked the filename and it has the correct format. What should I do?  

A. You have almost certainly added a space before or after one of your names in your profile. Edit it accordingly and try to submit again.

Q. The profile page shows my birth date to be wrong by a day, even after I edit it. What should I do?

A. Ignore it. The date that you typed has been correctly input to our database. ​ ​

Q. How can I be sure that my registration for the essay competition was successful? Will I receive a confirmation email?

A. You will not receive a confirmation email. Rather, you can at any time log in to the account that you created and see that your registration details are present and correct.

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR SUBMISSION

If you are unable to submit your essay to the John Locke Institute’s global essay competition, your problem is almost certainly one of the following.

If so, please proceed as indicated.

1) PROBLEM: I receive the ‘registrations are now closed’ message when I enter my email and verification code. SOLUTION. You did not register for the essay competition and create your account. If you think you did, you probably only provided us with your email to receive updates from us about the competition or otherwise. You may not enter the competition this year.

2) PROBLEM I do not receive a login code after I enter my email to enter my account. SOLUTION. Enter your email address again, checking that you do so correctly. If this fails, restart your browser using an incognito window; clear your cache, and try again. Wait for a few minutes for the code. If this still fails, restart your machine and try one more time. If this still fails, send an email to [email protected] with “No verification code – [your name]” in the subject line.

SUBMITTING AN ESSAY

3) PROBLEM: The filename of my essay is in the correct format but it is rejected. SOLUTION: Use “Edit Profile” to check that you did not add a space before or after either of your names. If you did, delete it. Whether you did or did not, try again to submit your essay. If submission fails again, email [email protected] with “Filename format – [your name]” in the subject line.

4) PROBLEM: When trying to view my submitted essay, a .txt file is downloaded – not the .pdf file that I submitted. SOLUTION: Delete the essay. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “File extension problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

5) PROBLEM: When I try to submit, the submission form just reloads without giving me an error message. SOLUTION. Log out of your account. Open a new browser; clear the cache; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Submission form problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

6) PROBLEM: I receive an “Unexpected Error” when trying to submit. SOLUTION. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If this resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Unexpected error – [your name]” in thesubject line. Your email must tell us e xactly where in the submission process you received this error.

7) PROBLEM: I have a problem with submitting and it is not addressed above on this list. SOLUTION: Restart your machine. Clear your browser’s cache. Try to submit again. If this fails, email [email protected] with “Unlisted problem – [your name]” in the subject line. Your email must tell us exactly the nature of your problem with relevant screen caps.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU EMAIL US.

Do not email us before you have tried the specified solutions to your problem.

Do not email us more than once about a single problem. We will respond to your email within 72 hours. Only if you have not heard from us in that time may you contact us again to ask for an update.

If you email us regarding a problem, you must include relevant screen-shots and information on both your operating system and your browser. You must also declare that you have tried the solutions presented above and had a good connection to the internet when you did so.

If you have tried the relevant solution to your problem outlined above, have emailed us, and are still unable to submit before the 30 June deadline on account of any fault of the John Locke Institute or our systems, please do not worry: we will have a way to accept your essay in that case. However, if there is no fault on our side, we will not accept your essay if it is not submitted on time – whatever your reason: we will not make exceptions for IT issues for which we are not responsible.

We reserve the right to disqualify the entries of essayists who do not follow all provided instructions, including those concerning technical matters.

The R.A. Butler Prize for essays in Politics and International Studies is a competition that can be entered by students in Year 12 or the Lower 6th. Candidates are invited to submit an essay on a topic to be chosen from a list of general questions announced in March each year, and to be submitted in August.

The Prize is jointly organised by Trinity College Cambridge and Cambridge University’s Department of Politics and International Studies. The Prize was established in memory of the former Master of Trinity College, Lord Butler, who most famously served as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, and who was responsible for the introduction of free secondary education for all students in the UK.

The objectives of the R.A. Butler Prize are twofold. Firstly, it aims to encourage students with an interest in modern politics and world affairs to think about undertaking university studies in Politics, International Studies or a related discipline; it is not limited to those already studying these subjects or indeed other social sciences. Secondly, its intention is to recognise the achievements both of high-calibre students and of those who teach them.

The 2024 competition has closed.

Format:  Essays can be up to 3,000 words, including all footnotes and references but excluding the bibliography.  It’s worth considering the use of examples in your essays: the best essays often use a diverse selection of contemporary, historical or literary examples.  We encourage you to provide references to your sources of information, and to include a bibliography at the end of the essay.  There is no recommended referencing or bibliographic style – use whatever format you think works best.  Please include your name on the document and save the file as “Surname, First name”.

Eligibility:  The Prize is for students in Year 12 or Lower 6th at the time the questions are released in March.  Students based abroad are most welcome to participate. To be eligible, you must be in your penultimate year of school. That is, to be eligible for the 2024 competition, you should be expecting to receive your final school results in the year from September 2024 to August 2025. This condition is held to strictly and, to be fair to the participants, no exceptions are made.  Each entrant to the competition is allowed to submit only one essay.

Submissions:  Essays must be submitted by 12 noon (UK time) on Thursday 1 August 2024.  Please submit essays using the form below.

Prize: The competition carries a First Prize of £600, to be split equally between the candidate and his or her school or college (the school or college’s portion of the prize to be issued in the form of book tokens), and a Second Prize of £400, which again is to be shared equally between the candidate and his or her school or college.  We award on average 8 special commendations each year and 40 additional commendations. Winners and recipients of special commendations will be announced in September, and will be invited to visit the College to meet some of the teaching staff.

Contact:  Any queries from students who may be interested in submitting work for the prize, or their teachers, should be directed to Dr Glen Rangwala by email to:  [email protected] .

Sorry. This form is no longer available.

