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Essay Papers Writing Online

Engaging in competitive essay writing – how to excel in essay writing competitions.

Essay writing competitions can be a great opportunity to showcase your writing skills and win accolades for your creativity and thoughtfulness. Whether you are a seasoned writer or just starting out, competition can be fierce, so it’s vital to have a winning strategy in place.

In this article, we will discuss top tips and strategies that can help you stand out from the competition and increase your chances of winning essay writing competitions.

From identifying the right competition to crafting a compelling thesis statement and polishing your final draft, there are several key steps you can take to improve your chances of emerging victorious. Let’s dive into these tips and strategies to help you succeed in essay writing competitions!

Prepare Your Essay

1. Understand the topic: Before you start writing your essay, make sure you completely understand the topic. Research and gather relevant information to build a strong foundation for your argument.

2. Develop a clear thesis statement: Your thesis statement should clearly convey the main point of your essay. It will serve as the guiding principle for the rest of your writing.

3. Create an outline: Organize your thoughts and arguments by creating an outline. This will help you structure your essay in a logical and coherent manner.

4. Write a compelling introduction: Start your essay with a compelling introduction that captures the reader’s attention and clearly presents your thesis statement.

5. Support your arguments with evidence: Back up your arguments with reliable evidence, examples, and research. This will strengthen your essay and make your points more convincing.

6. Craft a strong conclusion: End your essay with a strong conclusion that summarizes your main points and reinforces your thesis statement. Leave a lasting impression on the reader.

7. Edit and revise: Once you have completed your essay, take the time to edit and revise it. Check for spelling and grammatical errors, ensure your arguments flow smoothly, and make any necessary revisions to improve clarity and coherence.

Research Your Topic

One of the most important steps in preparing for an essay writing competition is to thoroughly research your topic. Ensure that you understand the key concepts, arguments, and perspectives related to the subject matter. Use credible sources such as academic journals, books, and reputable websites to gather information and support your arguments.

Understand the Competition Guidelines

One essential aspect of winning essay writing competitions is understanding the competition guidelines. Before you start writing your essay, carefully read and follow the rules and requirements provided by the competition organizers. Pay attention to the word count, topic restrictions, formatting guidelines, submission deadlines, and any other specific instructions.

By familiarizing yourself with the competition guidelines, you can ensure that your essay meets all the necessary criteria for consideration. Failure to adhere to the rules could result in disqualification, so it is crucial to read and understand the guidelines thoroughly before you begin your writing process.

Develop Your Writing Skills

Improving your writing skills is essential if you want to succeed in essay writing competitions. Here are some tips to help you develop your writing skills:

• Read extensively: Reading a variety of books, articles, and essays can help you improve your writing style and vocabulary.
• Practice writing regularly: The more you write, the better you will become. Set aside time each day to write and experiment with different writing techniques.
• Seek feedback: Ask teachers, peers, or writing professionals to provide feedback on your writing. Constructive criticism can help you identify areas for improvement.
• Study grammar and punctuation: Understanding the rules of grammar and punctuation is crucial for producing high-quality writing. Take the time to study these rules and apply them to your writing.
• Learn from successful writers: Study the works of successful writers and analyze their writing techniques. Try to incorporate some of these techniques into your own writing.

Practice Regularly

One of the key ways to improve your essay writing skills and increase your chances of winning competitions is to practice regularly. Writing is a skill that improves with practice, so make time each day to write essays, articles, or even short stories. Set aside dedicated time to work on your writing, and challenge yourself to explore different topics and styles.

By practicing regularly, you’ll not only improve your writing technique but also build confidence in your abilities. This confidence will show in your competition entries and set you apart from other participants. Remember, practice makes perfect, so the more you write, the better you’ll become.

Seek Feedback and Editing

Getting feedback on your essay is crucial to improving it and making it stand out in competitions. Don’t be afraid to ask teachers, peers, or writing tutors to review your work and provide constructive criticism.

Consider joining a writing group or workshop where you can share your essay and receive feedback from other writers. This can help you identify weak points in your argument or areas where you can improve your writing style.

After receiving feedback, be open to making edits and revisions. Polish your essay by fixing grammar and punctuation errors, tightening up your arguments, and ensuring your ideas flow logically and cohesively.

Remember, the more eyes you have on your essay, the better it will become. Don’t hesitate to seek feedback and editing to make your essay the best it can be.

Hook Your Readers

One of the most important aspects of winning an essay writing competition is grabbing the reader’s attention right from the start. Your introduction should be compelling and draw the reader in, making them want to continue reading. Here are some effective ways to hook your readers:

• Start with a powerful quote: Using a thought-provoking quote at the beginning can set the tone for your essay and intrigue your readers.
• Pose a question: Asking a question can engage your readers and make them curious to find out the answer, encouraging them to keep reading.
• Provide a shocking statistic: Sharing a surprising statistic can capture your readers’ interest and make them want to learn more about the topic.
• Share a personal anecdote: Connecting with your readers on a personal level by sharing a relevant anecdote can make your essay more relatable and engaging.
• Use descriptive imagery: Painting a vivid picture with descriptive language can transport your readers into the world you’re describing, making them more invested in your essay.

By hooking your readers from the beginning, you set the stage for a captivating essay that will leave a lasting impression on the judges of the competition.

State Your Thesis Clearly

One of the most important aspects of winning an essay writing competition is to state your thesis clearly in the introductory paragraph. Your thesis is the main argument or point you will be making in your essay, and it serves as the foundation for your entire piece. Make sure your thesis is specific, debatable, and concise. Avoid vague statements and ensure that your thesis directly addresses the prompt provided for the competition.

Tip: Your thesis should be strong and compelling, drawing the reader in and establishing the purpose of your essay from the start. It should be clear enough that your reader can easily understand what you will be arguing throughout the rest of your essay.

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How to Win an Essay Contest

Last Updated: February 28, 2023 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Daniel Santos . Daniel Santos is a College Admissions & Career Coach and Prepory's co-founder and CEO. Prepory is a leading college admissions consulting firm that has guided over 9,000 students from 35 countries through the US college admissions process. Prepory is a member of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling and a trusted admissions counseling partner to several competitive high schools across Florida. Prior to founding Prepory, Daniel worked at various leading law firms and the United States House of Representatives. Daniel has been featured as a college admissions and career coaching expert across several major publications, including the Wall Street Journal, FORTUNE, and The Harvard Crimson. There are 9 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 169,597 times.

If you're hoping to write an essay that will win a contest, there are several ways to make your writing stand out. Before you start writing, make sure you read the essay guidelines so that you're following all of the rules. Come up with a topic that fits the contest's theme and craft a detailed, descriptive, and interesting essay. By making your essay original and error-free, you'll be much more likely to win the contest.

Crafting and Editing the Essay

• If you don’t follow one or more of the rules when writing and submitting your essay, your essay may be disqualified, so make sure to read over the rules several times if necessary.
• It’s a good idea to print out the guidelines so that you can refer to them as you’re writing.

• It’s super important to stick with the theme when you’re writing and not get off-topic.
• For example, if the contest asks you to write about a person who has influenced you, make a list of the people that have had a big impact on your life and choose the person who you can write lots of descriptive examples about.

• It’s okay if you have several different drafts of one essay.
• Make an outline of your essay before you start to help you organize your thoughts.

• Ask a friend or family member to read over your essay to see if it’s interesting and makes sense.
• It may help you to put the essay aside for a day or two after you’ve written it so that you can revise it again with a fresh perspective.

• It may help to ask another person to read over the essay to see if they spot any mistakes.

• Check to see when the submission deadline is in the contest’s guidelines and rules.
• It may help you to put the essay deadline on your calendar so that you don’t forget when it is.
• If you're sending the essay by mail, make sure you send it far enough in advance that it will reach the judges in time.

Making Your Essay Stand Out

• An example of an attention-grabbing introduction might be, “I held my breath for 82 seconds before I was yanked out of the water,” or “Sarah walked slowly up to the door, her body drenched in nervous sweat, before firmly knocking.”

• The title should give the reader a glimpse of what your essay is about while leaving them intrigued.
• For example, if you’re writing an essay about a lemon picker, you might title the essay, "Living with Sour Fingers."

• Instead of saying, “The wheelbarrow fell down the hill,” you could say, “The rusty wheels of the wheelbarrow skidded over smooth rocks and sharp blades of grass until it skidded to a stop at the edge of the water.”

• Read over your essay and look for sentences or ideas that would likely not be found in another person's essay.
• If you're having trouble figuring out if you have an original element, have someone else read over your essay and tell you which parts stand out.

• Review the essay guidelines to see if there’s a special way they’d like the essay formatted.

Expert Q&A

• If you don't win, take a look at the winning entries if possible and see what they did that you didn't. Try to learn from this and incorporate it into your next essay. Thanks Helpful 18 Not Helpful 2
• Don't be afraid to ask for help if you have a hard time! As long as your work is original, getting feedback from others is a great way to make your writing stronger. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 2
• If you have difficulty understanding the topic or the guidelines, try to get in touch with the judges. Thanks Helpful 12 Not Helpful 2

• Failure to follow the format requirements may disqualify your essay. Thanks Helpful 44 Not Helpful 8
• Be aware of the deadline to ensure you get your essay submitted in time. Thanks Helpful 18 Not Helpful 3

You Might Also Like

Expert Interview

Thanks for reading our article! If you'd like to learn more about essay contests, check out our in-depth interview with Daniel Santos .

• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/brainstorming/
• ↑ https://mlpp.pressbooks.pub/writingsuccess/chapter/8-3-drafting/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/revising-drafts/
• ↑ https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess/proofreading
• ↑ https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/planning/intros-and-conclusions/
• ↑ https://writing.umn.edu/sws/assets/pdf/quicktips/titles.pdf
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/essay_writing/descriptive_essays.html
• ↑ https://www.oxford-royale.com/articles/write-original-essay/
• ↑ https://facultyweb.ivcc.edu/ramboeng2/handout_essayformat.htm

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How to Win Essay Contests: A Step-by-Step Guide

10 Steps to Writing Contest-Winning Essays

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Did you know that you can win prizes with your writing skills? Essay contests are a fun way to turn your creativity and your command of the written word into great prizes. But how do you give your essay the edge that gets it picked from among all of the other entries?

Here's a step-by-step guide to writing essays that impress judges. Follow these steps for your best chances of winning writing contests.

Read the Essay Contest Rules

The first thing that you should do to win essay contests is to read the rules thoroughly. Overlooking one small detail could be the difference between winning the contest and wasting your time.

Pay special attention to:

• The contest's start and end dates.
• How often you're allowed to enter.
• The word or character count .
• The contest's theme.
• The criteria that the judges will use to pick the winners.
• Who the sponsoring company is, and what their branding is like.
• And any other details the sponsor requires.

It might help you to print out the sweepstakes rules and highlight the most important elements, or to take notes and keep them close at hand as you write.

If you summarize the relevant rules in a checklist, you can easily check the requirements off when you've finished your essay to ensure you haven't overlooked anything.

Brainstorm Your Essay Ideas

Many people want to jump right into writing their essay, but it's a better idea to take some time to brainstorm different ideas before you start. Oftentimes, your first impulse isn't your best.

The Calgary Tutoring Centre lists several reasons why brainstorming improves your writing . According to their article, brainstorming lets you:

"Eliminate weaker ideas or make weaker ideas stronger. Select only the best and most relevant topics of discussion for your essay while eliminating off-topic ideas. Or, generate a new topic that you might have left out that fits with others."

For a great brainstorming session, find a distraction-free area and settle in with a pen and paper, or your favorite method to take notes. A warm beverage and a healthy snack might aid your process. Then, think about your topic and jot down quick words and phrases that are relevant to your theme.

This is not the time to polish your ideas or try to write them coherently. Just capture enough of the idea that you know what you meant when you review your notes.

Consider different ways that you can make the contest theme personal, come at it from a different angle, or stand out from the other contest entries. Can you make a serious theme funny? Can you make your ideas surprising and unexpected?

Write down all your ideas, but don't judge them yet. The more ideas you can come up with, the better.

Select the Essay Concept that Best Fits the Contest's Theme and Sponsor

Once you've finished brainstorming, look over all of your ideas to pick the one you want to develop for your essay contest entry.

While you're deciding, think about what might appeal to the essay contest's sponsor. Do you have a way of working the sponsor's products into your essay? Does your concept fit the sponsor's company image?

An essay that might be perfect for a Budweiser contest might fall completely flat when Disney is the sponsor.

This is also a good time to consider whether any of your rejected ideas would make good secondary themes for your essay.

Use a Good Hook to Grab the Reader's Attention

When it's time to start writing your essay, remember that the first sentence is the most important. You want to ensure that your first paragraph is memorable and grabs the reader's attention.

When you start with a powerful, intriguing, moving, or hilarious first sentence, you hook your readers' interest and stick out in their memory when it is time to pick winners.

Writer's Digest has some excellent tips on how to hook readers at the start of an essay in their article, 10 Ways to Hook Your Reader (and Reel Them in for Good) .

For ideas on how to make your essay unforgettable, see Red Mittens, Strong Hooks, and Other Ways to Make Your Essay Spectacular .

Write the First Draft of Your Essay

Now, it's time to get all of your thoughts down on paper (or on your computer). Remember that this is a first draft, so don't worry about perfect grammar or if you are running over your word count. 

Instead, focus on whether your essay is hitting the right emotional notes, how your story comes across, whether you are using the right voice, and if you are communicating everything you intend to.

First drafts are important because they help you overcome your reluctance to write. You are not trying to be good yet, you are trying to simply tell your story. Polishing that story will come later.

They also organize your writing. You can see where your ideas fit and where you need to restructure to give them more emotional impact.

Finally, a first draft helps you keep your ideas flowing without letting details slow you down. You can even skip over parts that you find challenging, leaving notes for your next revision. For example, you could jot down "add statistics" or "get a funny quote from Mom" and come back to those time-consuming points later.

Revise Your Essay for Flow and Organization

Once you've written the first draft of your essay, look over it to ensure that it flows. Is your point well-made and clear? Do your thoughts flow smoothly from one point to another? Do the transitions make sense? Does it sound good when you read it aloud?

This is also the time to cut out extraneous words and ensure you've come in under the word count limit.

Generally, cutting words will improve your writing. In his book, On Writing , Stephen King writes that he once received a rejection that read: "Formula for success: 2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%." In other words, the first draft can always use some trimming to make the best parts shine.

If you'd like some tips on how to improve your first draft, check out these tips on how to self-edit .

Keep an Eye Out for "Red Mittens"

In her fantastic book, The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio , Terry Ryan talked about how her mother Evelyn used "red mittens" to help her be more successful with contest entries.

As she put it:

"The purpose of the Red Mitten was almost self-explanatory -- it made an entry stand out from the rest. In a basket of mittens, a red one will be noticed."

Rhyme, alliteration, inner rhyme, puns, and coined words were some of the red mittens that Evelyn Ryan used to make her entries pop. Your essay's red mitten might be a clever play on words, a dash of humor, or a heart-tuggingly poignant story that sticks in the judges' minds.

If your first draft is feeling a little bland, consider whether you can add a red mitten to spice up your story.

