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OxBright Essay Competition 2024

Test your academic skills with the OxBright Essay Competition. Designed for bright 15-18 year olds, the competition will challenge you to go beyond the school curriculum and think about the future of your subject.

Think big, stretch yourself – and stand out from the crowd when the time comes to apply to university.

Applications for the Spring 2024 Essay Competition are now closed. Check back soon to see details of future competitions.

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Watch our Explainer Video

How Our Essay Competition Works

Submit your entry.

Research and write your essay and then submit it, along with your references, via our short form below.

Entries close at 9pm UK time on 15th April 2024 !

Awards Ceremony

All shortlisted entrants and their parents and teachers will be invited to attend our Awards Ceremony in May 2024, where the winners will be announced.

Over £100,000 Worth of Academic Prizes

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Free Conference place

The first thousand students who are successfully shortlisted will be awarded a free place at one of our OxBright Conferences (worth £95) in the autumn. Alternatively, you can put this credit towards an Online Course or Online Internship .

All shortlisted entrants and their parents and teachers will be invited to attend our online Awards Ceremony in May 2024, where the winners will be announced.

Person in Oxford Scholastica Academy tshirt posing in a library

Matilda Winner, History, 2023

I’m both thrilled and flabbergasted at the outcome of the competition.

Winning this competition undoubtedly made me feel much more confident in researching and writing in my field from now on, opening a lot of new doors for me!

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Regina Winner, Psychology, 2023

I’m very happy and grateful to win such a meaningful competition. I truly learned a lot.

My advice to anyone considering entering is to try to think deeper and further about your chosen topic.

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Alex Winner, Philosophy, 2023

Frequently Asked Questions

Entering the essay competition, how will entering the oxbright essay competition help me in the future, why do you run an essay competition.

OxBright is about giving students the edge to help them to succeed, find their purpose and make a difference in the world.

We think it’s the greatest time to be alive, but we’re aware that young people face challenges their predecessors didn’t. We’re passionate about encouraging students to be optimistic about the future by being active thinkers interested in collaborating to create a better future for the long-term. You can read more about this in our Worldview .

Our essay competition combines these two elements – encouraging students to think actively about the future, and giving them tools to help them to succeed.

Who can enter?

Anyone can enter – the only eligibility criteria is that you must be aged between 15-18. You don’t need to have previously joined an OxBright programme in order to take part.

Kindly be aware that to be eligible to take up any of the free places offered as prizes, such as our online courses/internships, winning students must be between the ages of 15 and 18 at the commencement of the programme.

Can I write more than one essay?

Sorry, we only accept one essay per student in each Essay Competition. This is due to the volume of essays we receive.

Can I enter jointly with a friend?

No, we can only accept entries from individuals, and it’s important to make sure that your work is entirely your own.

Is there a fee to enter the OxBright Essay Competition?

No, the essay competition is completely free to enter.

When is the entry deadline?

The deadline has been extended, and is now the 15th April 2024, at 9pm.

Are you connected to any university?

No, OxBright is an independent education organisation which is not connected to any university.

Where can I see the results of the Essay Competition 2023?

You can see the results of our previous Essay Competition, including the winning essay in full, here .

Writing Your Essay

What are the subject categories i can enter for, how long should my essay be.

There are three parts to the essay:

  • Essay title: the title of your essay can be up to 100 characters long, including spaces
  • Essay: your essay can have up to 3,800 characters , including spaces (this is about 500 words). This includes everything you write, like the main text and in-text citations. In-text citations are little notes you put in your essay to show where your information came from. For example, if you quote something from a book by John Smith, you would add (Smith, 2010, p. 50) right after the quote. These citations are part of your word count, so make sure to include them
  • References: as for references, there’s no word limit – you can include as many as you need! These are important for showing where your information came from. Please use the Harvard Referencing Style for your references (you can find how to do this in the guidelines provided here ). This won’t count towards your essay character limit, so please list all the sources you used

What are the evaluation criteria?