Past Prize-winners

1st Prize: John Paul Cheng (Winchester College, Winchester) 2nd Prize: Fela Callahan (Harris Westminster Sixth Form, London)

1st Prize: Eunju Seo (North London Collegiate School Jeju, Republic of Korea) 2nd Prize: Luke Grierson (High Storrs School, Sheffield)

1st Prize: Saumya Nair (Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Gloucestershire) 2nd Prize (joint): Liyana Eliza Glenn (Home-schooled, UK) 2nd Prize (joint):  Amr Hamid (St Paul’s School, London)

1st Prize: Lydia Allenby (Gosforth Academy, Newcastle upon Tyne) 2nd Prize: Louis Danker (City of London School, London)

1st Prize: Matthew Gursky (Hall Cross, Academy, Doncaster) 2nd Prize: Evie Morgan (Ipswich School, Ipswich)

1st Prize: Gergely Bérces (Milestone Institute, Budapest, Hungary) 2nd Prize (joint): Tatyana Goodwin (Varndean College, Brighton) 2nd Prize (joint): Eloise George (Hills Road Sixth Form College, Cambridge)

1st Prize: Folu Ogunyeye (Aylesbury High School) 2nd Prize: Eve McMullen (Minster School, Southwell)

1st Prize: Silas Edwards (St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, Bristol) 2nd Prize: Eliza Harry (Greene’s Tutorial College, Oxford)

1st Prize: Stephen Horvath (Westminster School, London) 2nd Prize: Grace Elshafei (Sevenoaks School, Kent)

1st Prize: Oscar Alexander-Jones (St Paul’s School, London) 2nd Prize: Sam Maybee (King Edward VI Five Ways School, Birmingham)

1st Prize: Eleanor Shearer (Westminster School) 2nd Prize (joint): Stephanie Clarke (Lancaster Girls’ Grammar School) 2nd Prize (joint): Will Barnes (Manchester Grammar School)

1st Prize: Kiah Ashford-Stow (King Edward VI School, Southampton) 2nd Prize: Jamie Sproul (Stamford School)

1st Prize: Aman Rizvi (Winchester College) 2nd Prize: Frans Robyns (Kings College School, Wimbledon)

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Winners of Chancellor's English Essay Prize 2022 Announced

We are delighted to announce that Francesca Gardner and George Adams have been named the joint winners of the Chancellor's English Essay Prize 2022. This year's subject was 'Light' and the two winning entries,  Making Light of Essays   (Francesca Gardner) and  Hail Holy Light, "Offspring of Heaven first-born"   (George Adams), are now available to read online.  

The Chancellor’s English Essay Prize is open to members of the University within four years of matriculation on the closing date for the receipt of submissions. Entries should not exceed 12,500 words in length.

Student Essay Competition .

The dorian fisher memorial prize 2022.

• A short essay, of roughly 1,200 words, on one of the following questions:
• A 500-word answer to one of the following two questions:
• A 500-word answer to the following question.

The Monetary Policy Essay Prize 2021-22 By the Institute of Economic Affairs, the Institute of International Monetary Research, and the Vinson Centre

“Does inflation matter? And will the current inflation upturn be transitory or not?”

The IEA is an educational charity and free market think tank .

Our mission is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems.

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The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition (QCEC) is now open for entries

• Westminster News

In 2022, on the occasion of her Platinum Jubilee year, Her Majesty The Queen will celebrate 70 years as Head of the Commonwealth.

The Queen’s seven decades of service to the Commonwealth are an inspiring example of the steadfast commitment and important contribution we can all make to our societies.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2022  (QCEC) will ask entrants to explore the positive impact that can be achieved through dedication and selfless commitment to our Commonwealth.

• Click here for more details and to enter the competition

The QCEC, delivered by the Royal Commonwealth Society, is the world’s oldest international writing competition for schools. It offers thousands of young people, whatever their background, the opportunity to make their voices heard on a global platform.  In this Platinum Jubilee year of our Sovereign, Her Majesty The Queen, young Commonwealth writers are asked to reflect on inspirational leadership and to explore the positive impact that can be achieved through commitment to their communities within the theme ‘Our Commonwealth’.

Open to all UK residents, aged 18 and under, the competition has two age categories for those aged 14 – 18 years, and those under 14 years. Winners from each category will win a trip to London for a week of educational and cultural activities, culminating in an awards ceremony, usually held at Buckingham Palace and hosted by the Society’s Vice-Patron, Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cornwall. All successful entries are recognised for their participation.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition will close for submissions on the 30 June 2022. For more information please visit, www.royalcwsociety.org .

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ULAB Undergraduate Essay Competition 2022

Specification.

• Category 1 : 1st and 2nd year undergraduates
• Category 2 : 3rd (and 4th) year undergraduates

Eligibility

Question 1: theoretical syntax , suggested reading.

• Hosseini-Maasoum, S.M., 2022. An Analysis of the Efficiency of Constituency Tests in Persian; a Minimalist Analysis. Language Related Research , 12(6), pp.93-127.
• Phillips, C., 1996. Merge right: An approach to constituency conflicts. In Proceedings of the Fourteenth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics , 15, pp. 381-95.
• Phillips, C., 2003. Linear order and constituency. Linguistic inquiry , 34(1), pp.37-90.
• Postal, P. 1974. On Raising . Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.
• Steedman, M. 1997. Surface Structure and Interpretation . Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Question 2: Internet Linguistics

Suggested reading .

• Bamman, D., Eisenstein, J. & Schnoebelen, T.. 2014. Gender identity and lexical variation in social media. Journal of Sociolinguistics , 18(2), pp.135-60.
• Crystal, D., 2011. Internet linguistics: A student guide . Routledge.
• Eisenstein, J., O’Connor, B., Smith, N. & Xing., E. P. 2014. Diffusion of lexical change in social media. PLoS ONE 9(11).
• Giltrow, J. and Stein, D., 2009. Innovation, evolution, and genre theory. Genres in the Internet. Issues in the theory of genre , pp.1-26.
• Gopal, D., Blaxter, T., Willis, D. and Leemann, A., 2021. Testing models of diffusion of morphosyntactic innovations in Twitter data. Urban Matters: Current approaches in variationist sociolinguistics , 27, p.253.
• Merchant, G., 2001. Teenagers in cyberspace: an investigation of language use and language change in internet chatrooms. Journal of research in reading , 24(3), pp.293-306.

Question 3: Language Acquisition 

• Clark, E. V. 2009. Lexical meaning. The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language , pp.283-300.
• Davidson, D., Jergovic, D., Imami, Z. & Theodos, V. 1997. Monolingual and bilingual children's use of the mutual exclusivity constraint. Journal of child language , 24(1), pp.3-24.
• Houwer, A. de. 1990. The Acquisition of Two Languages from Birth . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Keller, G.D., Teschner, R.Y. & Viera, S. (eds.). 1967. Bilingualism in the Bicentennial and Beyon d. Jamaica, NY: Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingüe.
• Lindholm, K. J. & Padilla, A. M. 1978. Language mixing in bilingual children. Journal of child language , 5(2), pp.327–335.
• Markman, E.M. & Wachtel, G.F. 1988. Children's use of mutual exclusivity to constrain the meanings of words. Cognitive psychology , 20(2), pp.121-157.

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08 March 2022

2022 essay competition now open your chance to win £5,000.