Put Your Contest Entry Aside

Now that you have a fairly polished draft of your essay contest entry, put it aside and don't look at it for a little while. If you have time before the contest ends, put your essay away for at least a week and let your mind mull over the idea subconsciously for a little while.

Many times, people think of exactly what their essay needs to make it perfect... right after they have hit the submit button.

Letting your entry simmer in your mind for a while gives you the time to come up with these great ideas before it's too late.

Revise Your Essay Contest Entry Again

Now, it's time to put the final polish on your essay. Have you said everything you wanted to? Have you made your point? Does the essay sound good when you read it out loud? Can you tighten up the prose by making additional cuts in the word count?

In this phase, it helps to enlist the help of friends or family members. Read your essay to them and check their reactions. Did they smile at the right parts? Were they confused by anything? Did they connect with the idea behind the story?

This is also a good time to ensure you haven't made any grammar or spelling mistakes. A grammar checker like Grammarly is very helpful for catching those little mistakes your eyes gloss over. But since even computer programs make mistakes sometimes, so it's helpful to have another person — a good friend or family member — read it through before you submit it.

Read the Essay Contest Rules One Last Time

If you've been following these directions, you've already read through the contest rules carefully. But now that you've written your draft and had some time to think things over, read them through one more time to make sure you haven't overlooked anything.

Go through your checklist of the essay requirements point-by-point with your finished essay in front of you to make sure you've hit them all.

And now, you're done! Submit the essay to your contest, and keep your fingers crossed for the results !

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Best Essay Writing Contests in 2024

Showing 54 contests that match your search.

Indignor Play House Annual Short Story Competition

Indignor House Publishing

Genres: Fiction, Flash Fiction, Short Story, Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Thriller, and Young Adult

Indignor House Publishing is proud to announce that our annual writing competition (INDIGNOR PLAYHOUSE Short Story Annual Competition) is officially open with expected publication in the fall of 2024. Up to 25 submissions will be accepted for inclusion in the annual anthology.

Additional prizes:

2nd: $250 | 3rd: $150

💰 Entry fee: $20

📅 Deadline: March 01, 2024 (Expired)

Bacopa Literary Review Annual Writing Contest

Writers Alliance of Gainesville

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

Bacopa Literary Review’s 2024 contest is open from March 4 through April 4, with $200 Prize and $100 Honorable Mention in each of six categories: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Flash Fiction, Free Verse Poetry, Formal Poetry, and Visual Poetry.

📅 Deadline: May 02, 2024 (Expired)

100 Word Writing Contest

Tadpole Press

Genres: Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Thriller, Young Adult, Children's, Poetry, Romance, Short Story, Suspense, and Travel

Can you write a story using 100 words or less? Pieces will be judged on creativity, uniqueness, and how the story captures a new angle, breaks through stereotypes, and expands our beliefs about what's possible or unexpectedly delights us. In addition, we are looking for writing that is clever or unique, inspires us, and crafts a compelling and complete story. The first-place prize has doubled to $2,000 USD.

2nd: writing coach package

💰 Entry fee: $15

📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024 (Expired)

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The Fountain Essay Contest

Fountain Magazine

Genres: Essay and Non-fiction

“Home” holds a special place in our lives. Our earliest memories form inside its walls; we utter our first words and take our first steps there. Does everyone feel the same about home? Is it where you were born or where you earn your bread? Is home a physical place? In a world that moves faster than ever and is confined to small screens, how do perceptions about "home" change? Where is home for people who are forced to leave their homes? Where is your home?

📅 Deadline: June 30, 2024

Lazuli Literary Group Writing Contest

Lazuli Literary Group

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, Novella, and Script Writing

We are not concerned with genre distinctions. Send us the best you have; we want only for it to be thoughtful, intelligent, and beautiful. We want art that grows in complexity upon each visitation; we enjoy ornate, cerebral, and voluptuous phrases executed with thematic intent.

Publication in "AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought"

📅 Deadline: March 24, 2024 (Expired)

Climate Change Writing Competition

Write the World

Genres: Essay, Memoir, and Non-fiction

This month, dear writers, ahead of COP27, help us raise the voices of young people in this urgent fight. In a piece of personal narrative, tell the world’s leaders gathering in how climate change impacts you. How has this crisis changed your environment, your community, your sense of the future? Storytelling, after all, plays a critical role in helping us grasp the emergency through which we are all living, igniting empathy in readers and listeners—itself a precursor to action.

Runner-up: $50

📅 Deadline: October 18, 2022 (Expired)

Anthology Travel Writing Competition 2024

Anthology Magazine

Genres: Essay, Non-fiction, and Travel

The Anthology Travel Writing Competition is open to original and previously unpublished travel articles in the English language by writers of any nationality, living anywhere in the world. We are looking for an engaging article that will capture the reader’s attention, conveying a strong sense of the destination and the local culture. Max 1000 words.

💰 Entry fee: $16

📅 Deadline: November 30, 2024

Military Anthology: Partnerships, the Untold Story

Armed Services Arts Partnership

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

Partners are an integral aspect of military life, at home and afar, during deployment and after homecoming. Partnerships drive military action and extend beyond being a battle buddy, wingman, or crew member. Some are planned while others arise entirely unexpectedly. Spouses, family, old or new friends, community, faith leaders, and medical specialists all support the military community. Despite their importance, the stories of these partnerships often go untold. This anthology aims to correct that: We will highlight the nuances, surprises, joy, sorrow, heroism, tears, healing power, and ache of partnerships. We invite you to submit the story about partnerships from your journey, so we can help tell it.

$500 Editors' Choice award

$250 for each genre category (prose, poetry, visual art)

WOW! Women On Writing Quarterly Creative Nonfiction Essay Contest

WOW! Women On Writing

Genres: Non-fiction and Essay

Seeking creative nonfiction essays on any topic (1000 words or less) and in any style--from personal essay and memoir to lyric essay and hybrid, and more! The mission of this contest is to reward bravery in real-life storytelling and create an understanding of our world through thoughtful, engaging narratives. Electronic submissions via e-mail only; reprints/previously published okay; simultaneous submissions okay; multiple submissions are okay as long as they are submitted in their own individual e-mail. Open internationally.

2nd: $300 | 3rd: $200 | 7 runner-ups: $25 Amazon Gift Cards

💰 Entry fee: $12

The Letter Review Prize for Nonfiction

The Letter Review

Genres: Essay, Memoir, Non-fiction, Crime, Humor, and Science Writing

2-4 Winners are published. We Shortlist 10-20 writers. Seeking Nonfiction 0-5000 words. Judges’ feedback available. Open to writers from anywhere in the world, with no theme or genre restrictions. Judged blind. All entries considered for publication + submission to Pushcart.

Publication by The Letter Review

💰 Entry fee: $2

📅 Deadline: May 01, 2024 (Expired)

National Essay Contest

U.S. Institute of Peace

Genres: Essay

This year, AFSA celebrates the 100th anniversary of the United States Foreign Service. Over the last century, our diplomats and development professionals have been involved in groundbreaking events in history – decisions on war and peace, supporting human rights and freedom, creating joint prosperity, reacting to natural disasters and pandemics and much more. As AFSA looks back on this century-long history, we invite you to join us in also looking ahead to the future. This year students are asked to explore how diplomats can continue to evolve their craft to meet the needs of an ever-changing world that brings fresh challenges and opportunities to the global community and America’s place in it.

Runner-up: $1,250

📅 Deadline: April 01, 2024 (Expired)

Journalism Competition 2024

What are the most important issues taking place close to home? Perhaps a rare bird sighting near your town? Or a band of young people in your province fighting for access to higher education? This month, immerse yourself in a newsworthy event inside the borders of your own country, and invite us there through your written reporting.

Best entry: $100

Runner up: $50 | Best peer review: $50

📅 Deadline: July 22, 2024

Aurora Polaris Creative Nonfiction Award

Trio House Press

We seek un-agented full-length creative nonfiction manuscripts including memoir, essay collections, etc. 50,000 - 80,000 words.

Publication

💰 Entry fee: $25

📅 Deadline: May 15, 2024 (Expired)

Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest

Ayn Rand Institute

Atlas Shrugged is a mystery story, not about the murder of a man’s body, but about the murder—and rebirth—of man’s spirit. We seek exceptional essays of up to 1600 words that analyze its themes and ideas. High school to graduate students worldwide are invited to participate.

📅 Deadline: June 14, 2024

Artificial Intelligence Competition

New Beginnings

Genres: Essay, Non-fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Short Story

There is no topic relating to technology that brings more discussion than artificial intelligence. Some people think it does wonders. Others see it as trouble. Let us know your opinion about AI in this competition. Include experiences you have had with AI. 300-word limit. Winners will be selected January 1, 2024. Open to anyone, anywhere.

💰 Entry fee: $5

📅 Deadline: December 15, 2023 (Expired)

Young Sports Journalist 2024

The Young Sports Journalist Competition, 2024, seeks well-argued articles from aspiring journalists aged 14-21. Winning entries will be published online and printed in the Summer Issue of Pitch. Critiqued by our panel of accomplished judges, winners will also receive a £50 cash prize and offered work experience here at PITCH HQ. The competition runs from 7 February 2024 to 5 April 2024. And winners will be announced in May.

Publication in magazine and online

📅 Deadline: April 05, 2024 (Expired)

Work-In-Progress (WIP) Contest

Unleash Press

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Young Adult

We aim to assist writers in the completion of an important literary project and vision. The Unleash WIP Award offers writers support in the amount of $500 to supplement costs to aid in the completion of a book-length work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Writers will also receive editorial feedback, coaching meetings, and an excerpt/interview feature in Unleash Lit.

Coaching, interview, and editorial support

💰 Entry fee: $35

📅 Deadline: July 15, 2024

International Essay Competition 2023/24

Avernus Education

Welcome to our prestigious International Essay Competition. At Avernus Education, we are thrilled to provide a platform for young minds to showcase their prowess in Medicine, Engineering, Law, Economics, Psychology, History and Politics. These varied subject categories underscore the importance of interdisciplinary study, a crucial foundation for future leaders in our increasingly interconnected world. Winners receive an exclusive Avernus Education Scholarship worth over £5000 - granting them free entrance to our exclusive summer camp at Oxford University! Outstanding Runners Up receive 5 hours worth of Credits for Avernus Education courses, conferences and tutoring services.

100% Scholarship Award to our Oxford University Summer Programme (worth £5995)

Partial scholarship

📅 Deadline: February 19, 2024 (Expired)

swamp pink Prizes

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

From January 1st to January 31st, submit short stories and essays of up to 25 pages or a set of 1-3 poems. Winners in each genre will receive $2,000 and publication.

📅 Deadline: January 31, 2024 (Expired)

High School Academic Research Competition

Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal

The High School Academic Research Competition is where talented students from around the world compete to publish high-quality research on any topic. SARC challenges students to sharpen their critical thinking skills, immerse themselves in the research process, and hone their writing skills for success.

Indigo Research Intensive Summer Program

📅 Deadline: April 17, 2024 (Expired)

Hispanic Culture Review Contest 2022-2023

Hispanic Culture Review

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Short Story, and Flash Fiction

As the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano once said, "the best that the world has is in the many worlds that the world contains." Therefore, this year we invite you to reflect on the following questions: How do you or your community celebrate these connections? How do you value those experiences with those people who leave a mark on your life? 1 work will be awarded in each category: 1) photography & visual arts, 2) poetry, and 3) narrative/essay/academic investigation.

$100 for photography, poetry, and essay winners

💰 Entry fee: $0

📅 Deadline: February 01, 2023 (Expired)

Annual Student Essay Contest

Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

For this year’s Essay Contest, we are asking students to think about why the story of the Oklahoma City bombing is important today.

📅 Deadline: March 04, 2024 (Expired)

Irene Adler Prize

Lucas Ackroyd

I’ve traveled the world from Sweden to South Africa, from the Golden Globes to the Olympic women’s hockey finals. I’ve photographed a mother polar bear and her cubs and profiled stars like ABBA, Jennifer Garner and Katarina Witt. And I couldn’t have done it without women. I’ve been very fortunate, and it’s time for me to give back. With the Irene Adler Prize, I’m awarding a $1,000 scholarship to a woman pursuing a degree in journalism, creative writing, or literature at a recognized post-secondary institution.

2x honorable mentions: $250

📅 Deadline: May 30, 2024

Literary and Photographic Contest 2023-2024

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, and Poetry

As we move forward we carry our culture wherever we go. It keeps us alive. This is why we propose the theme to be “¡Hacia delante!”. A phrase that means to move forward. This year we ask that you think about the following questions: What keeps you moving forward? What do you carry with you going into the future? How do you celebrate your successes, your dreams, and your culture?

Publication in magazine

📅 Deadline: February 07, 2024 (Expired)

Berggruen Prize Essay Competition

Berggruen Institute

The Berggruen Prize Essay Competition, in the amount of $25,000 USD for the English and Chinese language category respectively, is given annually to stimulate new thinking and innovative concepts while embracing cross-cultural perspectives across fields, disciplines, and geographies. Inspired by the pivotal role essays have played in shaping thought and inquiry, we are inviting essays that follow in the tradition of renowned thinkers such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Michel de Montaigne, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

Publication in Noema Magazine

Great American Think-Off

New York Mills Regional Cultural Center

The Great American Think-Off is an exhibition of civil disagreement between powerful ideas that connect to your life at the gut level. The Cultural Center, located in the rural farm and manufacturing town of New York Mills, sponsors this annual philosophy contest.

Jane Austen Society of North America Essay Contest

Jane Austen Society of North America

Genres: Children's and Essay

JASNA conducts an annual student Essay Contest to foster the study and appreciation of Jane Austen's works in new generations of readers. Students world-wide are invited to compete for scholarship awards in three divisions: high school, college, and graduate school.

$1,000 scholarship

Two nights’ lodging for JASNA’s Annual General Meeting

📅 Deadline: June 02, 2022 (Expired)

Environmental Writing 2024

The writer and activist Bill McKibben describes Environmental Writing as "the collision between people and the rest of the world." This month, peer closely at that intersection: How do humans interact with their environment? Given your inheritance of this earth, the world needs your voices now more than ever.

📅 Deadline: April 22, 2024 (Expired)

The Hudson Prize

Black Lawrence Press

Each year Black Lawrence Press will award The Hudson Prize for an unpublished collection of poems or prose. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers.

💰 Entry fee: $28

📅 Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Expired)

Personal Essay Competition 2024

Genres: Essay and Memoir

We want to hear about an experience in your life, rife with characters and description and conflict and scene… but we also want to hear how you make sense of this experience, how it sits with you, and why it has surfaced as writing. Open a window into your life and invite your readers to enter.

📅 Deadline: June 24, 2024

African Diaspora Awards 2024

Kinsman Avenue Publishing, Inc

Up to $1000 in cash prizes for the African Diaspora Award 2024. African-themed prose and poetry wanted. Top finalists are published in Kinsman Quarterly’s magazine and the anthology, “Black Butterfly: Voices of the African Diaspora.”