We’ll be assessing essays on the following criteria:

  • Fluency of written English
  • Relevance to the question
  • Creativity and originality of ideas
  • Use of evidence or examples
  • Relevance to the OxBright Worldview

Should I use references?

Please make sure to include references to your sources, using the Harvard Referencing Style (guidelines here ).

What makes a good essay?

Make sure to read our criteria carefully (you can find it in the FAQ above).

We want essays that are thoroughly researched, packed with examples and solid evidence. What really catches our attention are essays with unique analysis. So, we’re not just interested in essays that simply describe things – we want your thoughts, analysis, and fresh ideas.

Don’t forget, it’s crucial to use and mention trustworthy sources for the evidence you provide.

Do you accept personal or descriptive essays?

We’re looking for clear, concise and compelling answers to the question above, written and formatted in an academic style. Please don’t submit personal essays or creative writing samples.

What Happens Next?

When will i hear the results.

We’ll be in touch within two weeks of your entry to let you know whether or not you’ve been shortlisted (all entrants who meet our core standards of relevance and coherence will be shortlisted).

All shortlisted entrants and their parents and teachers will be invited to our Awards Ceremony in May 2024, when the winners in each subject category will be announced.

How are essays assessed?

You can read about the criteria we use to assess your essay in the FAQ above (“What are the evaluation criteria?”).

Essays are assessed using our proprietary system which combines a mixture of technology and personal assessment. Essays which are deemed to be plagiarised or be written by AI will be rejected and our decision on this is final.

There are two stages to our assessment process:

Shorlisting Our first stage assessment reviews whether the essay is relevant and coherent. If so, your essay will be shortlisted, you will be offered a free place at an OxBright Conference and you will be invited to the Awards Ceremony.

Awards Shortlised essays are then given further assessment by our panel. This includes a review of the References. In the application form, we ask for a the name of a teacher who is familiar with your academic work. If your essay is nominated for an Award, we will ask this teacher to confirm that the essay was genuinely written by you.

What are the prizes?

Please click here for more information about the prizes and awards.

Why is the overall prize a place at Oxford Scholastica in 2025, not 2024?

Will i receive feedback.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of entries received, we are unable to provide feedback on essays.

Does everyone who enters get a free place at a Conference?

The first thousand students to who make a valid submission and are shortlisted will be invited to attend an OxBright Conference of their choice, free of charge (worth £95). Conference subjects include Business, Medicine, Law and Psychology. It is optional to attend a Conference.

Alternatively, you’ll be able to choose to apply the £95 credit toward another programme with us.

Does everyone receive a certificate?

Only students who win one of the awards receive a certificate. Certificates are issued in online format.

Do you publish the names of the award winners?

Yes, award winners will be published on our website after the Awards Ceremony.

How can I pass on some feedback about the essay competition?

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, registrations for the 2024 global essay prize are now closed. we are pleased to report that this year we have accepted registrations from  34,823 contestants. if you registered on or before the registration deadline (31 may) we look forward to receiving your essay (submit  here)   by the submission deadline of  sunday, 30 june ..

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?

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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?

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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?

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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?

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JUNIOR prize

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

Q2. Has the anti-racism movement reduced racism?

Q3. Is there life after death?

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

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

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

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS & FURTHER DETAILS

Please read the following carefully.

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

Registration  

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

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

Entry is free.

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

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

Alexander-Popham-Psychology-2.pdf

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

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

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

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

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

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

Late entries

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

R egistration opens: 1 April, 2024.

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

Submission deadline: 30 June, 2024.

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

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

Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024.

Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024.

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

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

Thanks for subscribing!

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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.

$25,000 for the best essays on global problems.

Pivotal is an essay competition for high school students with world-class judges and no entry fee.

Get notified for future events and opportunities.

Essay questions that get you closer to changing the world..

Our questions are inspired by research conducted at Oxford University's Global Priorities Institute . We are excited to be partnering with them to judge your essays.

Artificial Intelligence

We will award prizes worth a total of $25,000 for the top three entrants, along with access to the Pivotal Library for the top 50 finalists.