Entries are invited for this year’s Rybczynski economics essay competition - kindly sponsored by KPMG.

This prestigious award is given to the best piece of writing on an issue of importance to economists, and offers the opportunity to help your own work gain a higher profile among professional colleagues.

The prize of £5,000 is kindly offered by KPMG, who are sponsoring the competition, and is awarded at the Society’s Annual Dinner and the author(s) of the final shortlisted entries will be invited to the dinner as guests of the SPE.

Essays must be submitted by 1 May 2022 and should not have been published before 1 January 2021 ie. this prize is for work written and/or published between the start of the calendar year 2021 and the closing date.

The judges will be looking for around 3000 (with an absolute maximum of 4000) well-written words. Click on page links for terms and conditions and entry form. Good luck!

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Future Lawyer Blog

Getting ahead: essay competition opportunities 2022-23.

There are a wide range of different essay competitions that run each year for law students. You can see the full list of these on Learnmore with information that we know now, but this will be updated throughout the year. Here are a couple with deadlines coming up you might like to crack on with.

The Bar Council Law Reform Essay Competition

The biggest law essay competition in the UK has a deadline next month (21st October 2022). Unlike other competitions, the Bar Council asks you to get creative, making the case as to what law reform to English, Welsh or European law you think needs to happen. Here’s what the Chair of the Law Reform Committee has to say about the competition:

“We are delighted to announce that the 2022 Law Reform Essay competition is now open. The Committee are looking forward to reading your ideas for law reform. We are also very grateful to The City Law School for their generous sponsorship of the competition, in the first year of what we hope will be a long and fruitful partnership.” Iain MacDonald, Chair of the Law Reform Committee

Excitingly you can see all of the essays from previous winners from 2015 onwards on the Bar Council website, giving lots of inspiration for your own. There have been lots of past winners from our students at City, so be great to see lots of entries from this year’s cohort too.

Oooo I haven’t mentioned the prizes!?

• £4,000 for the winner
• £2,500 for the runner-up
• £1,500 for best GDL entry
• £1,000 for GDL entry runner-up
• 2 x £500 highly commended entries

The Andrew Lockley Public Law Essay Competition 2022

Perfect for all those aspiring Public Law and Human Rights solicitors out there! Irwin Mitchell LLP have launched this competition in honour of their first head of the PLHR team at the firm.

This is the title to get your teeth into:

Following withdrawal of the Bill of Rights by Liz Truss’ government, it’s widely believed that future reform of the Human Rights Act 1998 is still on the agenda. Please set out the pros and cons of reform, drawing on key provisions that had been intended for the former draft Bill of Rights.

Have a look at the competition website for full details but the headline elements are as follows:

• No more than 1,000 words long
• Open to law students, graduates, trainee solicitors and paralegals practising public law and human rights or having an interest in that area of law.
• Deadline is 14th October
• Prize is a £200 Blackwell’s gift card, plus the obvious profile-raising effect of being a winner!

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Top Five: 2022 International Essay Writing Contests

Get your ultimate top five list of Essay Writing Contests for 2022 through OYA Opportunities!

Get out there and compete with people around the world in the competitions listed below for cash prizes and much more!

1. 2022 International Essay Contest for Young People

This annual essay contest is an effort to harness the energy, creativity, as well as initiative of the world’s youth in promoting a culture of peace and sustainable development. It also aims to inspire society to learn from the young minds and to think about how each of us can make a difference in the world.

Theme : My Values

Prize : 150,000 yen, gift prizes, certificates, and honorable mentions

Deadline : 15 June 2022

Organizer : goi peace foundation

Click here for more information.

2. Peter Drucker Challenge Essay Contest 2022

The Drucker Challenge is an annual international essay competition exploring a current topic in management, typically related to the theme of the Forum in the context of Peter Drucker’s human-oriented management philosophy.

Prize : $420,000, in-person pass for the 14th Global Peter Drucker Forum, Publication as well as Certificates

Deadline : 14 May 2022

Organizer : Peter Drucker Challenge

Click here to learn more

3. RD Walshe Memorial Writing for the Environment Prize 2022

Through the RD Walshe Memorial Writing for the Environment Prize, Sutherland Shire Environment Centre continues to value the role and place of the art of writing in bringing about change in issues of social justice as well as the environment. Writing offers a chance to reflect on these problems and their causes, as well as on the solutions and their causes.

This year’s competition intends to attract quality writing that can inspire or inform or incite change towards a more peaceful as well as the sustainable world – healthy people living on a healthy planet.

Theme : Peace and Sustainability

Prize : up to 700 dollar cash prize,

Deadline : 17 June 2022

Organizer : Sutherland Shire Environment Centre

Click here to learn more!

4. World Trade Organization Essay Award 2022 for Young Economists

The WTO has issued a call for young economists to submit papers for the 2022 WTO Essay Award. The award aims to promote high-quality research on trade policy and international trade cooperation as well as to reinforce the relationship between the WTO and the academic community.

Theme : trade policy and international trade cooperation

Prize : CHF 5,000 as well as an invitation to  the annual meeting of the European Trade Study Group (funded)

Deadline : 6 June 2022

Organizer : World Trade Organization

Click here for more information

5. Mountain Photo Essay Competition 2022

The Mountain Photo Essay Competition is a program of Mountain Culture at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. It promotes understanding and appreciation of the world’s mountain places by creating opportunities for people to share and find inspiration in mountain experiences, ideas, as well as visions.

Theme : Mountain Culture

Prize :  $2000 CAD Grand prize

Deadline : 2 May  2022

Organizer : BANFF

Moreover, click here for more information

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Coming Soon.

Northeastern University London is inviting competition entries from students who are currently in their penultimate year of secondary education (equivalent to Year 12 in the English education system, or Grade 11 in India).

Our selection of essay titles engage across a broad range of technology, social science and humanities topics and we look forward to receiving entries from talented and intellectually curious students who show passion in their subject area. We welcome entries from students located anywhere in the world.

If you have any further questions please see our  FAQ page before contacting us.

Choose your essay question

Coming Soon

The following prizes will be awarded:

Overall winner across all essay subjects- £1000

Winner in a subject category- £500

Runner up in a subject category- £250

How to enter

1. Register for the competition – After registering you will be emailed detailed instructions on how to enter.

2. Choose one of the titles

3. Write your 1,500-word essay

4. Submit your essay via our online form (URL will be emailed to you after you register) by 2 pm GMT Monday 6th January 2025. 

If you have any further questions please see our FAQ page before contacting us.

Who can enter?