Publication in anthology, "Black Butterfly: Voices of the African Diaspora" and print and digital magazine

Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize

Gotham Writers Workshop

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize is a writing competition sponsored by the stage and radio series Selected Shorts. Selected Shorts is recorded for Public Radio and heard nationally on both the radio and its weekly podcast. This years entries will be judged by Carmen Maria Machado (In the Dream House, Her Body and Other Parties).

$1000 + free 10 week course with Gotham Writers

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award

Killer Nashville

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Poetry, Science Fiction, Script Writing, Short Story, and Thriller

The Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award is committed to discovering new writers, as well as superlative books by established authors and, upon discovery, sharing those writers and their works with new readers. There are a large number of both fiction and non-fiction categories you can enter.

💰 Entry fee: $79

📅 Deadline: June 15, 2024

The Letter Review Prize for Books

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Letter Review Prize for Books is open to writers from anywhere in the world. Seeking most unpublished (we accept some self/indie published) novels, novellas, story collections, nonfiction, poetry etc. 20 entries are longlisted.

$1000 USD shared by 3 winners

Rigel 2024: $500 for Prose, Poetry, Art, or Graphic Novel

Sunspot Literary Journal

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Script Writing, and Short Story

Literary or genre works accepted. Winner receives $500 plus publication, while runners-up and finalists are offered publication. No restrictions on theme or category. Closes: February 29. Entry fee: $12.50. Enter as many times as you like through Submittable or Duotrope

$500 + publication

Runners-up and finalists are offered publication

📅 Deadline: February 29, 2024 (Expired)

Discover the finest writing contests of 2024 for fiction and non-fiction authors — including short story competitions, essay writing competitions, poetry contests, and many more. Updated weekly, these contests are vetted by Reedsy to weed out the scammers and time-wasters. If you’re looking to stick to free writing contests, simply use our filters as you browse.

Why you should submit to writing contests

Submitting to poetry competitions and free writing contests in 2024 is absolutely worth your while as an aspiring author: just as your qualifications matter when you apply for a new job, a writing portfolio that boasts published works and award-winning pieces is a great way to give your writing career a boost. And not to mention the bonus of cash prizes!

That being said, we understand that taking part in writing contests can be tough for emerging writers. First, there’s the same affliction all writers face: lack of time or inspiration. Entering writing contests is a time commitment, and many people decide to forego this endeavor in order to work on their larger projects instead — like a full-length book. Second, for many writers, the chance of rejection is enough to steer them clear of writing contests. 

But we’re here to tell you that two of the great benefits of entering writing contests happen to be the same as those two reasons to avoid them.

When it comes to the time commitment: yes, you will need to expend time and effort in order to submit a quality piece of writing to competitions. That being said, having a hard deadline to meet is a great motivator for developing a solid writing routine.

Think of entering contests as a training session to become a writer who will need to meet deadlines in order to have a successful career. If there’s a contest you have your eye on, and the deadline is in one month, sit down and realistically plan how many words you’ll need to write per day in order to meet that due date — and don’t forget to also factor in the time you’ll need to edit your story!

For tips on setting up a realistic writing plan, check out this free, ten-day course: How to Build a Rock-Solid Writing Routine.

In regards to the fear of rejection, the truth is that any writer aspiring to become a published author needs to develop relatively thick skin. If one of your goals is to have a book traditionally published, you will absolutely need to learn how to deal with rejection, as traditional book deals are notoriously hard to score. If you’re an indie author, you will need to adopt the hardy determination required to slowly build up a readership.

The good news is that there’s a fairly simple trick for learning to deal with rejection: use it as a chance to explore how you might be able to improve your writing.

In an ideal world, each rejection from a publisher or contest would come with a detailed letter, offering construction feedback and pointing out specific tips for improvement. And while this is sometimes the case, it’s the exception and not the rule.

Still, you can use the writing contests you don’t win as a chance to provide yourself with this feedback. Take a look at the winning and shortlisted stories and highlight their strong suits: do they have fully realized characters, a knack for showing instead of telling, a well-developed but subtly conveyed theme, a particularly satisfying denouement?

The idea isn’t to replicate what makes those stories tick in your own writing. But most examples of excellent writing share a number of basic craft principles. Try and see if there are ways for you to translate those stories’ strong points into your own unique writing.

Finally, there are the more obvious benefits of entering writing contests: prize and publication. Not to mention the potential to build up your readership, connect with editors, and gain exposure.

Resources to help you win writing competitions in 2024

Every writing contest has its own set of submission rules. Whether those rules are dense or sparing, ensure that you follow them to a T. Disregarding the guidelines will not sway the judges’ opinion in your favor — and might disqualify you from the contest altogether. 

Aside from ensuring you follow the rules, here are a few resources that will help you perfect your submissions.

Free online courses

On Writing:

How to Craft a Killer Short Story

The Non-Sexy Business of Writing Non-Fiction

How to Write a Novel

Understanding Point of View

Developing Characters That Your Readers Will Love

Writing Dialogue That Develops Plot and Character

Stop Procrastinating! Build a Solid Writing Routine

On Editing:

Story Editing for Authors

How to Self-Edit Like a Pro

Novel Revision: Practical Tips for Rewrites

How to Write a Short Story in 7 Steps

Reedsy's guide to novel writing

Literary Devices and Terms — 35+ Definitions With Examples

10 Essential Fiction Writing Tips to Improve Your Craft

How to Write Dialogue: 8 Simple Rules and Exercises

8 Character Development Exercises to Help You Nail Your Character

Bonus resources

200+ Short Story Ideas

600+ Writing Prompts to Inspire You

100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors

Story Title Generator

Pen Name Generator

Character Name Generator

After you submit to a writing competition in 2024

It’s exciting to send a piece of writing off to a contest. However, once the initial excitement wears off, you may be left waiting for a while. Some writing contests will contact all entrants after the judging period — whether or not they’ve won. Other writing competitions will only contact the winners. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind after you submit:

Many writing competitions don’t have time to respond to each entrant with feedback on their story. However, it never hurts to ask! Feel free to politely reach out requesting feedback — but wait until after the selection period is over.

If you’ve submitted the same work to more than one writing competition or literary magazine, remember to withdraw your submission if it ends up winning elsewhere.

After you send a submission, don’t follow it up with a rewritten or revised version. Instead, ensure that your first version is thoroughly proofread and edited. If not, wait until the next edition of the contest or submit the revised version to other writing contests.

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Steps for Writing Contest-Winning Essays

Contest-winning essays entries go far beyond proper grammar, spellings, and punctuation. It’s about creating something that will leave a deep impact to your audience. However, it can be quite difficult to stand out amidst hundreds of entries. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a professional writer to write a winning entry.

How to Start the Essay

The beginning to any given matter is always grand, anything from opening ceremonies to introductory speeches. An essay shares the same sentiments as the rest. The opening statement of an essay should be worth remembering. You can do this by telling a story or a quote that relates to the given theme. However, you need still need to keep it short essay. Remember to be concise with the way you construct your introduction.

How to Write an Essay for a Contest

A winning essay is no different from a simple college essay , as it still consists of the basic parts of an essay . The difference lies with the way you construct it, with the words you use and the message you’re trying to convey. If you’re planning to write an essay for a contest, you need to find a way to be unique.

The Role of Time Management in Essay Writing

The truth of the matter is, spending too much time on something may cause a change of heart. This is because we allow ourselves to overthink scenarios.

The same thing goes for essay writing . A surge of creative ideas will only come at a certain time. If we take too many breaks in between writing, we lose focus on the message we want to portray. We get distracted from our initial vision, causing sudden shifts in our style of writing. With proper time management, we may complete an essay within a considerable amount of time.

Brainstorming Ideas

Staring at a blank sheet of paper will get you nowhere. It’s important to gather information by conducting different styles of research. This would involve gaining firsthand experience or even reading various journals. You need to let your mind wander before putting it to work.

Awesome Tips for a Winning Essay

Think outside of the box. Don’t be cliche with your topic. Discussing taboos as the subject of your essay outline might be controversial, but it can be risk worth taking. Not a lot of people would dare to go anywhere near these topics and that’s what makes it special. It’s interesting and relatable, yet it’s surprisingly rare. However, it’s important to be sensitive with how you approach a given matter.

See things from a different perspective. Take the road less traveled and give a voice for the minority. Not only is it a unique way of shedding light to a given topic, but it also allows your readers to ponder on unusual thoughts.

Be witty. Adding humor will let your personality shine through. You don’t want to sound too formal, as this can be quite intimidating to some readers. Add a few puns or jokes, being discrete about it will also engage your readers.

Contest Winning Essay Generator

Text prompt

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Write a Contest Winning Essay on the theme of courage.

Create a Contest Winning Essay that explores the importance of environmental conservation.

THE QUEEN'S COMMONWEALTH ESSAY COMPETITION

Since 1883, we have delivered The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition, the world's oldest international schools' writing competition. Today, we work to expand its reach, providing life-changing opportunities for young people around the world.

The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2024 is now closed for entries

Find out more about this year’s theme

'Our Common Wealth'.

140 years of 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 proudly delivered by the Royal Commonwealth Society since 1883. 

ABOUT THE COMPETITION 

An opportunity for young Commonwealth citizens to share their thoughts, ideas and experiences on key global issues and have their hard work and achievement celebrated internationally.

Frequently Asked Questions for the Competition. Before contacting us please read these.

MEET THE WINNERS 

In 2023 we were delighted to receive a record-breaking 34,924 entries, with winners from India and Malaysia. Read their winning pieces as well as those from previous years.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Terms and Conditions for entrants to The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition. Please ensure you have thoroughly read them before submitting your entry.

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• Writing Tips

7 Essay Writing Contests to Look Out For in 2023

7-minute read

• 28th December 2022

Essay contests are not only a great way to exercise your essay-writing skills but also an awesome way to win cash prizes, scholarships, and internship or program opportunities. They also look wonderful on college applications as awards and achievements.

In this article, you’ll learn about 7 essay writing contests to enter in 2023. Watch the video below, or keep reading to learn more.

1. Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction & Essay Contest 

Deadline: Now–April 30, 3023

Who may enter:

This is an international contest for people of all ages (except for residents of Syria, Iran, North Korea, Crimea, Russia, and Belarus due to US government restrictions).

Contest description:

●  The contest is organized by Winning Writers, located in MA, USA.

●  They accept stories and essays on any theme, up to 6,000 words each. This contest defines a story as any short work of fiction and an essay as any short work of nonfiction.

●  Your stories and essays must be submitted in English.

●  You may submit published or unpublished work.

Entry fee: USD 22 per entry

●  Story: First Prize is USD 3,000.

●  Essay: First Prize is USD 3,000.

●  10 Honorable Mentions will receive USD 300 each (any category).

●  The top 12 entries will be published online.

Official website

Please visit the competition’s official website for more information on judges and submissions.

2. 2023 Calibre Essay Prize 

Deadline: Now–January 15, 2023, 11:59 pm

Who may enter: All ages and any nationality or residency are accepted.

●  This contest is hosted by the Australian Book Review.

●  Your essay must be between 2,000 and 5,000 words.

●  You may submit nonfiction essays of all kinds, e.g., personal, political, literary, or speculative.

●  You may enter multiple essays but will need to pay separate fees for each one.

●  Your essay must be unpublished.

Entry fee: AU 30 for non-members

Prize: AU 7,500

Official website:

For more information on this contest, please visit its official website.

3. John Locke Institute Essay Competition 

Deadline: June 30, 2023

●  Students from any country.

●  Students aged 15 to 18 years by the competition deadline.

●  Students aged 14 years or younger by the competition deadline are eligible for the Junior prize.

●  The contest is organized by the John Locke Institute.

●  Your essay cannot exceed 2,000 words.

●  There are seven subjects or categories for essay submissions: Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology, and Law.

Entry fee: Free to enter

●  The best overall essay winner receives an honorary John Locke Fellowship, which comes with a USD 10,000 scholarship to attend one or more summer schools or gap year courses.

●  There is also a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category and the Junior category is a scholarship worth USD 2,000 toward the cost of a summer program.

●  All winning essays will be published on the Institute’s website.

For more information about this competition and the John Locke Institute, please visit the official website . Also, be sure to check out our article on all you need to know about this contest.

4. The American Foreign Service Association 2023 Essay Competition 

Deadline: April 3, 2023

●  Students in grades 9–12 in any of the 50 states, DC, the US territories, or if they are US citizens or lawful permanent residents attending high school overseas.

●  Students attending a public, private, or parochial school.

●  Home-schooled students.

●  Your essay should be 1,000–1,500 words.

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●  You will select a country or region in which the United States Foreign Service has been involved at any point since 1924 and describe how the Foreign Service was successful or unsuccessful in advancing American foreign policy goals – including promoting peace – in this country or region and propose ways in which it might continue to improve those goals in the coming years.

●  Your essay should follow MLA guidelines.

●  Your essay should use a variety of sources.

●  The first-place winner receives USD 2,500, a paid trip to the nation’s capital from anywhere in the U.S. for the winner and their parents, and an all-expense-paid educational voyage courtesy of Semester at Sea.

●  The runner-up receives USD 1,250 and full tuition to attend a summer session of the National Student Leadership Conference’s International Diplomacy program.

Please visit the American Foreign Service website for more information.

5. The Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) 2023 Essay Contest 

Deadline: Mid-February 2023–June 1, 2023

Who may enter: High school (including homeschooled), college, and graduate students worldwide.

●  The 2023 essay contest topic is marriages and proposals.

●  High school students may focus on Pride and Prejudice only or bring in other Austen works.

●  Undergraduate and graduate students should discuss at least two Austen novels of their choice.

●  Your essay must be in MLA format and 6 to 8 pages (not including your Works Cited page).

●  Your essay must be written in English.

●  First place wins a USD 1,000 scholarship.

●  Second place wins a USD 500 scholarship.

●  Third place wins a USD 250 scholarship.

●  Winners will also receive one year of membership in JASNA, publication of their essays on this website, and a set of Norton Critical Editions of Jane Austen’s novels.

For more information and submission guidelines, please visit JASNA’s official website .

6. 2023 Writing Contest: Better Great Achievements by EngineerGirl

Deadline: February 1, 2023

●  Students in Grades 3–12. If international or homeschooled, please select your grade level based on if you were attending a public school in the U.S.

●  This contest is organized by EngineerGirl.

●  Students should write a piece that shows how female or non-white engineers have contributed to or can enhance engineering’s great achievements.

●  You should choose one of the 20 Greatest Engineering Achievements of the 20th Century as a topic and explore the technologies developed in the last century and the new ones being developed today. Make sure to follow the specific guidelines for your grade level.

●  Essays should be 650–750 words based on your grade level.

●  Please visit the contest’s website to see specific requirements based on your grade.

Winners in each grade category will receive the prizes listed below:

●  First-place winners will be awarded USD 500.

●  Second-place entries will be awarded USD 250 .

●  Third-place entries will be awarded USD 100 .

For more information and submission guidelines, please visit the official website .

7. World Historian Student Essay Competition

Deadline: May 1, 2023

Who may enter: Students enrolled in Grades K–12 in public, private, and parochial schools and home-study programs worldwide.