$15,000 — 1st place $7,000 — 2nd place $3,000 — 3rd place

$25,000 in prizes for the best essays.

of the participants will be invited to the Pivotal Circle.

Join the Pivotal Circle, a community of exceptional students.

Up to 10 books

for each finalist (top 50).

You will be able to choose 10 physical books that we'll ship to you for free from the Pivotal Library, a curated collection of books.

William MacAskill

Pivotal is a prime opportunity for students to showcase their critical and creative thinking. I expect that it will help set up students on a trajectory to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems.

We will notify you when we launch new events and opportunities.

Read our privacy policy .

Enter the Pivotal Essay Contest.

New life for Ruined and Worn out Textiles for Tesco and   The Salvation Army - regional donations trial

Hedges announces winners of its 2023 local schools’ essay competition

Olivia Churchill

Left to right - Her Honour Judge Joanna Vincent, Megan Cameron-Webb, Polina Kim, Michelle Rodrigues and Nicola Poole

Hedges, one of Oxfordshire’s longest-serving law firms, has announced the three winners of its 2023 annual schools’ essay competition. The prize-giving took place at a special closed-doors event held at St Anne’s College, University of Oxford , last week.

Now in its 9th year, this year’s competition was the first time Hedges has been able to hold the competition since the start of the pandemic.

The employee-owned law firm invited female students, in years 11 and 12, from around 80 schools across Oxfordshire to take part, with the three eventual winners being selected to win a week-long internship at the law firm over the summer.

The three winners included Megan Cameron-Webb, a student at Henley College, Polina Kim, who studies at Oxford International College (OIC) and Michelle Rodrigues, from Bartholomew School.

Her Honour Judge Joanna Vincent was the guest speaker of the evening and shared her own career experiences, including her journey to being appointed a Circuit Judge.

Nicola Poole, the firm’s Managing Director, was on hand to present the winners with their certificates and share her own professional journey that led her to heading Hedges Law.

Nicola Poole, commenting on this year’s competition, said: “Our schools’ essay competition has been hugely popular over the years, and the team and I have been overwhelmed by the level and quality of the entries we have received.”

She added: “The competition presents a great opportunity for students with an interest in law to experience a week working in a firm, to learn some of the ropes and the different roles, and to speak to those already paving a career in law, people that may have been in similar positions as themselves.

“A huge well done must go to Megan, Polina and Michelle and to all of those who took part. We’re looking forward to welcoming the winners to the firm over the summer and to launching our next competition this autumn.”

Unlike previous years, this year’s competition was open to female students only. The firm’s Managing Director, Nicola, is an ambassador for the Women Supporting Women initiative, which aims to support and inspire young women with their career ambitions. She has committed to raising £15,000 for the charity over the next few years.

Hedges has been offering clients ‘Advice for Life’ for over two centuries, supporting clients across all aspects of their lives, including family and property law advice and dispute resolution, as well as advising on wills, probate and inheritance planning.

The Employee Ownership Trust-led law firm has offices in Summertown in Oxford and Wallingford, with other locations in the Cotswolds and London.

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Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition - 2023 Winners Announced

11 Aug 2023

Launched in February 2020, the Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition is a joint venture between Tom Rocks Maths and St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford, which asks high-school students to explain their favourite mathematical topic in an essay aimed at a non-specialist audience. The hope is to give them experience in communicating complex ideas in an understandable manner and also to encourage them to engage with maths beyond the classroom.

The 2023 winners have been announced!

The Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition continues to go from strength to strength with a record 231 entries this year. The consistently high quality of writing continues to leave me astounded and delighted in equal measure. As usual, it was incredibly difficult to select a winners shortlist, with many excellent entries only missing the cut simply to prevent the shortlist from becoming too long! Thank you to everyone that took the time to submit an entry – I found I learned something new from pretty much every essay and had a delightful time doing so. I look forward to an even bigger and better competition in 2024! – Tom Crawford

Student Winner

Jed Skilling: Undeserved Mystery of Complex Numbers

“Jed’s essay is an excellent example of how to introduce an advanced topic to a non-specialist audience whilst also showcasing a novel way to think about complex numbers. I found it very easy to follow, highly intuitive, and thoroughly enjoyable – well done!” — Tom Crawford

Read Jed’s winning essay

Overall Winner

Georgia Skiada: Knowing when to quit

“Georgia’s essay is a perfect blend of entertainment, information and engagement. The variety of mathematical topics covered is highly impressive, made all the even more so by how well they are knitted together into a coherent narrative. I learned a lot and had a great time doing so – well done Georgia!” — Tom Crawford

Read Georgia’s winning essay

Honourable Mentions

Hanan Ali: The Search for the USS Scorpion: A Modern Application of Bayesian Statistics

An interesting story and a great example of how maths can be used to solve real world problems.

Kate Robinson: Why 163 is a really cool number (but -262537412680768000 is even cooler)

Uses our love of big numbers to introduce a range of niche mathematical topics.

Evghenii Beriozchin: Laura’s search beyond the land of plurality

A highly entertaining way of presenting an important – but often monotonous – topic.

Hamish Lawson: How your brain perceives numbers

A fascinating read from start to finish – I loved it!

Mai Noubir: The Isoperimetric Problem: From Bull-hide to Bees

A new way of looking at a classical problem, with some real maths to boot!

Gina Pohlenz: Friends on a Grid

An interesting puzzle explained with some neat maths.

Sunny Kahn: Egyptian Fractions

A lovely insight into a part of mathematical history of which I was previously unaware.

Alejandro Schultheiss: About the beautiful mathematics behind stacked chips

A lot of fun to read and a highly intuitive way to introduce coordinate systems.

Yiche Huang: A more real world than the real world

A great insight into both human vision and image compression on computers.

Xiaole Zou: Fascinating Probabilities – Bertrand’s Paradox

Clearly explains one of the most confusing paradoxes in mathematics, which requires great skill.

Zack Ross: What is a Kilogram?

I really enjoyed the informal/chatty nature of the writing – and learned a fair few things about units.

Pierce Zhong: The Point of Pythagoras And The Purpose of Pi

A nice way to link two seemingly unconnected mathematical cornerstones – and a great deal of fun too!

Laksh Sharma: Interesting information about Information Theory

Educational, entertaining and informative. An excellent read.

Jingxi Yao: The Moving Sofa Problem: A Mathematical Puzzle

An excellent discussion of a problem we’ve no doubt all experienced!

Ana Emilia de Orellana: Kakeya’s Needle Problem

A problem I’d previously never heard of which was not only explained clearly and succinctly, but with enough intrigue to leave me wanting more!

Emma Cliffe: Overcoming chaos in our weather forecast

A great way to introduce the topic of chaos theory with real-world examples and explanations of what can often appear as a highly abstract topic.

Ewan Hallatt: A Mathematical Stab in the Dark – the Art of Analytic Continuation

A very clear explanation of an incredibly complex topic. I also have a soft spot for the Gamma Function, which is an excellent choice of example.

Read all the submitted essays

Many thanks to everyone who took part and remember – the competition will be running again in early 2024!

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The Bernard Williams Essay Prize

The Bernard Williams Essay Prize in 2023 attracted a substantial number of entries responding to the question, ' What decisions should computers not make? ' After careful consideration, three finalists - Lina Alrawashdeh (PPE, Jesus College), Wyatt Radzin (PPE, Brasenose College) and Chase Mizzell (PPE, Harris Manchester College) - were invited to Oxford to present and defend their essays on Wednesday, 29th November 2023. The presentations were then evaluated by judges: Professor John Tasioulas, Professor Peter Millican, and Dr. Charlotte Unruh.

The £500 prize was awarded to Lina Alrawashdeh, with Wyatt Radzin and Chase Mizzell as proximi accesserunt receiving £250. Patricia Williams also gave the winner the personal gift of a copy of Bernard Williams' Essays and Reviews: 1959-2002.