The Northeastern University London Essay Competition is open to students who are currently in their penultimate (second to last) year of secondary education (Year 12 in England or Grade 11 in India). This is a global competition, so we encourage entries from those studying anywhere in the world. Find full competition rules here .

Register here

We are no longer accepting registrations for the essay competition. If you have any questions please refer to our FAQ .

Essay Competitions Deadline

Each year, Fitzwilliam College runs essay competitions in a variety of subjects, allowing talented pupils to explore their interests beyond the school curriculum.

The University of Cambridge seeks out students with a passion for their subject and who have investigated it outside the classroom. Our essay competitions provide students with an opportunity to engage with their interests in this way, allowing them to demonstrate their enthusiasm for their subject.

2024 Competitions

This year we will be running essay competitions in Ancient World and Classics, Archaeology, Economics, History, Land Economy, Medieval World and Slavonic Studies. We will additionally be running an Architecture design competition. Further particulars and this year's questions can be found at the links below. Please read the competition rules and submission guidelines carefully before entering a competition.

Ancient World and Classics

Archaeology

Economics (for state-school UK students only - please see link for details on eligibility)

Land Economy

Medieval World

Slavonic Studies

Architecture – students wishing to enter the Architecture Design Competition may find this plan of Fitzwilliam College and information on the history of Fitzwilliam’s buildings useful

The deadline for all competitions is  6pm on  Friday 1st March 2024 .

Competition rules

These essay competitions are exclusively for students in their penultimate year of education (Year 12 in England and Wales, S5 in Scotland, Year 13 in Northern Ireland). They are open to students in any country but submissions must be written in English.

Submissions should strictly adhere to the word limit set out in the subject brief (2500 words for Archaeology, Classics & Ancient World, History, Land Economy, Slavonic Studies and Medieval World; 1500 words for Economics; 500 words for the Architecture narrative), and contain a bibliography at the end. The word count should exclude the bibliography, but include any footnotes. Each page should be numbered and contain the applicant's full name.

We understand that not all students will have previous experience of writing a bibliography, and may not have equal access to advice on doing so. We therefore include this link to guidance on how to correctly use the Harvard referencing system. Anyone who wishes to use a different referencing system is free to do so.

Students are only permitted to enter one competition and may only submit one entry to that competition. There is a strict limit of five submissions per school for each competition. If more than five students from the same school enter the same competition, a teacher from that school will be contacted and asked to select the five entries; failure to do so will result in all submissions from the school to that competition being disqualified. Please note that this limit does not apply to Sixth Form Colleges where year groups are over 1000 students in size. When submitting an essay, the student will be asked to provide the name and email address of a teacher who may be contacted in order to verify the submission.

The submission must be entirely the individual student's work and must not be submitted or have been submitted to an exam board as part of any coursework or extended essay, either in part or in full.

Submission guidelines

Anyone who wishes to enter an essay competition must complete the online form .

Submissions can be uploaded to the online form in a PDF format. If the file size is too big to upload to the form, please email your submission to [email protected] . We can also accept entries by post. Please address postal submissions to: Schools Liaison Officer, Fitzwilliam College, Storey's Way, Cambridge, CB3 0DG.

You should receive an email confirmation after submitting the form. If you do not receive confirmation within 24 hours, please contact us at the email address below. Any technical difficulties will be dealt with on the next day, and students affected may be allowed to submit late in some circumstances.

Writing Webinars

Students preparing submissions who would like advice on essay writing may wish to seek advice from our two essay writing webinars:

•   Webinar 1 - Initial Preparation - 12th January 2024  at 6pm

**Please note, due to an issue with recording, this is last years webinar. All the information is the same bar these two changes**:

• The deadline for the competition is Friday 1 st of March 2024 at 6pm
• We are running a Slavonic studies competition this year, in addition to the competitions listed in this webinar
• Webinar 2 - Finalising your Essay - 16th February 2024 at 2pm

The webinars are delivered by the Schools Liaison Officer - the first webinar focuses on initial planning, research, and structuring of an academic essay, while the second provides advice on how to finalise arguments, edit, and reference your essays. Please email [email protected] with any questions about this event. 

If you have any questions relating to the competitions please contact us on  [email protected]

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FSLA Essay Competition 2022

The competition is now closed. thank you everyone for your entries..

The Financial Services Lawyers Association is pleased to announce its annual essay competition.

The title for this year’s competition is as follows:

Laundromat, police state or somewhere in between: has the correct balance been struck between anti-money laundering, anti-fraud, and anti-corruption aims on the one hand and the benefits of free enterprise and a global financial market on the other? If not, explain one legislative or regulatory change which could make a significant difference.

The purpose of the essay is to provide students with the opportunity to apply their studies to issues that are of particular relevance to the financial services industry and wider society.

Essays should be no longer than 1,500 words. The full competitions rules can be found on the FSLA website through the link below.

Please submit your essay by Friday 15 July 2022 to [email protected] .

Prizes will be presented at a reception hosted on a date to be confirmed.

The Chris Stallard Memorial Prize (first prize) is £1,500 and an internship with the FCA.

The runner up prize is £750. Third prize is £500.

Entrants are not required to be FSLA members, though free membership is offered to all law students.

FSLA Essay Competition 2022 Rules

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Writing Competitions Search and Views Navigation

Writing competition views navigation, august 2024.

Frances Browne Multilingual Poetry Competition

Deadline:  21st august 2024.

• Entry Fee: EUR €5 / GBP £4 / USD $5 per poem
• Prizes:  €1,500 in prizes (€250 top prize in each category. Cash prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed poems)
• Line Limit: None
• Category: Poetry Competitions
• Competition Website: francesbrowneliteraryfestival.com/poetry-competition

FFF Competition Twenty Three

Deadline:  10 pm (uk time) friday 23rd august 2024.

• Entry Fee: £3.95 per entry (PayPal/Stripe) or £2.55 per entry via BACS (UK bank account)
• Prizes: Winner: £150.00; 2x Highly Commended: £50.00; 3x Shortlisted: £40.00 (all winners will receive publication)
• Word Limit: 300 maximum, 100 minimum (excluding title)
• Category: Flash Fiction Competitions
• Competition Website: freeflashfiction.com/current-competition

21 Futures: Financial Fallout Anthology Competition

Deadline:  31 august 2024.

• Entry Fee: FREE
• Prizes: 1st place: $1,000 + feature interview; 2nd place: $500 + podcast appearance; 3rd place: $250 + social media shoutout; 4th place: $100 + signed book
• Word Limit: 3,000 words (not including title)
• Theme: ‘Financial Fallout’
• Category:  Short Story Competitions
• Competition Website: 21futures.com/submissions/

SaveAs Writers’ International Writing Competition 2024 – Poetry

Deadline:  31st august 2024.