●  Your essay must address the following issue: In what way has the study of world history affected my understanding of the world in which I live?

●  Your essay should be 1,000 words.

Prizes: USD 500

For more information and submission requirements, please visit the contest’s official website.

Essay contests are a great way to expand your writing skills, discuss a topic that is important to you, and earn prize money and opportunities that will be great for you in the long term. Check out our articles on writing thesis statements, essay organization, and argumentative writing strategies to ensure you take first place every time.

If you need help with your essays and would like to make sure that every comma is in place, we will proofread your first 500 words for free !

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5 Writing Contest Strategies to Improve Your Winning Chances

by Guest Blogger | 0 comments

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Fear, anticipation, and self-doubt are just a few emotions I felt during my first writing contest.

Maybe you’re in the same place now. Wondering if you have a chance among the many entrants. Uncertain if it’s worth the time and effort.

Short answer—it is.

And that holds true whether you win or lose. We’ll get into that more below.

But I also want to reveal five tips for improving your winning chances in a writing contest. See, I won the Short Fiction Break 2020 Summer Writing Contest with my story Dark Time . So the editorial staff at The Write Practice asked me to share strategies I think helped my entry.

My author career is in its infancy, so I’m speaking from limited experience. But I believe the resources and tips below will give you a better chance at snagging the next grand prize.

Want to take your chance at a grand prize and put these tips to the test? Check out our next writing contest!

Discover Writing Contests

Why Enter a Writing Contest?

Besides the obvious benefit of “If I win it’ll be awesome and I get prize money,” here are a few other perks I experienced.

These apply whether or not you place.

You'll become a better writer. A short story is the perfect format to practice writing. You experience the entire process in a short time. Rough draft, revision, critiques, polishing and publishing. With longer works, that journey might take months instead of days or weeks.

You'll pad your portfolio. Even if you don’t win, being published in a competition boosts your credibility. When you point readers, agents, or authors to your published work, they regard you as a more legitimate writer. It’s marketing for the brand of YOU.

You'll connect with other writers. A contest gives you an excuse to comment on the work of other writers. Since you’re all in the same competition, they’ll likely respond. That’s a new connection, and potential collaborator, for your writing career.

You'll experience BEING a writer. Entering a writing contest, producing a story, then submitting makes you feel like a writer. It’s challenging and rewarding. Short story contests are a simple way to live the writer’s life.

Five Strategies That Worked For Me

Here are some top strategies I believe helped me win the 2020 Summer Writing Contest.

1. Review Short Story Best Practices

I began by reviewing several articles on short story best practices. This is important, since it gets you planning how to tell a great story from the beginning.

Having best practices in mind as I brainstormed ideas and wrote the first draft heavily influenced the outcome.

Here are two incredible resources from The Write Practice. I referred to these articles often during my writing and revision process:

How to Write a Short Story From Start to Finish

10 Critical Mistakes Writers Make in Writing Contests

2. Use the MICE Quotient

I debated including this, because it teeters on the edge of being helpful or confusing. But I found it useful, so maybe you will too.

It’s too detailed to describe here, so I’ll just direct you to the source.

Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette—hosts on the podcast Writing Excuses — hosted a lecture on writing short stories . In it, they explain the MICE Quotient . This is a strategy to create satisfying stories by focusing on the type of conflict involved.

There’s also a formula (yes, writers—MATH), which helps estimate your final word count. Knowing that number in advance saves time and headache. Especially if the story you want to tell looks to be 5000 words, and the limit is 1500.

You can find the lecture on YouTube here .

3. Focus on Theme

The contest I entered offered few constraints. A limit of only 1500 words and a theme of isolation .

In a sea of great entries, I knew the judges would seek an exemplary take on the theme to make their final decisions.

I asked myself, how can I best get the reader to FEEL isolation? Short stories, in my opinion, are a mix between prose and poetry. Emotional impact is one of their defining features.

In my story, I attempted this by layering many levels of isolation. My character progressed from self-imposed solitude, to getting stranded alone, to potentially being the last human alive.

Ask yourself, how can you write a narrative that delivers on the theme with an emotional gut punch ?

4. Spend Most of Your Time Revising

I took two mornings to plan my story, then wrote it over two more.

I spent the next week revising.

During that revision process, the story changed a lot and shrank from over 2300 words to just under 1500.

While much of the final version lived in that first draft, the heart and soul were missing. For example, revision helped clarify my protagonist’s motivations and character arc.

Here are a few specific lessons I learned along the way.

Accept the process will be messy. I often had no idea what to include, what to delete, or what to change. I moved sections around only to move them back. Revision is chaotic, and that’s okay. Giving yourself a break from your draft helps. Just an hour away can clarify story blocks. Also, try re-working sections. You may not keep the changes, but at least you’ll have something to compare the original passages against.

Listen to your gut feelings. As a new writer, I often distrust my writing sensibilities. In Dark Time, my first draft had the protagonist, lonely and confused, talking for paragraphs to his flashlight. It was cute and lighthearted. But I wanted the tone dark and tense. So although it kinda worked, I scrapped it. If you have an instinct about your story, listen to it. You’re probably right.

Do multiple polish passes. I revised Dark Time to a point it seemed “done.” Then I kept going. To my surprise, a lot changed after this point. I switched words to be more descriptive. Others I adjusted to better reflect theme and symbolism. I obliterated instances of passive voice. I also eliminated most forms of verbs like “is,” “was,” “were,” etc. So keep polishing, even after the story works.

5. Supercharge Your Draft Using Critiques

Sometimes, it’s difficult to know if a part of your story doesn’t work. After all, you understand what you’re trying to get across.

Until someone NOT you reads it, how do you know if you succeeded?

In my case, turns out I didn’t always hit the mark. Sections of my story received multiple comments expressing confusion. Obviously, something wasn’t working. So if several people get stuck on a part in your story, you’ll want to re-work it.

Critiques also help you discover which passages affect readers, and which don’t. This allows you to tweak structure and supercharge your story’s impact.

For example, I found my ending didn’t touch readers emotionally. Critiques helped me uncover why.

In the last scene, the protagonist fears never seeing his family again. Yet I hadn’t mentioned them until that point. Referring to his relatives earlier in the story fixed the issue.

Critiques may seem scary, but they’re not. The outside perspective I received from workshopping helped me win the competition. No doubt.

Where Will Your Story Take Us?

As I grow in my writing career, I’ve discovered no two authors have the exact story to tell. Your unique perspective, your voice, is what will draw readers to you.

Short story contests are an excellent way to develop that voice and share it with others. That can lead to new opportunities and new readers.

So use the tips above and get started on your next contest entry. Whether or not you take the grand prize, you’ll likely enjoy the experience and walk away a better writer.

Ready to enter a writing contest yourself? We'd love for you to join our next contest! It's your turn to write a story, get feedback, get published , and maybe even take home the grand prize:

Enter the Next Contest

Have you ever won a prize for your writing? What strategies did you use to write a winning piece?   Let us know in the comments .

For today's practice, we'll focus on Demi's third strategy: focus on theme. Here's the theme of the Fall Writing Contest:

Boundless. When your characters are limitless, what will they do?

First, take five minutes to brainstorm. What could boundless mean for a story, and how can you express it? Here are some questions to get you started:

• What does “boundless” mean?
• What could “boundless” mean for a person? A place? A situation? An animal? An object?
• What are some good things about “boundless”?
• What are some bad things about “boundless”?
• What does “boundless”  feel like?

Then, take ten minutes to start writing a story based on the theme. You might outline your story, or write a scene.

When you're done, share your story in the comments below . This is a great way to practice the fifth strategy, too, and improve your story with feedback. Be sure to leave feedback for your fellow writers, too!

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5 Writing Tips for This Year's Student Essay Contest

Posted by Stacey Perlman on March 12, 2018

The Facing History Together Student Essay Contest is back! And we're accepting submissions ! Using the documentary film, American Creed ,  we're asking students to tell a story they believe shows the power of uniting people, building bridges, or orienting us to what we share and the common good. But what makes a good essay? We've rounded up a few writing tips that can prepare students to sit down and write their best 500-word essay for the chance to win great scholarship prizes. Check out the full contest site for all of the details. In the meantime, read these tips and get writing. Submissions close on March 28!

1. Read the whole prompt! Sounds easy but it's important. This will help you form your thoughts and know what the expectations are: How long should it be? What are you being asked to respond to? Read it through a couple of times and sit with your thoughts for a few minutes. 

2. Start with an outline! Not sure where to begin? Create an outline. Even if it is just a few bullet points, this can help you organize your thoughts and make sure you are hitting all of the main points of the prompt. Then you can begin stringing these thoughts together in paragraphs. 

3. Just start writing!  Staring at a blank page can seem daunting but just start putting words onto the page. It's important to keep in mind that a first draft is always just that - a first draft . Allow yourself to write out your thoughts without worrying about word count just yet. Then go back and review: Are you missing important details? Did you include everything the prompt asked for? Are you over or under the word count? Now go through and refine it and make it better. This might take a couple of rounds and that's okay. You'll end up with a solid essay that might just win you some scholarship money!

4. Express yourself!  People love stories. And they will enjoy hearing yours. Stories give us a window into who you are and how you see the world. Remember that not every story needs to be big. Sometimes it's the smallest moments that we can all relate to.  

5. Proofread - times two! Always remember to edit and proofread your essay for grammar, structure, and flow. Read the essay out loud to yourself. Sometimes hearing it can help you identify sentences that need to be revised. Then ask someone else to proofread it. A friend or a parent can be a fresh pair of eyes to catch any grammatical mistakes you might have missed and can offer valuable feedback that might help improve your essay even more.  Don't forget to keep it to 500 words!  

Use these writing tips to write the best essay you can, but most of all, have fun! We look forward to reading all of the great essays we receive. Explore the full prompt and details and d on't forget, submissions close on March 28!  

Topics: Essay Contest

Written by Stacey Perlman

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How to Write the Perfect Essay

06 Feb, 2024 | Blog Articles , English Language Articles , Get the Edge , Humanities Articles , Writing Articles

You can keep adding to this plan, crossing bits out and linking the different bubbles when you spot connections between them. Even though you won’t have time to make a detailed plan under exam conditions, it can be helpful to draft a brief one, including a few key words, so that you don’t panic and go off topic when writing your essay.

If you don’t like the mind map format, there are plenty of others to choose from: you could make a table, a flowchart, or simply a list of bullet points.

Discover More

Thanks for signing up, step 2: have a clear structure.

Think about this while you’re planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question.

Start with the basics! It’s best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an exam essay, since you’ll be under time pressure. 

If you agree with the question overall, it can be helpful to organise your points in the following pattern:

• YES (agreement with the question)
• AND (another YES point)
• BUT (disagreement or complication)

If you disagree with the question overall, try:

• AND (another BUT point)

For example, you could structure the Of Mice and Men sample question, “To what extent is Curley’s wife portrayed as a victim in Of Mice and Men ?”, as follows:

• YES (descriptions of her appearance)
• AND (other people’s attitudes towards her)
• BUT (her position as the only woman on the ranch gives her power as she uses her femininity to her advantage)

If you wanted to write a longer essay, you could include additional paragraphs under the YES/AND categories, perhaps discussing the ways in which Curley’s wife reveals her vulnerability and insecurities, and shares her dreams with the other characters. Alternatively, you could also lengthen your essay by including another BUT paragraph about her cruel and manipulative streak.

Of course, this is not necessarily the only right way to answer this essay question – as long as you back up your points with evidence from the text, you can take any standpoint that makes sense.

Step 3: Back up your points with well-analysed quotations

You wouldn’t write a scientific report without including evidence to support your findings, so why should it be any different with an essay? Even though you aren’t strictly required to substantiate every single point you make with a quotation, there’s no harm in trying.

A close reading of your quotations can enrich your appreciation of the question and will be sure to impress examiners. When selecting the best quotations to use in your essay, keep an eye out for specific literary techniques. For example, you could highlight Curley’s wife’s use of a rhetorical question when she says, a”n’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs.” This might look like:

The rhetorical question “an’ what am I doin’?” signifies that Curley’s wife is very insecure; she seems to be questioning her own life choices. Moreover, she does not expect anyone to respond to her question, highlighting her loneliness and isolation on the ranch.

Other literary techniques to look out for include:

• Tricolon – a group of three words or phrases placed close together for emphasis
• Tautology – using different words that mean the same thing: e.g. “frightening” and “terrifying”
• Parallelism – ABAB structure, often signifying movement from one concept to another
• Chiasmus – ABBA structure, drawing attention to a phrase
• Polysyndeton – many conjunctions in a sentence
• Asyndeton – lack of conjunctions, which can speed up the pace of a sentence
• Polyptoton – using the same word in different forms for emphasis: e.g. “done” and “doing”
• Alliteration – repetition of the same sound, including assonance (similar vowel sounds), plosive alliteration (“b”, “d” and “p” sounds) and sibilance (“s” sounds)
• Anaphora – repetition of words, often used to emphasise a particular point

Don’t worry if you can’t locate all of these literary devices in the work you’re analysing. You can also discuss more obvious techniques, like metaphor, simile and onomatopoeia. It’s not a problem if you can’t remember all the long names; it’s far more important to be able to confidently explain the effects of each technique and highlight its relevance to the question.

Step 4: Be creative and original throughout

Anyone can write an essay using the tips above, but the thing that really makes it “perfect” is your own unique take on the topic. If you’ve noticed something intriguing or unusual in your reading, point it out – if you find it interesting, chances are the examiner will too!

Creative writing and essay writing are more closely linked than you might imagine. Keep the idea that you’re writing a speech or argument in mind, and you’re guaranteed to grab your reader’s attention.

It’s important to set out your line of argument in your introduction, introducing your main points and the general direction your essay will take, but don’t forget to keep something back for the conclusion, too. Yes, you need to summarise your main points, but if you’re just repeating the things you said in your introduction, the body of the essay is rendered pointless.

Think of your conclusion as the climax of your speech, the bit everything else has been leading up to, rather than the boring plenary at the end of the interesting stuff.

To return to Of Mice and Men once more, here’s an example of the ideal difference between an introduction and a conclusion:

Introduction

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men , Curley’s wife is portrayed as an ambiguous character. She could be viewed either as a cruel, seductive temptress or a lonely woman who is a victim of her society’s attitudes. Though she does seem to wield a form of sexual power, it is clear that Curley’s wife is largely a victim. This interpretation is supported by Steinbeck’s description of her appearance, other people’s attitudes, her dreams, and her evident loneliness and insecurity.

Overall, it is clear that Curley’s wife is a victim and is portrayed as such throughout the novel in the descriptions of her appearance, her dreams, other people’s judgemental attitudes, and her loneliness and insecurities. However, a character who was a victim and nothing else would be one-dimensional and Curley’s wife is not. Although she suffers in many ways, she is shown to assert herself through the manipulation of her femininity – a small rebellion against the victimisation she experiences.

Both refer back consistently to the question and summarise the essay’s main points. However, the conclusion adds something new which has been established in the main body of the essay and complicates the simple summary which is found in the introduction.

Hannah is an undergraduate English student at Somerville College, University of Oxford, and has a particular interest in postcolonial literature and the Gothic. She thinks literature is a crucial way of developing empathy and learning about the wider world. When she isn’t writing about 17th-century court masques, she enjoys acting, travelling and creative writing. 

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By submitting your essay, you give the Berkeley Prize the nonexclusive, perpetual right to reproduce the essay or any part of the essay, in any and all media at the Berkeley Prize’s discretion.  A “nonexclusive” right means you are not restricted from publishing your paper elsewhere if you use the following attribution that must appear in that new placement: “First submitted to and/or published by the international Berkeley Undergraduate Prize for Architectural Design Excellence ( www.BerkeleyPrize.org ) in competition year 20(--) (and if applicable) and winner of that year’s (First, Second, Third…) Essay prize.” Finally, you warrant the essay does not violate any intellectual property rights of others and indemnify the BERKELEY PRIZE against any costs, loss, or expense arising out of a violation of this warranty.

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Essay Writing Contests: The Ultimate List of 2024

Did you know that the very first recorded essay contest can be traced back to the early 16th century, initiated by none other than the renowned philosopher and essayist Michel de Montaigne? In 1580, Montaigne published his collection of essays titled 'Essais,' which not only marked a pivotal moment in the evolution of the essay as a literary form but also contained an implicit challenge to his readers. He encouraged them to engage with his ideas and respond by writing their own essays, essentially laying the groundwork for what we now recognize as essay contests.

Fast forward to the vibrant year of 2024, and this tradition of writing competitions has evolved into a global phenomenon, offering emerging writers from all walks of life a captivating platform to share their thoughts, emotions, and narratives with the world.

In this article, our essay writer will review essay writing contests, presenting you with an exclusive selection of the most promising opportunities for the year ahead. Each of these competitions not only provides a stage to demonstrate your writing prowess but also offers a unique avenue for personal growth, self-expression, and intellectual exploration, all while competing for impressive writing awards and well-deserved recognition.

Top Essay Writing Contests in 2024

If you enjoy expressing your thoughts and ideas through writing, you're in for a treat. Essay writing competitions in 2024 offer you a chance to do just that and win some great prizes in the process. We've put together a list of contests specially designed for students like you. These contests cover various interesting essay topics , giving you a unique opportunity to showcase your writing skills and potentially earn cash prizes or scholarships. So, let's jump right into these fantastic opportunities.

2024 International Literary Prize by Hammond House Publishing

The 2024 Writing Competition beckons writers with over £3000 in cash prizes, publication opportunities in anthologies, and a chance to participate in a televised Award Ceremony. Sponsored by the University Centre Grimsby, this annual contest, now in its eighth year, draws entries from approximately 30 countries worldwide. Entrants can vie for prizes across four categories, gaining exposure at the televised award ceremony and receiving expert feedback at the annual literary festival.

And if you're determined to learn how to overcome writer's block for this contest, we have a wealth of expert tips and strategies to guide you through the process!

Deadline: 30th September 2024

• 1st Prize: £1000
• 2nd Prize: £100
• 3rd Prize: £50

Ready to Break Free From Essay Stress?

Let our writing wizards rescue your grades with a tailor-made essay that'll make your professors do a double-take!

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition by Vine Leaves Press

Vine Leaves Press welcomes writers worldwide, prioritizing voices from marginalized communities such as BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and individuals with chronic illnesses or disabilities, among others. Submissions, which must be in English and previously unpublished, are accepted from February 1, 2024, until July 1, 2024. Manuscripts can be either narrative (50,000 – 80,000 words) or experimental (at least 100 pages), adhering to specific formatting guidelines, including anonymity to ensure impartial judging. Each submission requires a $25 entry fee via Submittable, and multiple entries are allowed. Entries will be judged based on originality, creativity, writing quality, and adherence to genre, with finalists announced in October 2024, shortlisted in January 2025, and winners in March 2025.

Deadline: July 01, 2024

• The winner will receive a cash prize of $1000.
• Publication of the winning manuscript will occur in 2026 by Vine Leaves Press.
• Runners-up will also be considered for publication.

Solas Awards by Best Travel Writing

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Deadline: Mar 12, 2024

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Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition 2024

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Deadline : 10th May, 2024

• Gold: $150 cash, $500 CCIR scholarship, digital certificate, interview, Cambridge invite.
• Silver: $100 cash, $300 CCIR scholarship, digital certificate, interview, Cambridge invite.
• Bronze: $50 cash, $200 CCIR scholarship, digital certificate, interview, Cambridge invite.

The Hudson Prize by Black Lawrence Press

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Deadline : March 31, 2024

• Top prize $1,000

Irene Adler Prize by Lucas Ackroyd

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Deadline : May 30, 2024

• 2x honorable mentions: $250

100 Word Writing Contest by Tadpole Press

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Deadline : April 30, 2024

• 1st place: $2,000 USD.
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Deadline : June 30, 2024

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• 6 Honorary Mentions: Publication in Kinsman Quarterly & anthology.

Work-In-Progress (WIP) Contest by Unleash Press

The Unleash WIP Award 2024 offers $500, feedback, coaching, and a feature in Unleash Lit to help writers with their book projects in fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. All writers can apply. So, if you're looking for resources like free Harvard online courses to hone your writing skills, consider entering this competition. Submissions of the first 25 pages and answers to questions are due by July 15, 2024. Multiple entries are okay, but follow the rules, especially keeping your submission anonymous. Unleash also welcomes previously self-published works.

Deadline : July 15, 2024

• Top prize: $500
• Additional prizes: Coaching, interview, and editorial support

Aurora Polaris Creative Nonfiction Award by Trio House Press

Open to all writers, the poetry manuscripts should be 48-70 pages, and the prose manuscripts should be up to 80,000 words. Submissions must be from U.S. residents and must be original works. AI-generated submissions and translations are not eligible. Manuscripts should be sent as a single Word doc. or docx. file with no identifying information, and a cover letter with bio and contact details should be uploaded separately.

Deadline: May 15, 2024

• $1,000, publication, and 20 books

Poetry & Spoken Word Competition 2024 by Write the World

Young writers aged 13 to 19.5 are invited to enter this upcoming competition, with submissions of 50 to 500 words. Inspired by Audrey Lorde's words and the power of poetry, participants are encouraged to craft original poems or spoken word pieces advocating for change and self-expression. Winners, including top prizes for written and recorded performances, will be announced on June 14. Malika Booker, a renowned British poet, serves as the guest judge. To enter, writers should sign up on Write the World, respond to the prompt, and submit their final entries before the deadline.

Deadline : May 27, 2024

• Best entry: $100
• Best Peer Review: $50

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award

The Killer Nashville essay writing contests seek to uncover new talent and recognize outstanding works by established authors, aiming to introduce their works to a broader audience. With numerous fiction and non-fiction categories available, writers have the opportunity to showcase their talent across a wide range of genres. The top prize includes a $250 award, and entry requires a fee of $79. Genres eligible for entry encompass crime, essay, fantasy, fiction, humor, memoir, mystery, non-fiction, novel, poetry, science fiction, script writing, short story, and thriller.

Deadline : June 15, 2024

• Top prize: $250

Journalism Competition 2024 by Write the World

In this upcoming competition, young writers aged 13 to 19.5 are invited to participate, with entries ranging from 400 to 1000 words. Participants are tasked with exploring and reporting on significant events within their own country, fostering a deeper understanding of local issues. Optional draft submissions for expert review are available until July 8, with feedback returned to writers by July 12. Winners will be announced on August 9. To enter, writers must sign up for a free account on Write the World, respond to the prompt, and submit their final entries before the deadline.

Deadline : July 22, 2024

National Essay Contest by U.S. Institute of Peace

This year, AFSA is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the United States Foreign Service. They've been involved in important events throughout history, like making decisions about war and peace, supporting human rights, and responding to disasters. Now, AFSA wants students to think about the future of diplomacy. They're asking students to imagine how diplomats can adapt to the changing world and its challenges. It's a chance for students to explore how diplomacy can continue to make a difference in the world.

Deadline : April 01, 2024

• Top prize: $2,500
• Additional prizes: Runner-up: $1,250

In 2023, the world of writing competitions offers a diverse tapestry of opportunities for writers across the globe. From exploring the depths of nature to delving into the mysteries of microfiction, these competitions beckon with enticing prizes and platforms for your creative voice. So, pick your favorite, sharpen your pen, and embark on a journey of literary excellence!

Unlock the Essay Enchantment!

Our expert wordsmiths are standing by, wands at the ready, to craft your essay masterpiece. No potions, just perfect prose!

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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Best Guide to Winning An Essay Writing Contest

Essay writing competition: how to write beautiful essays the stands you out.

The simple and most straightforward guides to writing a winning essay contest are easy to come by – Guides like:

• Submit a story founded on the theme you are writing for;
• Write grammatically correct words without exceeding the word count
• Follow all the instructions stipulated by the organizers;
• Proofread your story and submit it right before the deadline.

However, these tips are immature and inadequate to win an essay contest. The tips centre on the story’s writing and not the story itself: they explore the art of writing like righteous grammar police, not the act of writing as a creative researcher and human.

Essays are meant to be creative, command words and language not for the mere thrill but for the calculated description of an event in the most appealing way. People win essay competitions by abiding by various codes by which submitting the story of a speculated genre is. For example, imagine sending romantic nonfiction to a crime and action thriller fiction.

Writing essays is easy! You can quickly review ideas and develop the piece. But to write a winning essay for contests, you need a comprehensive guide. There are, however, numerous practical guides to writing and winning an essay competition.

Table of Contents

12 Powerful Guidelines to Winning an Essay Competition

Read the essay competition rules.

Many people often ignore the competition rules during application. As a result, they neglect the demands of the contest: the specific theme, participant’s requirements, word limits, deadline, regulations, the criteria to select the winner, and other minor details.

To win, read about the judges if their identities are disclosed. This relevant checklist will help you comprehend the contest and the judges’ expectations and offer you an idea of how to win the competition.

Reflect on Different Concepts for Theme

Some essay contests provide themes, while some do not. However, when themes are given, stick to them. While you reflect on the subject of a competition, many ideas will flash through your mind, jot them down.

It has been discovered that waiting to track the perfect idea will make you ignore potential perfect ideas. This means that while ideas flow through your mind, jot them down; a concept will stick along when you go through them again. Don’t jump right into the essay; reflect on numerous thoughts before writing.

Start with a Compelling Title and Opening

After choosing the concept that best suits the essay’s theme, be intentional about your title and the opening paragraphs. If you select a title like “She Loves Control” for a romance essay, consider “Cassandra Nancy Loves Control”. Reveal your characters from your headline. It arouses interest and emphasis on such character until the end of the story.

People ignore this a lot. They believe creativity is crucial in winning an essay, but they marginalize the role of research. Research helps to enrich your understanding of the idea. If you want to write about the LGBTQ life and the adversity involved in recognizing the identity, you need to research even if you’re queer. This is because other people go through what you do, and narrating your experience for an essay contest isn’t enough. Tell other people’s stories, even a bit, in personal essays.

Read also: 4 simple and effective ways to brainstorm your book idea

Write a Draft

Many people wait for the perfect moment and an ideal mood to write an essay. As a result, they resist the impulse to start writing right away. Although it works differently for different people, it suffices to resist all urge to resist the urge to write. In other words, write the draft without holding back.

Don’t Edit Your Essay While Writing It.

Some people are so conscious; that they edit their essays while they write. This interrupts the writing pace and exercise and lets a budding idea slip away. When the breeze of muse blows, it is essential that you clench your fist around it and not let it go until you’re done with the draft.

Revise and Proofread

People write many drafts. Some structure the essay and write drafts for each structure. However, regardless of how you came by the sketch, revise, revise, and revise! Proofread, proofread, and proofread! For example, you could send your paper to experienced essayists at companies like Paperwritings to receive feedback on how to improve it, rework it, and so on.

It is the interval to correct your mistake and fine-tune your language in the precise way you’ll prefer it. You’ll discover sentences to delete, phrases or sentences to rephrase or rewrite and other punctuation or tense error to correct. Further, it will enhance reading your essay from a fresh perspective. After this, you can take a break (if you didn’t take a break after writing the draft) to cool your head and mind for creativity.

Research and Read About the Judges

While taking a break for perhaps a few hours, days, or weeks, make sure to read other materials about your essay. There are valuable materials to improve your article.

You can also use the break to read about the judges, other essays they had judged, and their written pieces. This will give you intuition about their potential bias due to their use. Plus, it guides you to edit your essay to their exact expectation.

Please return to the Essay and Make it Stand Out.

Grab the attention of the judges and readers by avoiding clichés; describe the events – don’t tell, be creative with the storytelling, utilize original language, and let your essay flow with your originality.

Your essay must not appear forced; it will disrupt the flow of the story and bore the readers. Your content must be imagery to capture the judges and interest your readers.

Read also: 12 inspiring books for self-improvement

Revise Your Essay

After editing, revise again. You should edit and revise it as many times as you can. You can use writing tools like  Grammarly  to track your grammatical accuracy and conciseness.

Format Your Essay and Make It Look Professional

Formatting an essay is as fundamental as writing the essay. Make it neat and tidy, stick by the double-spacing rule if provided, structure the paragraphs, etc.

Review the Rules, Revise Your Essay, and Submit

When you think you are done, keep your entry aside, reexamine the rules, and reread your entry before you submit it. You may have omitted a minor detail that is necessary. Please correct it. When you verify sticking by all rules and guidelines,  SUBMIT!

About the Author

Akinwale Peace Akindayo (AKA Philip Peace) writes poetry, creative nonfiction, and essays from a small room in North Central Nigeria. He is a publisher on Barren Magazine, Agbowo Art Magazine, African Writer, Ngiga Review & elsewhere. He tweets via Peace Akinwale.

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Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, registrations are now open all essayists must register  here  before friday 31 may, 2024.

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. To register, click here .  

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 th e deadline to avoid any last-minute complications.

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.

Summer 2024 Admissions Open Now. Sign up for upcoming live information sessions here (featuring former and current Admission Officers at Havard and UPenn).

Discourse, debate, and analysis

Cambridge re:think essay competition 2024.

Competition Opens: 15th January, 2024

Essay Submission Deadline: 10th May, 2024 Result Announcement: 20th June, 2024 Award Ceremony and Dinner at the University of Cambridge: 30th July, 2024

We welcome talented high school students from diverse educational settings worldwide to contribute their unique perspectives to the competition.

Entry to the competition is free.

About the Competition

The spirit of the Re:think essay competition is to encourage critical thinking and exploration of a wide range of thought-provoking and often controversial topics. The competition covers a diverse array of subjects, from historical and present issues to speculative future scenarios. Participants are invited to engage deeply with these topics, critically analysing their various facets and implications. It promotes intellectual exploration and encourages participants to challenge established norms and beliefs, presenting opportunities to envision alternative futures, consider the consequences of new technologies, and reevaluate longstanding traditions. 

Ultimately, our aim is to create a platform for students and scholars to share their perspectives on pressing issues of the past and future, with the hope of broadening our collective understanding and generating innovative solutions to contemporary challenges. This year’s competition aims to underscore the importance of discourse, debate, and critical analysis in addressing complex societal issues in nine areas, including:

Religion and Politics

Political science and law, linguistics, environment, sociology and philosophy, business and investment, public health and sustainability, biotechonology.