• Name:  The Canterbury Christ Church University Poetry Prize
• Theme  Risking All
• Entry Fee:  £4 per poem, £10 for three
• Prizes:  First: £200; Second: £100; Third: £50
• Word Limit:  60 lines
• Category:  Poetry competition
• Judge:  Tina Cole
• Competition Website: saveaswriters.co.uk/competitions/risking-all

SaveAs Writers’ International Writing Competition 2024 – Prose

• Name:  The Canterbury Festival Fiction Prize sponsored by Canterbury Festival
• Entry Fee:  £5 per short story, £12 for three
• Word Limit:  3,500 words
• Category:  Short story competition
• Judge:  Frances Knight

Scottish Wildlife Trust Words of the Wild Writing Competition

• Adult Prizes: A pair of Osprey ED binoculars from Viking Optical, An Environmental Book Subscription from The Mainstreet Trading Company, A £200 NHBS voucher, A year’s membership to the Trust or one of our wildlife adoptions
• Word Limit: 1,000 words
• Categories:  Short Story Competitions, Poetry Competitions, Non Fiction Competitions
• Competition Website: scottishwildlifetrust.org.uk/wordsofthewild/words-of-the-wild-competition

Inclusive Voices Short Story Competition

Deadline:  5pm (uk time) on 31 august 2024.

• Entry Fee: Free
• Prizes: The winner of each age category with receive various prizes including a day in the Calibre Studio in Buckinghamshire with the opportunity to record their story/hear their story being recorded for inclusion in the Calibre Collection
• Word Limit: 550 words
• Theme: Entries should feature a character with a print disability; open to residents of the UK
• Categories: Under 11s, 11-17, 18-25, 26 and over
• Competition Website: calibreaudio.org.uk/50th-anniversary/inclusive-voices

Anthology Personal Memoir Competition

Deadline:  midnight (uk time) on 31 august 2024.

• Entry Fee: Very early bird: €10 per article (until 31 January 2024); Early bird: €12 per article (1 February to 30 April 2024); Standard fee: €15 per article (1 May to 31 August 2024)
• Prizes: 1st Place: €500 , plus publication in the Anthology magazine
• Word Limit: 1,500 words
• Category: Travel Writing Competitions
• Competition Website: anthology-magazine.com/awards/memoir-competition

September 2024

Searchlight Awards − Best Novel Opening for Children or Young Adults 2024

Deadline:  23.59 (uk time) 1 september 2024.

• Entry Fee: £16 per entry
• Prizes: 1st prize: £1,000 plus a one-to-one call with the agent judge; 2nd prize: editorial review of 5000 words of your manuscript and a one-hour on-line meeting with celebrated author and creative writing tutor Steve Voake; The top 10 entries will feature in Searchlight’s Agent/Publisher Pitch Book of winning stories
• Word Limit: 1,200 words, not including the title. Pitch: maximum 175 words
• Judge: Rachel Petty of The Blair Partnership
• Category:  Novel Competitions
• Competition Website:   searchlightawards.co.uk

Searchlight Awards − Best Children’s Picture Book Text 2024

• Entry Fee: £12 per entry
• Prizes: 1st prize: £500 plus one-to-one call with the agent judge; 2nd prize: Detailed Editorial Review by Natascha Biebow; the top 10 entries will feature in Searchlight’s Agent/Publisher Pitch Book of winning stories
• Word Limit: Your text and illustration notes together should be no more than 1,000 words; pitch maximum: 125 words
• Judge: Lorna Hemingway of Bell Lomax Moreton

New2theScene Short Story Competition

Deadline:  1 september 2024.

• Entry Fee: £5
• Prizes:  First prize: Interview for the New2theScene podcast; £50 New2theScene vouchers; ‘Spotlight author’ and winner’s blog, with the story featured on the New2theScene website (and possibly an anthology); Notable mentions: £15 New2theScene vouchers; possible publication in anthology
• Word Limit: 4,000 words
• Theme/Genre: Any - let your imagination free!
• Competition Website: new2thescene.co.uk/new2thecomp

Southam Book Festival Flash Fiction Competition 2024

Deadline:  12.00 noon on 8 september 2024.

• Entry Fee:  £3 per story, or up to five stories for £10
• Prizes:  Winner -  £60 , Second - £30, Third - £20
• Word Limit:  100 words
• Category:  Flash fiction competition
• Competition Website: southambookfest.co.uk/100-words-2024

Ink of Ages Fiction Prize

Deadline:  15 september 2024.

• Entry Fee:  FREE
• Prizes:  Various prizes from World History Encyclopedia and Oxford University Press
• Word Limit:  1,500 to 2,000 words (800 to 1,000 for the Youth Prize)
• Genre Guidelines:  Historical Fiction or Mythological Fiction (see site for details)
• Competition Website:   fictionprize.worldhistory.org

Anthology Flash Fiction Competition

Deadline:  midnight (uk time) on 30 september 2024.

• Entry Fee: Early Bird: €10 per entry (until 31 May 2024); Standard fee: €12 per entry (1 June–30 September 2024)
• Prizes: 1st Place: €300 , plus publication in the Anthology magazine
• Word Limit: 250 words
• Competition Website: anthology-magazine.com/awards/flash-fiction-competition

Anthology Nature Writing Competition

• Entry Fee: Very early bird: €10 per article (until 29 February 2024); Early bird: €12 per article (1 March to 31 May 2024); Standard fee: €15 per article (1 June to 30 September 2024)
• Competition Website: anthology-magazine.com/awards/nature-competition

UK Writers College Short Story Competition

Deadline:  30 september 2024.

• Prizes:  Winner: NZ$1,000 , Second: NZ$500, Third: NZ$500; the three winning entries will be published in an anthology
• Word Limit: 2,000 words
• Theme: ‘It didn't have to be this way’
• Competition Website: ukwriterscollege.co.uk/the-uk-writers-college-annual-short-story-competition

October 2024

Letter review prize for nonfiction, deadline:  1st october 2024.

• Entry Fee: Free (for one entry, $5 for each additional entry)
• Prizes: Two to four winners share in the $1,000 USD total prize pool
• Word Limit:  5,000 words
• Category:  Nonfiction competition
• Competition Website: letterreview.com/information/

Letter Review Prize for Unpublished Books

• Entry Fee:  FREE (for one entry, $5 for each additional entry)
• Word Limit: First 5,000 words of your manuscript (see Letter Review site for full details)
• Category:  Novel competition

Letter Review Prize for Short Fiction

• Prizes:  Two to four winners share in the $1,000 USD total prize pool

Letter Review Prize for Poetry

• Word Limit:  Up to 70 lines

Caledonia Novel Award 2025

Deadline:  midnight (uk time) on 15 october 2024.