Artificial Intelligence 

Neuroengineering

2024 essay prompts.

This year, the essay prompts are contributed by distinguished professors from Harvard, Brown, UC Berkeley, Cambridge, Oxford, and MIT.

Essay Guidelines and Judging Criteria

Review general guidelines, format guidelines, eligibility, judging criteria.

Awards and Award Ceremony

Award winners will be invited to attend the Award Ceremony and Dinner hosted at the King’s College, University of Cambridge. The Dinner is free of charge for select award recipients.

Registration and Submission

Register a participant account today and submit your essay before the deadline.

Advisory Committee and Judging Panel

The Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition is guided by an esteemed Advisory Committee comprising distinguished academics and experts from elite universities worldwide. These committee members, drawn from prestigious institutions, such as Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, and MIT, bring diverse expertise in various disciplines.

They play a pivotal role in shaping the competition, contributing their insights to curate the themes and framework. Their collective knowledge and scholarly guidance ensure the competition’s relevance, academic rigour, and intellectual depth, setting the stage for aspiring minds to engage with thought-provoking topics and ideas.

We are honoured to invite the following distinguished professors to contribute to this year’s competition.

The judging panel of the competition comprises leading researchers and professors from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, and Oxford, engaging in a strictly double blind review process.

Keynote Speeches by 10 Nobel Laureates

We are beyond excited to announce that multiple Nobel laureates have confirmed to attend and speak at this year’s ceremony on 30th July, 2024 .

They will each be delivering a keynote speech to the attendees. Some of them distinguished speakers will speak virtually, while others will attend and present in person and attend the Reception at Cambridge.

Why has religion remained a force in a secular world? 

Professor Commentary:

Arguably, the developed world has become more secular in the last century or so. The influence of Christianity, e.g. has diminished and people’s life worlds are less shaped by faith and allegiance to Churches. Conversely, arguments have persisted that hold that we live in a post-secular world. After all, religion – be it in terms of faith, transcendence, or meaning – may be seen as an alternative to a disenchanted world ruled by entirely profane criteria such as economic rationality, progressivism, or science. Is the revival of religion a pale reminder of a by-gone past or does it provide sources of hope for the future?

‘Religion in the Public Sphere’ by Jürgen Habermas (European Journal of Philosophy, 2006)

In this paper, philosopher Jürgen Habermas discusses the limits of church-state separation, emphasizing the significant contribution of religion to public discourse when translated into publicly accessible reasons.

‘Public Religions in the Modern World’ by José Casanova (University Of Chicago Press, 1994)

Sociologist José Casanova explores the global emergence of public religion, analyzing case studies from Catholicism and Protestantism in Spain, Poland, Brazil, and the USA, challenging traditional theories of secularization.

‘The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere’ by Judith Butler, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and Cornel West (Edited by Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen, Columbia University Press, 2011)

This collection features dialogues by prominent intellectuals on the role of religion in the public sphere, examining various approaches and their impacts on cultural, social, and political debates.

‘Rethinking Secularism’ by Craig Calhoun, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Jonathan VanAntwerpen (Oxford University Press, 2011)

An interdisciplinary examination of secularism, this book challenges traditional views, highlighting the complex relationship between religion and secularism in contemporary global politics.

‘God is Back: How the Global Rise of Faith is Changing the World’ by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (Penguin, 2010)

Micklethwait and Wooldridge argue for the coexistence of religion and modernity, suggesting that religious beliefs can contribute to a more open, tolerant, and peaceful modern world.

‘Multiculturalism’ by Tariq Modood (Polity Press, 2013)

Sociologist Tariq Modood emphasizes the importance of multiculturalism in integrating diverse identities, particularly in post-immigration contexts, and its role in shaping democratic citizenship.

‘God’s Agents: Biblical Publicity in Contemporary England’ by Matthew Engelke (University of California Press, 2013)

In this ethnographic study, Matthew Engelke explores how a group in England seeks to expand the role of religion in the public sphere, challenging perceptions of religion in post-secular England.

Gene therapy is a medical approach that treats or prevents disease by correcting the underlying genetic problem. Is gene therapy better than traditional medicines? What are the pros and cons of using gene therapy as a medicine? Is gene therapy justifiable?

Especially after Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, gene therapy is getting more and more interesting approach to cure. That’s why that could be interesting to think about. I believe that students will enjoy and learn a lot while they are investigating this topic.

The Hall at King’s College, Cambridge

The Hall was designed by William Wilkins in the 1820s and is considered one of the most magnificent halls of its era. The first High Table dinner in the Hall was held in February 1828, and ever since then, the splendid Hall has been where members of the college eat and where formal dinners have been held for centuries.

The Award Ceremony and Dinner will be held in the Hall in the evening of  30th July, 2024.

Stretching out down to the River Cam, the Back Lawn has one of the most iconic backdrop of King’s College Chapel. 

The early evening reception will be hosted on the Back Lawn with the iconic Chapel in the background (weather permitting). 

King’s College Chapel

With construction started in 1446 by Henry VI and took over a century to build, King’s College Chapel is one of the most iconic buildings in the world, and is a splendid example of late Gothic architecture. 

Attendees are also granted complimentary access to the King’s College Chapel before and during the event. 

Confirmed Nobel Laureates

Dr Thomas R. Cech

The nobel prize in chemistry 1989 , for the discovery of catalytic properties of rna.

Thomas Robert Cech is an American chemist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman, for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. Cech discovered that RNA could itself cut strands of RNA, suggesting that life might have started as RNA. He found that RNA can not only transmit instructions, but also that it can speed up the necessary reactions.

He also studied telomeres, and his lab discovered an enzyme, TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase), which is part of the process of restoring telomeres after they are shortened during cell division.

As president of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he promoted science education, and he teaches an undergraduate chemistry course at the University of Colorado

Sir Richard J. Roberts

The nobel prize in medicine 1993 .

F or the discovery of split genes

During 1969–1972, Sir Richard J. Roberts did postdoctoral research at Harvard University before moving to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was hired by James Dewey Watson, a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and a fellow Nobel laureate. In this period he also visited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology for the first time, working alongside Fred Sanger. In 1977, he published his discovery of RNA splicing. In 1992, he moved to New England Biolabs. The following year, he shared a Nobel Prize with his former colleague at Cold Spring Harbor Phillip Allen Sharp.

His discovery of the alternative splicing of genes, in particular, has had a profound impact on the study and applications of molecular biology. The realisation that individual genes could exist as separate, disconnected segments within longer strands of DNA first arose in his 1977 study of adenovirus, one of the viruses responsible for causing the common cold. Robert’s research in this field resulted in a fundamental shift in our understanding of genetics, and has led to the discovery of split genes in higher organisms, including human beings.

Dr Aaron Ciechanover

The nobel prize in chemistry 2004 .

F or the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation

Aaron Ciechanover is one of Israel’s first Nobel Laureates in science, earning his Nobel Prize in 2004 for his work in ubiquitination. He is honored for playing a central role in the history of Israel and in the history of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Dr Ciechanover is currently a Technion Distinguished Research Professor in the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute at the Technion. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Russian Academy of Sciences and is a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, he was a visiting Distinguished Chair Professor at NCKU, Taiwan. As part of Shenzhen’s 13th Five-Year Plan funding research in emerging technologies and opening “Nobel laureate research labs”, in 2018 he opened the Ciechanover Institute of Precision and Regenerative Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen campus.

Dr Robert Lefkowitz

The nobel prize in chemistry 2012 .

F or the discovery of G protein-coupled receptors

Robert Joseph Lefkowitz is an American physician (internist and cardiologist) and biochemist. He is best known for his discoveries that reveal the inner workings of an important family G protein-coupled receptors, for which he was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Brian Kobilka. He is currently an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as a James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry at Duke University.

Dr Lefkowitz made a remarkable contribution in the mid-1980s when he and his colleagues cloned the gene first for the β-adrenergic receptor, and then rapidly thereafter, for a total of 8 adrenergic receptors (receptors for adrenaline and noradrenaline). This led to the seminal discovery that all GPCRs (which include the β-adrenergic receptor) have a very similar molecular structure. The structure is defined by an amino acid sequence which weaves its way back and forth across the plasma membrane seven times. Today we know that about 1,000 receptors in the human body belong to this same family. The importance of this is that all of these receptors use the same basic mechanisms so that pharmaceutical researchers now understand how to effectively target the largest receptor family in the human body. Today, as many as 30 to 50 percent of all prescription drugs are designed to “fit” like keys into the similarly structured locks of Dr Lefkowitz’ receptors—everything from anti-histamines to ulcer drugs to beta blockers that help relieve hypertension, angina and coronary disease.

Dr Lefkowitz is among the most highly cited researchers in the fields of biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, and clinical medicine according to Thomson-ISI.

Dr Joachim Frank

The nobel prize in chemistry 2017 .

F or developing cryo-electron microscopy

Joachim Frank is a German-American biophysicist at Columbia University and a Nobel laureate. He is regarded as the founder of single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson. He also made significant contributions to structure and function of the ribosome from bacteria and eukaryotes.

In 1975, Dr Frank was offered a position of senior research scientist in the Division of Laboratories and Research (now Wadsworth Center), New York State Department of Health,where he started working on single-particle approaches in electron microscopy. In 1985 he was appointed associate and then (1986) full professor at the newly formed Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University at Albany, State University of New York. In 1987 and 1994, he went on sabbaticals in Europe, one to work with Richard Henderson, Laboratory of Molecular Biology Medical Research Council in Cambridge and the other as a Humboldt Research Award winner with Kenneth C. Holmes, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. In 1998, Dr Frank was appointed investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Since 2003 he was also lecturer at Columbia University, and he joined Columbia University in 2008 as professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of biological sciences.

Dr Barry C. Barish

The nobel prize in physics 2017 .

For the decisive contributions to the detection of gravitational waves

Dr Barry Clark Barish is an American experimental physicist and Nobel Laureate. He is a Linde Professor of Physics, emeritus at California Institute of Technology and a leading expert on gravitational waves.

In 2017, Barish was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics along with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”. He said, “I didn’t know if I would succeed. I was afraid I would fail, but because I tried, I had a breakthrough.”

In 2018, he joined the faculty at University of California, Riverside, becoming the university’s second Nobel Prize winner on the faculty.

In the fall of 2023, he joined Stony Brook University as the inaugural President’s Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics.

In 2023, Dr Barish was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Biden in a White House ceremony.

Dr Harvey J. Alter

The nobel prize in medicine 2020 .

For the discovery of Hepatitis C virus

Dr Harvey J. Alter is an American medical researcher, virologist, physician and Nobel Prize laureate, who is best known for his work that led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Alter is the former chief of the infectious disease section and the associate director for research of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. In the mid-1970s, Alter and his research team demonstrated that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A or hepatitis B viruses. Working independently, Alter and Edward Tabor, a scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, proved through transmission studies in chimpanzees that a new form of hepatitis, initially called “non-A, non-B hepatitis” caused the infections, and that the causative agent was probably a virus. This work eventually led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1988, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2020 along with Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice.

Dr Alter has received recognition for the research leading to the discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award conferred to civilians in United States government public health service, and the 2000 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research.

Dr Ardem Patapoutian

The nobel prize in medicine 2021 .

For discovering how pressure is translated into nerve impulses

Dr Ardem Patapoutian is an Lebanese-American molecular biologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel Prize laureate of Armenian descent. He is known for his work in characterising the PIEZO1, PIEZO2, and TRPM8 receptors that detect pressure, menthol, and temperature. Dr Patapoutian is a neuroscience professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. In 2021, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with David Julius.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I participate in the Re:think essay competition? 

The Re:think Essay competition is meant to serve as fertile ground for honing writing skills, fostering critical thinking, and refining communication abilities. Winning or participating in reputable contests can lead to recognition, awards, scholarships, or even publication opportunities, elevating your academic profile for college applications and future endeavours. Moreover, these competitions facilitate intellectual growth by encouraging exploration of diverse topics, while also providing networking opportunities and exposure to peers, educators, and professionals. Beyond accolades, they instil confidence, prepare for higher education demands, and often allow you to contribute meaningfully to societal conversations or causes, making an impact with your ideas.

Who is eligible to enter the Re:think essay competition?  

As long as you’re currently attending high school, regardless of your location or background, you’re eligible to participate. We welcome students from diverse educational settings worldwide to contribute their unique perspectives to the competition.

Is there any entry fee for the competition? 

There is no entry fee for the competition. Waiving the entry fee for our essay competition demonstrates CCIR’s dedication to equity. CCIR believes everyone should have an equal chance to participate and showcase their talents, regardless of financial circumstances. Removing this barrier ensures a diverse pool of participants and emphasises merit and creativity over economic capacity, fostering a fair and inclusive environment for all contributors.

Subscribe for Competition Updates

If you are interested to receive latest information and updates of this year’s competition, please sign up here.

Tips for Writing Essays in a Competitive Examination

Every individual, at one stage or the other, has had to appear for some competitive examinations. These competitive examinations rather act as an elimination procedure to select the best candidates for a particular position (in case of examination to fill in some specific vacancies) or a particular seat (in case of some academic program). The candidates, thus, are tested on various parameters such as their logical reasoning, their critical analysis, their thought process, and most obviously on their writing abilities. The writing abilities and the structuring of their thought process are tested mainly with the use of Essays. Candidates, therefore, might require some essay writing tips for competitive examinations.

Exam Essay Topics

Competitive examinations are directed towards achieving some particular objective, mostly in terms of selecting a candidate for a particular position or selecting students for a particular study program. Therefore essay topics for selecting the right candidate need to fulfill the basic criteria of such examination. An example of this would be in case the position requires testing the candidate on good judgmental capabilities or analytical capabilities, the relevant exam essay topic would certainly be an open ended question which needs to be justified, clarified, and analyzed according to their understanding and depth of knowledge. Mostly, the candidates are given relevant current affairs based topic which has relevance in the current context and the candidate would most likely be aware of such a topic.

English Essays for Competitive Exams

Competitive examinations are held in order to test different attitudes and aptitudes of the candidate. Thus on one hand they are being tested for analytical abilities and on the other they are being tested on their understanding of the current affairs. However, among all the questions, essay based questions serve two purposes. On one hand such question tests the awareness and understanding of a particular issue (mostly related to current affairs or related to their subject area) and on the other hand the fluency in English as a subject of communication too is being tested through these essays. The candidate appearing for such English essays in competitive examination thus need to focus on their writing styles, grammar, and flow of content while presenting their depth of knowledge.

Read – [ Some English Gk Questions and Answers ]

Certification Questions

A competitive examination tests the candidate on almost all parameters. While the essay questions test their English language capabilities, the certification questions test their subject knowledge and certify their aptitude and understanding of the subject.

Read – [ Important Certifications Questions and Answers ]

15 essay writing tips for competitive exams

Focusing more on the essay questions given in competitive examinations, the candidates surely need some handy essay writing tips for appearing and becoming successful in competitive exams. Essays require a good amount of information which needs to be logically and factually presented in the structured format within the stipulated time period, that too without the help of any secondary sources, especially the internet. Therefore, the following list of tips would surely be handy for the candidates:

Before the Examination:

• The candidate should identify the recent affairs happening within the global space, at least the most important one.
• The candidate should gather as much information about these events and affairs as possible which should include key definitions, brief description of the issue, brief sequence of events, comparing and contrasting any views available on such events, among others.
• The candidate should memorize such information to the best of their abilities.
• The candidate should practice writing essays on such events and topics incorporating as much information as possible.
• The candidate can even take short notes of such key information and revise the same whenever possible so that important points are not left out.

During the Examination:

• The candidate should read the question carefully.
• The candidate needs to understand the question and the context in which such a question has been designed.
• In case the candidate gets the topic or similar topic which he or she has been practicing, then create a “memory dump” and write down all the memorized information in short notes style.
• Then elaborate on the points mentioned in such memory dump one at a time while concentrating on the flow of text and idea in such a case.
• While writing such an informed essay start by formulating a thesis which would answer the entire question asked. The candidate can take help of the wording from the question to formulate the thesis. This should be done in the very first paragraph of the essay.
• Along with the thesis statement, a brief introduction to the topic of the question and at least a brief hint of the argument which would be supported in the essay should also be provided in the first paragraph of the essay.
• The candidate should try to provide as many supporting arguments and evidences as possible. This would make the essay strong and convincing.
• The candidate should try to make a persuasive argument (mostly the question of the essay does not have close ended answers of right or wrong) in order to sound convincing to the evaluator.
• In case the candidate gets a topic which he/she has not practiced, it is best not to panic. At best, the candidate needs to think with an open mind and try to logically remember any hint of such a subject or at least derive some logic from the question in order to write something on the topic in a logical manner such that at least the evaluator is impressed by the writing style.
• Leaving out the essay is not a good option since it not only carries a good weightage of number but also is important in evaluating your writing skills. While logic does not support, it is best to at least have a convincing write up which can portray one’s writing and communicating powers.

While good preparation is the key to success for any competitive examination, such essay writing tips for competitive exams would certainly come in handy at the precious moments of preparation and attending the competitive examination.

Essay Competition: Win a 100% Scholarship With Immerse Education

Take part in the Immerse Education Essay Competition for your chance to win a full or partial scholarship to our university and career preparation programmes

12th September 2024: Submission Deadline

Competition Open

full scholarships Awarded each year

entries each year

Share Your Success

Scholarship Award Certificate PDFs For Winners

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. 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.

23rd February 2024

Competition opens

12th September 2024

Competition closes

17th October 2024

Results announced

January, July & August 2025

Programme dates

Who Can Apply?

• The Immerse Education Essay Competition is open to students worldwide of all nationalities. You must be aged between 13-18 during your chosen programme.

10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship. Take a look at previous essay competition winners.

Runners Up will be awarded partial scholarships of up to 50% to study their chosen subject with Immerse. The number of runners-up will be determined by the number of entries received and the quality of the work submitted. The next category of entrants who are not runner-ups receive partial scholarships worth up to 20%.

Our Guest Judges

Éabha Lynn is this year's Editorial Scholar at The BMJ, looking after all the content BMJ Student produces. She runs a blog and podcast at BMJ student, and has extensive writing, editorial and curative experience in the world of medicine.

Arnold Longboy

Arnold Longboy has worked amongst the top business schools in the world, and is currently the Executive Director of the Recruitment & Admissions Team at London Business School.

Susmita Bhattacharya

Susmita won the Winchester Writer’s Festival Memoir Prize in 2016 and her novel, The Normal State of Mind was longlisted for the Words to Screen Prize at the Mumbai Association of Moving Images (MAMI) festival in India.

Amelia Suda-Gosch

Female Future Leaders Judge, Co-CEO of Female Founders

Tom Ireland

Tom Ireland is an editor at The Biologist, an award-winning magazine of the Royal Society of Biology. He is a regular contributor to the monthly magazine BBC Science Focus and has also written for The Guardian, New Scientist, and BBC News.

Programmes Our Scholarship Can be Redeemed Against

Reviews and winners, what do our alumni say.

I loved the little conversations we had when a question about the topic turned into explanations of the ethical, personal and economic issues that surround medicine. Overall, I found my lessons very beneficial. I know so much more about medicine and its different subsets, but also about what a career in medicine really looks like.

Immerse alumni, and scholarship winner

I could see that the essay competition was an incredible opportunity for international students to win a scholarship purely based on merit. More importantly, after doing some more research, I realised that the process for choosing winners was incredibly fair, that everyone would get an equal chance regardless of their socio-economic background, race, nationality, gender, etc.

100% Scholarship Winner

I enrolled because I wanted to expand my knowledge of physics and meet other people with the same interests as myself. Both of which I was successful in doing! My favourite aspect of the programme was the small class sizes – this helped both the tutor and students with learning and understanding the subject.

Immerse was very fun as well as useful. You were able to experience what it would be like if you studied here for university. The most beneficial part of the course was being able to see what International Relations is like, and it helped me decide what I want to study in the future.

My school invited everyone to participate, and the further I read about Immerse Education, the more motivated I was to enter the competition. Not only did I have the chance to study a subject I love, I would also be able to expand on my essay skills since writing has always been a passion of mine.

I really wanted to go to medicine summer school this year, and so I literally was searching for summer school opportunities and Immerse is one that came up. Through this, I found out about the essay competition and I decided to submit an answer. Immerse was very helpful whilst I was writing my essay, especially with things like the referencing guide.

I’m 16, so I’ve never written an academic essay before, so it was really important that I actually knew what I was doing in the first place and it definitely helped me with that. The programme so far has been very enriching. It’s helped me understand more about medicine and made me realise that this is what I want to do in life. Meeting new friends, tutors, and the mentors, they’re all amazing. My favourite things on the programme have been the evening activities, like murder mystery night. I am so happy to be able to have seen people that are like minded, and competitive as well. I really think that the tutors and the mentors have all been very supportive of me.

Academic Insights, Medicine

Hear From a Previous Scholarship Winner

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.

To confirm, if participants are successful, they should be aged between 13 and 18 at the start of their programme.

This current round of the essay competition is 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.

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 or 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 all essay entries for the last round of the competition is 4th January 2024. The next deadline will most likely be on 12th September 2024.

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:

• – Essay Specifications
• – Top Tips for Writing an Academic Essay
• – Referencing Guidance
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We Need To Talk About Competition

A scarcity mentality tells me there are only so many pieces of the proverbial pie and that only the worthy get fed

For years I thought myself in competition with another writer—a writer, I should say, whom I’d never met. I first became acquainted with this writer nearly a decade ago when I joined a Facebook group for people applying to MFA programs in creative writing. Ostensibly, the purpose of the group was to exchange information and resources and to support others who were navigating the application process. However, once application deadlines had passed and people began posting news of their acceptances—acceptances that went out long before rejections—the group did more to provoke my anxiety than anything else. Every day in the springtime of that year I visited the group’s page religiously, compulsively, and it wasn’t long before I began to recognize the same name, the writer’s name, as he posted acceptance after acceptance from some of the country’s most prestigious writing programs—programs I had also applied to and would be rejected from in due time.

Eventually my own acceptance letter came, and though I had a relatively idyllic MFA experience, I found myself in the same situation two years later when I applied for post-graduate fellowships. This time I was rejected across the board and experienced a kind of professional déjà vu when one morning I opened an email announcing the winners of one fellowship I had applied to. There, written plainly, was the writer’s name. The following year, I applied to the same handful of fellowships, and the same thing occurred: a series of rejections and one morning an email announcing the writer had been awarded another fellowship. In subsequent years, the trend continued. I continued to write and apply for fellowships and residencies and scholarship programs to summer writers’ conferences, and very often when I received my rejection, I would scroll down and find the writer’s name among the list of awardees.

It wasn’t long before the writer announced he had signed with an agent and sold his first book. When the book was released, it was shortlisted for a national award. By then the idea that I was in competition with the writer seemed a bit preposterous—the trajectory of his career had catapulted so far beyond my own. And yet every time I read his name on some announcement or other, a variation of the same thought occurred to me.

I thought, “That was meant to be mine.”

I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve read in craft books, or heard writers proclaim in lectures or interviews or on social media, that writing is not a competition. It is a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with but one that can be difficult to integrate when, at times, this writing thing feels very much like a competition. When there are only so many slots in MFA or fellowship or residency programs, only so much available page space in publications.

Writing is not a competition.

I’ve written elsewhere about my experiences with professional jealousy and my belief that it is almost always a cover for disappointment. But there’s an important distinction, I think, between professional jealousy and competition. Julia Cameron elucidates this distinction in The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity more clearly than anything else I’ve read on the subject of competition. She writes, “You pick up a magazine—or even your alumni news—and somebody, somebody you know , has gone further, faster, toward your dream. Instead of saying, ‘That proves it can be done,’ your fear will say, ‘He or she will succeed instead of me.’”

The driving narrative of professional jealousy is that if I had what another writer has, I wouldn’t feel the way I feel (i.e., disappointed). But professional jealousy doesn’t require me to believe that another writer’s success precludes my own. Professional jealousy doesn’t—but competition does. The distinction between the two is a belief in scarcity.

Scarcity mentality tells me there are only so many pieces of the proverbial pie and only the worthy get fed. It is a mentality that fuels the construct of competition, and when it comes to the profession of writing, it is likely the unfortunate byproduct of trying to create art in a capitalist society in which value is determined by limited opportunities for success. But knowing this doesn’t make the construct feel any less real—or any less difficult to navigate.

Eventually I was able to deconstruct the belief that I was in competition with the writer, but it took years , and looking back I can see that its deconstruction was largely precipitated by two things.

The first was that I began teaching mindfulness practice for an Internet startup.

The term mindfulness practice has become a kind of catchall phrase for a variety of concepts and modalities. The definition of mindfulness practice I personally subscribe to is simply the practice of cultivating awareness, and I believe this practice can be broken down into two key components: nonjudgmental observation and inquiry.

Nonjudgmental observation, or noticing , as my friend Molly—a licensed therapist, life coach, and mindfulness teacher—likes to call it, is the act of paying attention to my physical, emotional, and mental states in the present moment from a position of neutrality. It involves noticing my physical surroundings through the vehicle of my five senses; noticing any internal sensations present in my body, including how my emotions are registering physiologically; and noticing whatever thoughts are occupying my mind at the time. In other words, nonjudgmental observation is the act of observing what is actually happening.

For me—and for most human beings I know—there is what’s happening, and then there is the story I tell myself about what’s happening . It is the difference between “I did not get the fellowship and that writer did” and “I did not get the fellowship because that writer did.” The distinction here may seem subtle, but those are two profoundly different perspectives, and if nonjudgmental observation asks me to notice what’s happening in the present moment, the second component of mindfulness practice—inquiry—asks me to identify and interrogate the story I’m telling myself about what is happening.

There is what’s happening, and then there is the story I tell myself about what’s happening.

In inquiry, I identify the story and ask myself questions like, “Is the story I’m telling myself about this situation true? Can I be certain that it’s true? What other stories might I tell about this same situation that might also be true?” The benefit of practicing inquiry in tandem with nonjudgmental observation is that together they help me bridge the gap between what is happening and the story I’m telling myself so that I can take whatever actions are most in alignment with my values, rather than acting out from a place of scarcity or fear.

I had been practicing this approach to mindfulness for nearly a decade, but it wasn’t until I started teaching it to other people that I began to understand that the mechanism driving the story of that writer and I as competitors was the mechanism that drives most of the stories we tell ourselves: the ego.

Like mindfulness practice, much has been written about the ego—by far more skilled and articulate mindfulness practitioners than myself—but in short, the ego is the part of the mind that engages in a continuous commentary on the world around us and the events of our lives. Unlike the part of the mind that is capable of neutrally observing, the egoic mind constantly judges and assesses and busies itself by replaying and recasting events of the past or projecting and rehearsing events of the future. Which is exactly what the ego was designed to do.

Neurobiologically, the egoic mind evolved to perform two functions: avoid pain and seek pleasure. However, the ego is relatively uninventive, because it only has one tactic by which it performs these two functions: it identifies a problem and then finds the solution. That’s it. That’s the only trick the ego has up its sleeve. But it performs this trick remarkably well, and it keeps us engaged in a kind of perpetual easter-egg hunt, rooting out problems (or creating problems where there are none) for the sole purpose of finding that problem’s solution—i.e., to avoid pain and increase pleasure. This was really helpful when we were all living in caves, but is perhaps less helpful when applying to creative writing fellowships or submitting short stories to contests.

But here’s the life-changing bit about the ego, and it is hands down the most radical and helpful piece of information I’ve ever conveyed as a mindfulness teacher: The ego has no investment in peace. The ego is not interested in freedom. It is not interested in serenity or sustained relief. What the egoic mind wants more than anything is to stay in control. Which is why, once it has found the perceived solution to the problem it has sought out, the ego quickly goes to work searching for a new problem to solve. It is a cycle that never ends.

Sometime during my third year as a mindfulness teacher, I read Eva Hagberg’s How to Be Loved: A Memoir of Lifesaving Friendship , which contains a fantastic illustration of the relationship between the ego’s disinterest in relief and the construct of competition. In How to Be Loved , Hagberg tells a story about her arrival at UC Berkeley, where she was one of several graduate candidates vying for a limited number of slots in the school’s PhD program in architecture. When someone asks Hagberg if she’s finding her peers in the program helpful, the question surprises her. “I didn’t feel like I’d come to grad school to make friends,” she writes. “My cohorts were my competition.”

For the egoic mind there is never safety in being equal because equality presents no problem to solve.

Hagberg goes on to explain: “Stepping into the architectural history graduate student workroom, I met my cohort, and looked to place myself on the ladder—smarter than the social historian over here; not as smart as the nineteenth-century-focused theorist over there. Right from the start, I was imbalanced, unequal, already separate, looking for people to tell me how great I was…I starved for the idea that I might know where I fit on the ladder, that I could be better. There had always been safety in being better, never safety in being equal.”

Ah, yes, I thought. There is never safety in being equal.

For the egoic mind there is never safety in being equal because equality presents no problem to solve, which is what makes competition an ideal construct for it. Competition keeps us in a constant state of assessing and comparing our worth in relation to others based on our attainment of what we perceive to be a finite resource: opportunity. Specifically, opportunities that are valuable (and therefore validating) precisely because they are finite.

We are either losing, or we are winning.

The former is the problem, the latter the solution.

The validation of our worth once again rests on scarcity.

This is why the ego thrives on competition.

The second thing that helped me deconstruct the story that the writer and I were competitors truly surprised me—mostly, I think, because the story’s deconstruction was facilitated via an unlikely source. Remember that book the writer wrote? The one that was shortlisted for a national award? I read it. And it was a beautiful book—a book I believed was doing important and necessary work.

It was also a book I had absolutely no desire to write.