• Entry Fee:  £28
• Prizes:  1st Place: £1,500 plus an exclusive framed award (designed by Edinburgh artist Lucy Roscoe); Special Prize: a free place on a residential writing course (best novel from the UK and Ireland); Highly Commended: £500
• Word Limit:  First 20 pages + 200-word synopsis
• Judge:  Alice Lutyens, literary agent at Curtis Brown
• Competition Website:   thecaledonianovelaward.com

Marlowe and Christie Novel Prize

Deadline:  15th october 2024.

• Entry Fee:  £19 Early Bird Entry (until 30 September 2024) then £24 for standard entry (until 15th October 2024)
• Prizes:  Winner: £1,100; The ten shortlisted entries will receive written feedback from Patrick Gleeson.
• Word Limit:  Up to 3,000 words from the opening of your novel
• Judge:  Patrick Gleeson, author of Hattie Brings the House Down (Bedford Square Publishers, 2024)
• Competition Website:   marloweandchristie.com

Not Quite Write Prize for Flash Fiction

Deadline:  midday (sydney, australia time) friday 18th october 2024.

• Entry Fees: AU$25 per entry (PayPal) (approximately £13); Personalised feedback is available for an additional fee
• Prizes: Total prize pool: AU$2,000 (everyone on the shortlist wins a cash prize); Winner: AU$1,000; 2nd place: AU$500; 3rd place: AU$200; 4th place: AU$100; 2 x HM: AU$50; 2 x Wildcard prizes: AU$50 (all winners will receive publication on the Not Quite Write website and are read aloud on the podcast)
• Word Limit: 500 words or fewer (excluding title)
• Judges: Ed and Amanda (Hosts of the Not Quite Write Podcast)
• Competition Website:  notquitewritepodcast.com/prize

Anthology Poetry Competition

Deadline:  midnight (uk time) on 31 october 2024.

• Entry Fee: Very Early Bird: €10 – up to 28 February 2024; Early Bird: €15 – 1st March to 30 June 2024; Standard fee: €18 – up to 31 October 2024
• Prizes: 1st Place: €1,000 , plus a one-year subscription to Anthology magazine and publication in the magazine; 2nd Place: €250; 3rd Place: €250
• Word Limit: 40 lines maximum
• Competition Website: anthology-magazine.com/awards/poetry-competition

The Bedford Competition – Short Story and Poetry Awards

Deadline:  31 october 2024.

• Entry Fee: £8.50 (or three for £17). Students: £6 (or three for £12)
• Prizes: 1st: £1500, 2nd: £300, 3rd: £200
• Word Limit: Stories up to 3,000 words; poems up to 40 lines
• Eligibility: Entrants must be aged 17 or older, but from anywhere in the world
• Category:  Short Story Competitions, Poetry Competitions
• Competition Website: bedfordwritingcompetition.co.uk

Trio International Poetry Competition 2024

Deadline:  31st october 2024.

• Entry Fee: £5 for the first poem, £8 for two poems, £10 for three poems
• Prizes:  First Prize: £1,000; 2nd: £300; 3rd: £100; plus four commended poems: £25 each
• Word Limit: 40 lines (excluding title)
• Judge: Angela Graham
• Competition Website: triouganda.org/poetry-competition

Solstice Nature Prize For Young Writers

• Prizes: 1st: £100 plus publication in the Solstice Anthology (see notes for other prizes)
• Word Limit: 500 words (stories or blogs) or 40 lines (poems)
• Eligibility: Entrants must be UK residents in one of the following age categories: 7-11* years, 12-14* years, 15-17* years and 18-25 years (*entrants will need permission to enter)
• Judge: Gill Lewis (multi-award-winning and best-selling author)
• Competition Website: writingeastmidlands.co.uk/young-writers-groups/solstice-writing-prize

November 2024

Creative writing ink short story competition 2024, deadline:  4:00 pm on 15 november 2024.

• Entry Fee:  £9
• Prizes:  1st Place: £1,000 plus online publication and an online creative writing course; two runners-up prizes of £200 each
• Word Limit:  3,000 words
• Judge:  Helen Moorhouse
• Competition Website:   creativewritingink.co.uk/creative-writing-ink-short-story-competition-2024

Anthology Travel Writing Competition

Deadline:  midnight (uk time) on 30 november 2024.

• Entry Fee: Very early bird: €10 per article (until 31 March 2024); Early bird: €12 per article (April to 31 July 2024); Standard fee: €15 per article (1 August to 30 November 2024)
• Competition Website: anthology-magazine.com/awards/travel-writing-competition

Bath Children’s Novel Award 2024

• Deadline:  23:59 (UK time) on 30 November 2024
• Entry Fee:  £29.99
• Prizes:  1st Place: £5,000 ; all shortlisted entrants win feedback on their full manuscript; all longlisted entrants win extract feedback; online novel editing course worth £1,800 for one longlisted entrant.
• Word Limit:  Opening 5,000 words plus one page synopsis of children's or YA novel manuscripts, or up to three picture book texts
• Judges: Shortlist chosen by Junior Judges aged 7-17 years. Winner chosen by a leading children's literary agent
• Category:  Children's Novel Competitions
• Competition Website:   bathnovelaward.co.uk/childrens-novel-award
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Home › Essay Competition

Essay Competition: Win a 100% Scholarship With Immerse Education

Participate in the Immerse Education Essay Competition for a chance to win a full or partial scholarship to our university and career preparation programmes. Since 2020, the competition has offered ambitious students the opportunity to win a full or partial scholarship on our award-winning programmes.

• Submission Deadline:
 12th September 2024
• Free for 13-18 year old students worldwide
• Including 10 full and up to 75% partial Immerse Education scholarships to any location
• £1000 (residential), £500 (online 1:1), £250 (online group) voucher for every entry

Alumni globally

Participants would recommend Immerse

What Is the Essay Competition?

The Immerse Education Essay Competition provides the opportunity for students aged 13-18 to submit essay responses to a question of their choice relating to a subject of interest. Immerse annually updates its questions to inspire students to delve deeper into their favourite subjects. There are over twenty questions to choose from which can be found in our full Essay Competition Guide. 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship to study with us at a world-leading university of their choosing. Outstanding runners-up also receive partial scholarships.

Submission timeline

Feb 23, 2024.

Competition opens

Sept 12, 2024

Competition closes

Oct 17, 2024

Results announced

January, July & August 2025

Programme dates

Any student who submits a full-length essay , but doesn’t receive a scholarship, will be eligible for the option of a £1000 voucher for our residential programmes, a £500 voucher for our Online Research Programmes, or a £250  voucher for our Group Online Research Programme.

And Many Other Benefits...

Enhance your academic profile for university applications. Partial winners receive completion certificates – and those who write outstanding essays also receive comments from our remarkable guest judges.

University interviewers want you to discuss the subject you’re applying for with genuine enthusiasm. They look for depth of understanding and the ability to articulate your thoughts clearly. Writing an essay deepens your knowledge and improves your ability to present complex ideas.

Our essays are assessed against a mark scheme designed by academic experts. Completing an essay allows you to experience academic writing, promoting related skills like research, critical thinking and editing. Immerse provides support every step of the way.

Competition Details

You’re not on your own. To help your essay shine, Immerse Eduction provides guides, tips and support.

Open to 13-18 year old students

Students can submit an essay if they will be 13-18 years old when the programmes for which the scholarships are valid begin.

500-word academic essay

Register interest to access the Essay Competition Guide with all the questions, tips and guidance on plagiarism, AI & referencing. You can also attend one of our regular essay writing webinars to level-up your writing.

Graded by experts and guest judges

Expert judges assess the essays based on their content, quality of research and critical analysis. Elements like word choice and structure, evidence and inference, as well as vocabulary spelling, grammar and punctuation are also assessed. Student age groups are also taken into consideration.

A chance to win a scholarship for any programme you like

If you win a scholarship, you can use it toward one of our renowned online programmes or one of our award-winning residential courses in any of our locations including Oxford Cambridge, London, Sydney and New York to name a few.

Programmes Our Scholarship Can Be Redeemed Against

Participants will learn to explore the world around them with an architect’s eye, analysing their environment and identifying how each building, structure, and feature influenced by Britain’s long history with urban design.

Choose from a range of subjects to study in the historic city of Oxford. Embrace each college’s unique atmosphere and stunning surroundings, enjoy the vibrant cultural offerings, and feel your subject mastery blossom. Whilst the sun’s out, explore the city’s winding river on a punt.

Choose from a number of industries to explore in this densely packed capital. Experience the pulse of sectors like finance, fashion, and media, immersing yourself in key London hubs, from Canary Wharf’s financial centre to the West End’s theatre scene. Learn directly from industry professionals and get a sense of your future career.

Study in the vibrant city of Sydney, where modern skyscrapers meet iconic landmarks like the Sydney Opera House. Dive into one of many  subjects, explore the bustling markets, and relax on the world-renowned beaches whilst supercharging your subject mastery.

In New York, the city that never sleeps, engage with an industry-led programme —embracing iconic industry hotspots, from Wall Street finance to Broadway entertainment. Gain hands-on experience and network with professionals in the Big Apple, all while taking in the unmatched skyline and culture.

Study in the cosmopolitan city of Toronto, offering a rich tapestry of cultures, explore one of our career-led programmes. Experience the buzz of city life, skyscrapers, and historic districts. In your downtime, escape to nearby natural wonders like Niagara Falls whilst you accelerate your subject expertise.

In San Francisco, delve into the world of tech and innovation to explore one of our industry-focused programmes. Work alongside startups in Silicon Valley, or explore the sustainable practices of the city’s green businesses. The city offers a window into cutting-edge industries, all set against a backdrop of scenic natural beauty.

Singapore is a great summer programme destination for its vibrant multicultural atmosphere, cutting-edge educational institutions, and its status as a global hub for innovation and technology. With its blend of academic excellence, cultural richness, and modern amenities.

Tokyo offers a unique blend of tradition and modernity, providing students with a rich cultural experience and endless opportunities for learning and exploration, making it a great summer school destination. A summer programme in Tokyo means diving into the heart of Japanese culture and innovation.

Boston is an ideal summer programme destination due to its rich historical significance, vibrant cultural scene. Home to top-ranked universities, and offering an array of activities ranging from exploring Freedom Trail to enjoying performances at renowned theatres.

This online programme sees students work in a 1-1 or a group session with tutors from renowned institutions like Cambridge, Oxford, and Ivy League schools. Each student undertakes advanced research in a topic of their interest, culminating in a full-length academic research paper.

Our Guest Judges

Our guest judges and markers are chosen for their exceptional subject matter knowledge and the prominence of their organisation in industries aligned with our essay topics. Many of them come from a teaching or academic background with advanced degrees in political science, English, business, physics, medicine, creative writing and more. This diverse expertise ensures that our judging process is both rigorous and insightful. 

The essay competition assessment criteria look at academic writing qualities like research and evidence, word choice and critical analysis, in addition to spelling, grammar & punctuation. Student age groups and are also considered in this assessment.

Business & Economics Judge

Pamela O’Brien

Humanities Judge

Christina Bunce

Medicine Judge

Arnold Longboy

Business Management Judge

Tom Ireland

Biology Judge, Editor of The Biologist

Hear from our previous winners, register interest for these essay-writing resources, how to enter, essay questions, writing tips, referencing guide, submission guidelines, judging criteria, winning essays.

The Immerse Education Essay Competition is open to entries from young people aged 13-18 interested in all subjects, from Architecture to Medicine, Creative Writing to Film Studies. However, students aged 18 should only submit an essay if they will still be 18 when the programmes the scholarships are valid for begin.

Any scholarships or vouchers awarded during the current round of the essay competition will only be valid for 2025 Immerse Education Programmes

Immerse provides a full essay-writing guide which is sent to your email address once you register your interest in the competition. This guide includes a full list of essay questions, our essay specification, top tips for writing an academic essay, referencing guidance, our terms and conditions and guidance on plagiarism! Registering interest also ensures that you’re on track to submitting your essay on time, through a series of helpful reminder prompts. To support further you can register for our  webinars , which offer top tips and guidance with essay writing from our experts. You are also welcome to explore our  creative writing resources .

Funded scholarship to study abroad:  Our essay competition offers students like you the chance to win a full or partial scholarship to one of our Online Programmes or residential programmes in locations such as Oxford, Cambridge, Sydney, London and more.

Ongoing support from Immerse while you write:  Full support from our team as you write your essay, with free guides and top tips to help you along the way. Sign up to receive our full Essay competition Guide and free tips and tricks as you write. You can also follow us on Instagram and Tik Tok to get more useful essay writing tips.