And with that revelation, any delusion I had about being in competition with the writer lifted—and my god, was I relieved. Here was a book I was so grateful existed in the world, a book I believed was worthy of all the praise and attention it received, and yet given the chance, I would not have written that book. In fact, I don’t believe I could have written that book, if only because I had no interest in writing it. The writer’s style and aesthetic and thematic concerns were so wildly different from mine. How could we possibly be in competition? The notion suddenly struck me as absurd.

The belief that what is meant for me is always meant for me is not asking me to surrender to some cosmic higher power.

The myth of competition is the myth of meritocracy—the belief that recognition validates the best work as the best work—and the profession of writing is not immune to that myth. We’ve all heard the axiom that comparing works of art is like comparing apples to oranges, but it’s really like comparing apples to poodles to waterslides. All three are delightful in their own right but best suited to different purposes. It is tempting to believe that when I submit a short story to a literary contest or an application to a prestigious fellowship, whether or not my work is selected will be determined by its value compared to the rest of the applicant pool. That is, by whose work is the best. But that’s just a story. What an award or fellowship really affirms is how well my work aligns with the tastes and interests of the selection committee. It is not a determination of value, but of values .

The funny thing is, I already knew this—from my work as an editor.

For eight years, I edited fiction and nonfiction for a fairly niche but well-respected literary journal. Every year during our general submissions cycle, I read anywhere between seven hundred and twelve hundred submissions, and of those submissions I selected approximately a dozen for inclusion in our annual print issue. Over the years I rejected a lot of fantastic work, including work I very much wanted to publish. But not once during my tenure as an editor was I ever forced to choose the better of two pieces for publication. Every time I rejected a story or essay, I did so because it didn’t fit within the constellation of a given issue. The decision to accept or reject was never about worth; it was always about fit. And in that way, no two writers were ever truly in competition with each other for the same creative real estate.

When I read the writer’s book, I realized the same was true for him and me.

We were not competitors. We had never been.

Today when I find myself tempted to buy into the construct of writerly competition, there are two reminders I’ve found useful in recalibrating my mindset. Used together, these reminders invite me to return to the two components of mindfulness practice. The first reminder is a mantra my friend Molly offered me some years ago when I was struggling in a romantic partnership. She said, “Whatever comes, let it come. Whatever goes, let it go. What is meant for you is always meant for you .”

What I love about this particular mantra is its practicality. First, it subverts my competitive thinking by asking me to step outside the framework of the scarcity mentality in which artistic achievement is a zero-sum game. But beyond that, by working backward from this mantra, I can use it as a tool for engaging nonjudgmental observation. That process looks something like this: If I am not awarded a creative opportunity, whatever that creative opportunity may be, it isn’t because someone else has won what I’ve lost. It’s because the opportunity was not meant for me.

How do I know it wasn’t meant for me?

Because I didn’t get it.

The belief that what is meant for me is always meant for me is not asking me to surrender to some cosmic higher power that’s busy doling out and withholding treats, but rather to surrender to the higher power I believe we all must ultimately surrender to: reality . It asks me to notice what is actually happening.

The second reminder comes from one of my favorite modalities of secular mindfulness practice, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). In The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living , ACT practitioner Russ Harris advocates for a nuanced approach to inquiry. Instead of asking ourselves if the story we’re telling ourselves is true, Harris suggests we ask ourselves a different question: Is this story helpful? He writes, “You can waste a lot of time trying to decide whether your thoughts are actually true…again and again your mind will try to suck you into that debate. But although at times this is important, most of the time it is irrelevant and wastes a lot of energy. The more useful approach is to ask, ‘Is this thought helpful? Does it help me take action to create the life I want?’”

When I tell myself the story that I am competing with another writer, and I believe that story, I begin to doubt the value of my own work. And it is a short distance from doubting the value of my work to doubting the value of myself . Like Eva Hagberg, I begin jockeying for my place on the ladder of importance. My ego vacillates between asserting my worth (“I’m just as good as he is!”) and questioning it (“I’m just as good as he is, right?”). But ultimately that debate doesn’t serve me or my work, and it certainly doesn’t serve other writers or the literary community at large. Simply put, the construct of competition isn’t a particularly helpful one.

Now, it is important to acknowledge that the application of these tools to deconstruct stories of competition does not take place within a social or cultural vacuum. The writing and publishing industry, like any industry, has always privileged certain stories and certain storytellers to the diminishment of others. There are times when creative opportunities are not “meant for us” because systems of oppression and exclusion like racism, misogyny, heterosexism, queer- and transphobia, and ableism have predetermined that they are not meant for us. That’s not a story—that’s reality.

For me the entire point of incorporating mindfulness practice into my writing life and reframing constructs like competition is that the process encourages me to live in reality so that I can align myself with my values and take constructive action in their direction in order to stay within my integrity. A necessary part of that process—especially for individuals who belong to majority cultures—is acknowledging that systems of inequity are very much at play in the literary community. As writers, editors, publishers, and consumers of literature, we must ask ourselves if we truly value diversity and inclusive engagement. If we do—and I hope we do—it is imperative to consider how we are or are not putting those values into practice, and if we aren’t, we must ask ourselves why not and take action toward a more just version of literary stewardship.

In his essay “ The Autobiography of My Novel ,” Alexander Chee argues that “writing fiction is an exercise in giving a shit—an exercise in finding out what you really care about.” The same could be said about the writing life. When I deconstruct the construct of competition and return my attention to what I truly care about, which is the work , rather than the success and validation of that work, or how that success measures up to the success of my peers, I experience a shift. It is a shift away from the problem-finding-and-solving machinations of the ego and toward the present moment—the only place from which the work can be done.

“What is Meant for You is Always Meant for You: A Mindful Approach to Writerly Competition” was first published by Poets & Writers Magazine (October/September 2023). Reprinted by permission of the publisher, Poets and Writers, Inc., 90 Broad Street, New York, NY 10004. www.pw.org.

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De-Coding Indian Intellectual Property Law

Announcing the 2024 Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on Intellectual Property Law

Celebrating our founder Prof. (Dr.) Shamnad Basheer’s 48th birth anniversary, SpicyIP is thrilled to announce the 2024 edition of the Shamnad Basheer Essay Competition on Intellectual Property Law!

As many would know, his intellectual passion and incessant curiosity continues to inspire and motivate the thousands of lives that he touched. The essay competition continues in this spirit, aiming to foster a culture of relentless inquiry and growth, as well as to celebrate his memory and his legacy of outstanding scholarship. A master with the pen, Prof. Basheer was a prolific writer. Apart from publishing extensively in academic journals (most of the publications can be accessed on his SSRN page ), he was also the rare Indian academic who wrote extensively for law students and the lay audience, through various media such as SpicyIP and mainstream newspapers. A collection of all his publications and public interest interventions can be found on SpicyIP here (also accessible from our Resources page ) as well as on shamnad.com (a website dedicated to him).

In his time, Prof. Basheer won prizes in three prestigious essay competitions. The first was an essay competition held by the Stanford Technology Law Review. He won the second prize in that competition for a great piece on the ‘Policy Style’ Reasoning of the Indian Patent Office . The second essay competition that he won was held by the International Association for the Advancement of Teaching and Research in Intellectual Property (ATRIP) for young academics. Shamnad won the very first edition of that competition for his essay on Section 3(d) of the Patents Act. The third was an essay competition held by CREATe on the topic of how Artificial Intelligence would change the practice of intellectual property law. Prof. Basheer won the second prize in that competition for his essay titled ‘Artificial Invention: Mind the Machine’ .

We are thrilled to announce that we once again have a fantastic panel of judges for the Competition, and incidentally all three of them have not only been huge supporters of the blog for several years now, but we’ve also had the pleasure of them having published on the blog! Please see below for further details! 

Submission Guidelines

The details of the competition are as follows:

Eligibility : The competition will be open to students currently enrolled in any LL.B. program (or its equivalent – meaning students enrolled in J.D. programs can take part) across the world, as well as to those who have completed their first law degree in 2022 or later.

Registration : There is no registration fee or registration process for the competition. You may e-mail us your essay whenever it is ready, within the deadline. 

Co-authorship : Only single author submissions will be accepted for the essay competition. A submission cannot have two or more authors. Submissions with more than one author will not be considered.

AI Tools: Usage of AI tools to contribute to the text of the submitted essay is not permitted and will lead to the entry being disqualified.

Selection of Topic : The topic of the essay can be anything related to intellectual property rights – the more creative the better. We encourage participants to take inspiration from Prof. Basheer’s work , which has challenged the orthodoxy of conventional IP wisdom by looking at the subject through the lens of the global south and its development needs. Two values that guided him through the course of his academic writing, were the need for transparency and democratic participation, during the process of making the law and implementation. His commitment to transparency in enforcement of India’s patent law led him to suing the Patent Office on two occasions in order to secure our right to information. He was also playful in his writing, never afraid to think and communicate unconventionally. He brought rigour and substance to his non-conforming ways and we encourage you to bring the same spirit into your entries.

Word Limit: The word limit for submissions is 5,000 words (inclusive of footnotes).

• Please submit the essays in a MS Word format, with 1.5 line spacing. Please do not submit essays in a PDF format.
• We are not prescribing any specific format for footnoting. As long as it is consistent, it should not be a problem.

Deadline and Other Details :

All submissions must be original and unpublished.

If the entry is published elsewhere prior to the announcement of the results of this essay competition, it will not be considered. 

The deadline for submissions is July 14, 2024 (23:59 IST).  

Please e-mail all submissions and queries to submissions[at]spicyip[dot]com (only).

Please submit a covering letter stating:

• the law school where you are enrolled as a student, along with your essay; or if you are a recent graduate, please mention the law school and year of graduation in the covering letter.
• A disclaimer that you have not used AI tools to write any part of your essay. 

Prizes for Winning Essays

Aside from getting published on the blog, the winning essays will receive the following additional prizes:

First prize : INR 25,000

Second prize: INR 15,000

Third prize: INR 10,000

Panel of Judges

The essays will be judged on the basis of the author’s creativity and analytical strength in articulating the arguments. Judges will also take into account entries that demonstrate the values Prof. Basheer displayed in his life and career. This does not mean you have to necessarily agree with everything he wrote. Judges reserve the right not to award the prize if it is considered that no entry is of sufficiently high standard or to divide the prize between two or more entries if they so decide. Judges’ decisions in this respect will be final. The SpicyIP team will shortlist essays to be submitted to an external panel of experts for the final decision.

This brings us to the fantastic panel of judges who have graciously agreed to judge the entries for this edition of the competition. This year the entries will be judged by a panel comprising Prof. (Dr.) Mrinalini Kochupillai, Mr. Murali Neelakantan, and Justice Gautam S. Patel (Retd.). We are grateful to them for sparing their time. Please see their brief profiles below:

Prof. (Dr.) Mrinalini Kochupillai 

Prof. (Dr.) Mrinalini Kochupillai is the founder of SIRN and is a former guest professor and core scientist at the Artificial Intelligence for Earth Observation (AI4EO) Future Lab, Technical University of Munich. In a career spanning over 17 years in academia, Prof. Kochupillai has donned many hats including that of a senior research fellow with the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition (2014-2018), Program Director (2014-2017) and lecturer at the Munich Intellectual Property Law Center. A graduate from the National Law Institute University, Bhopal, in 2003, Prof. Kochupillai pursued an LL.M. in Intellectual Property, Commerce & Technology from the University of New Hampshire, School of Law in 2006.  She completed her Ph.D. at the Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich as a full scholar and fellow of the International Max Planck Research School for Competition and Innovation (2009-13). Prof. Kochupillai’s areas of interest range from business law, patents, plant variety protection, sustainable innovations in agriculture, and business ethics. Prof. Kochupillai’s team is an ERC Starting Grant Winner (2023) for developing a novel system in the ReSeed Project to create a transparent, decentralized and digital marketplace where farmers can share their seeds and valuable know-how with other farmers and researchers around the world.

Prof. Kochupillai has been associated with the blog since its early days, having been a regular blogger with the team in 2007-08 (see here ), and relatively more recently, she and her team partnered with the blog to power an open, public consultation on a position paper on Sustainable Seeds Innovations .

Mr Murali Neelakantan 

Murali Neelakantan is the Principal Lawyer at amicus. He is a dual qualified lawyer (English solicitor and Indian advocate). His current area of research is healthcare policy. He worked with Cipla as global general counsel and with Khaitan & Co as senior partner. In London, he was a partner with Arnold & Porter, and later with Ashurst. Mr Neelakantan has been on the board of directors of Glenmark Pharmaceuticals and TTK Prestige Ltd. As an expert on competition and IP, Mr Neelakantan has authored several incisive op-eds, focusing on the healthcare system, including for BloombergQuint, NDTV Profit, The Hindu, The Wire, Indian Express, Moneycontrol, Scroll, etc.

A 1996 graduate of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, Mr Neelakantan is also a co-editor for the book, “An Idea of a Law School- Ideas from The Law School”. His academic research has been published in the NLSIR, NLSBLR, Indian Public Policy Review and The Lancet Regional Health – South East Asia. He has been featured as an expert by numerous Indian and international media including Financial Times, British Medical Journal, as well as on numerous podcasts like the Firm, Shortcast over Coffee, and the Seen and the Unseen.

A long-time friend of Prof Basheer, IDIA and SpicyIP, Mr Neelakantan has regularly provided extremely useful advice and insights for us in many of our previous research endeavours, and has also co-authored a post on the issue of trademark protection on colours of medicines and medical devices. 

Justice Gautam S. Patel 

Justice G. S. Patel (Retd.) is known for being one of the finest IP judges the country has seen, with his orders and judgements being filled not only with judicial rigour, but also with scholarly, witty, and often humorous observations, captivating the minds of lawyers and laypeople alike. Some of the orders showcasing Justice Patel’s signature style include Go Holdings Pvt. Ltd. v. Interglobe Aviation Ltd. , Jagdish Kamath v. Lime and Chilli Hospitality Services , and Balaji Motion Pictures v. BSNL (see here for a list of 10 eloquent decisions by Justice Patel that depicted his creative and hard hitting writing style). 

A graduate of St. Xavier’s College and Government Law College, Justice Patel started practice in 1987 in Mumbai, focusing on commercial, corporate, and civil litigation while also partaking in various environmental and pro bono litigations like those relating to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park and Melghat National Park. He was a recipient of the First International Fellowship at Pacific Energy & Resources Center, Sausalito, California in environmental law in 1994-1995. Justice Patel was also a part time lecturer at the Government Law, Mumbai, prior to his elevation as a judge of the Bombay High Court in 2013, and taught administrative law, constitutional law, and environmental law. Justice Patel’s penmanship and witty observations extend even beyond his decisions and he has earlier contributed to Economic & Political Weekly, TimeOut Mumbai, the Mumbai Reader, etc. 

Long time readers of the blog will also remember that Justice Patel authored an incisive and thought provoking post on SpicyIP, that incited a discussion on whether the nature of the content of a work has an impact on its protection under copyright. Justice Patel was rated as one of the top 50 IP personalities by Managing IP, in 2014-2015. A testament to his contributions to the Bench, Justice Patel is the first judge to receive a full court reference on his retirement from the Bombay High Court.

Once again, we thank the judges for their time. And we eagerly look forward to your submissions!

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