Demonstrate what you know:  The competition is a chance for you to demonstrate your content knowledge by answering advanced university-style questions.

Build your skills and knowledge:  The opportunity to apply and advance your essay writing skills. You will likely learn something new in the process!

Develop your self-discipline:  A chance to strengthen your self-discipline as you commit to a challenging project and complete it from start to finish.

Essays are graded by expert markers and guest judges who assess the essays across the following criteria:

• – Content
• – Research & Critical analysis
• – Word choice & structure
• – Evidence and inference
• – Spelling, Grammar & Punctuation

Scholarship offers depend on the grades that students achieve. The higher the grade a student receives, the higher the likelihood of achieving a 100% or high partial scholarship. 

The essay competition receives thousands of entries each year, and with the vast number of high-standard entries, we acknowledge the efforts of all participants who have dedicated their time to completing an essay. As such, beyond our full and high-partial scholarships we provide further offers to entrants to facilitate access to our transformative programmes.

If you win a scholarship via the Essay Competition 2024/2025 you can use it toward any residential course in any of our locations. Use your scholarship to enrol on one of our renowned online programmes* or enriching in-person/residential summer school programmes in cultural melting pots such as Cambridge, Oxford, London, New York, Toronto, Sydney and more.

* Essay competition schorlaships cannot be redeemed against online Intensive programmes.

No, there is no entry fee and you do not need to have already enrolled onto any of our programmes to take part in the essay competition.

The deadline for the Immerse Essay Competition falls in early September and early January each year. The deadline for the next round is on Thursday 12th September .

Register to receive free Essay Competition guidance

The Immerse Education Essay Competition provides the opportunity for students aged 13-18 to submit essay responses to a pre-set question relating to their chosen subject. Register interest to receive your guide with the comprehensive list of questions including:

• A list of all topics and questions
• Essay Specifications
• Top Tips for Writing an Academic Essay
• Referencing Guide
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• Competitions
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School Essay Competition

2024 competition  .

The 2024 School Essay Competition, organised in partnership with the Financial Times , invites students to answer the following question: 

Drawing on information from your daily life, what sustainability action points would you prioritise?

Include no more than ten key ideas and justify your choices. Use accompanying information from the FT and other sources. 

This resource will be useful as a starting point. Carbon counting: how much do your lifestyle choices cost the planet? (ft.com)

The judges are looking for: 

• A clear essay or  ArcGIS StoryMap which is well-evidenced and reaches a clear conclusion 
• Submissions that do not exceed 1,000 words (excluding references)  - submissions over 1,000 words will not be considered. The word count should be provided in the document.
• Referenced sources of information and data 
• Submissions which are the entrant’s own work and relevant to the question and guidance 

The Society runs this competition in partnership with the Financial Times   as part of its education programme to support geography teachers and their pupils.

The competition is open to schools in the UK and overseas. Submissions are judged without seeing the entrants’ details.

See the full  terms and conditions for further details.

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• Britain’s oil and gas industry faces an uncertain future

Small operators in the North Sea are struggling with a tax squeeze

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T he oil and gas industry is a volatile business. Swings in energy prices and the precarious nature of drilling into seabeds are part and parcel of the trade, says David Latin, chairman of Serica Energy, a producer in the North Sea. He once ran oil and gas fields threatened with blockades and militant attacks during a civil war in Libya. He likens the experience to operating in Britain, where a tumultuous tax regime has made it “impossible” to invest.

North Sea oil and gas has been used in Britain for 50 years. But as the country targets net zero greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050, which will rely on a shift to green energy, the industry must be wound down. The Labour government has promised to ban new exploration, though some sites could run beyond 2050. Industry bosses say an uncertain fiscal regime is making the transition harder.

Much of the upheaval has come from a tax squeeze. In 2022 Rishi Sunak, then the chancellor, introduced a 25% Energy Profits Levy ( epl ) on oil and gas firms; seven months later it was bumped up to 35%. Initially due to end in 2025, the tax was extended until 2028—and later to 2029. What began as a one-off levy on high profits caused by the spike in oil and gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has given way to a drawn-out tax that has been constantly fiddled with.

Politicians are still tinkering. Oil and gas prices have dipped below the highs of 2022. However the EPL will be increased to 38% from November and extended to March 2030. Stacked on top of corporation tax and an existing surcharge on North Sea profits, that will raise the effective tax rate to 78%—among the highest in the world. Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, also says she wants to scrap the levy’s “unjustifiably generous” 29% investment allowance, which permits companies to claim some of their exploration costs.

Norway has equally high taxes. But it has done more to cushion the blow, allowing producers to claim back all of their exploration costs. It has also provided more stability, maintaining the same rates for nearly three decades. British oil and gas fields tend to be old, which contributes to higher running costs. Britain has “among the highest break-even cost and highest cost-per-barrel in the world,” according to Steve Bowyer, who manages the North Sea assets at EnQuest, a producer in Aberdeen.

British firms have continued to invest in the ageing basin even as larger companies, including Shell and ExxonMobil, have sought higher profits elsewhere. But British banks no longer fund their projects. Nor can the industry count on much sympathy from the public, which may help to explain the stance of politicians. The frosty climate stands in contrast to Ms Reeves’s courtship of other business leaders. For Serica, which produces 5% of Britain’s natural gas, the shift to clean energy feels less like a transition than a cliff-edge.

Harbour Energy, the North Sea’s largest producer, has slashed investments and hundreds of jobs. EnQuest might divert funds to South-East Asia. Tax rises could see investment fall by 55% over the next decade, a drop of £20bn ($25.4bn), according to Stifel, an investment bank. A disorderly decline risks making it harder for workers to retrain, as happened with the closure of Britain’s coal mines in the 1980s. It would also bring forward decommissioning costs; some firms might be put off shifting their investment into green projects.

Britain is still reliant on fossil fuels, imports of which are likely to grow with the North Sea’s demise. Three-quarters of the country’s energy still comes from oil and gas; in the mid-2030s, half will. “We might all disappear but demand won’t,” says Mr Latin. As wind turbines sprout up along Britain’s coastlines, it is right to phase down fossil-fuel production. But back in Libya, Mr Latin at least knew that oil and gas fields would be needed once the war ended. This time feels different. ■

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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Crude realities”

Britain August 17th 2024

Britain has many levers for controlling migration. which ones should it pull, britain’s justice system has responded forcefully to the riots, britain’s government is mapping underground cable and pipes, winston churchill’s urinal shows britain’s hang-up with heritage, nhs dentistry is decaying.

From the August 17th 2024 edition

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