On the day of the seminar, the Director tweeted: "Three wonderful young people who did Oxford proud today. Our profound thanks to Patricia Williams, who honored us by presenting these brilliant students with their prizes. Many thanks to all who attended in person and online."

Read the news article from  here .

Next opportunity to enter will be in Summer 2024

Competition Winners

Below is the winner of the Bernard Williams Essay Prize. Click on the image to read their essay.

Profile image of Lina Alrawashdeh - the winner in 2023

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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

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Competition Open

full scholarships Awarded each year

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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

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

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.

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

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.

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

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.

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Amelia Suda-Gosch

Female Future Leaders Judge, Co-CEO of Female Founders

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

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.

Chidera O. profile

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

Noor M. 100% 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

Atlas D. in a boat taking a selfie

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.

Adriadna M holding flowers in front of a house

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.

Kornelia K. profile

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.

a girl student smiling at camera

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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Winners Of Heirs Insurance Essay Championship To Win N8m Scholarship

Eagles

The three top winners of the 2024 Heirs Insurance Essay Championship will win N8 million scholarship.

While the winning student will receive a N5million scholarship, and their school will receive an additional N1 million grant, as a reward for academic excellence and community support, the first and second runners-up will also receive a N2 million and N1 million scholarship respectively, in addition to being invited for an all-expense paid trip to the iconic Transcorp Hilton, where the final presentation will take place.

Hence, Heirs Insurance Group is inviting Junior Secondary School Students to apply for the third edition of its prestigious Heirs Insurance Essay Championship (formerly called Heirs Life Essay Championship), as the Championship promises exceptional prizes and scholarships for the finalists.

The nationwide competition, according to the firm, is aimed at fostering creativity, critical thinking, and writing skills among young Nigerian students, promises to be the most exciting and rewarding yet.

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According to the insurer, “All secondary school students across the country in JSS1 – JSS3 are invited to write a 500-word essay titled “If I Could Invent Something New” and submit the essays on www.heirsinsurancegroup.com/essay. The submission period is from May 27 to July 7, 2024. Entries will be judged based on originality, depth of analysis, clarity of expression, and adherence to competition guidelines. Schools and parents are invited to encourage their students and children respectively, to apply.”

Commenting on the commencement of the 3rd edition of the Essay Championship, the chief Marketing officer, Heirs Insurance Group, Ifesinachi Okpagu, said: “We are excited to review all the brilliant ideas and inspiring stories that will emerge from this year’s competition. The last two editions were a resounding success, with last year’s winner, Kentimfon Ndanyongmong from Akwa Ibom State earning recognition from his state governor. We look forward to celebrating the outstanding achievements of our young children and contributing to their academic growth.”

All essays, she said, will be graded by distinguished judges, comprising educators, industry experts, and literary figures while the judging process will be thorough and transparent, ensuring that only the most deserving essays are selected, even as the winners will be announced on the Heirs Insurance website and social media platforms in August 2024.

Heirs Insurance Group is the insurance arm of Heirs Holdings, a pan-African investment company, with investments across 24 countries and four continents, founded and led by Tony Elumelu.

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Home → Study Here → Outreach → Essay Competitions

St Hugh’s essay competitions are open to Sixth Formers from the UK and across the world. These are a fantastic opportunity to explore a topic of interest in a particular subject in more depth, whether something you have studied at school has inspired you, or whether you are keen to broaden your horizons in a new academic discipline.

All four competitions are now open: the deadline for submissions is 5pm (GMT) on Friday 26th July 2024.

To find out more about these competitions please click on the links below:

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Announcing TGC’s 2024 Essay Contest for Young Adults

Writers aged 16–22 can get published and win $500.

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

More By Staff

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

The Gospel Coalition announces its 2024 essay contest, inviting young adults (ages 16–22) to explore and write about God’s faithfulness, their relationship with technology, and their heart for full-time ministry in our secular age.

Winning authors will receive a prize, and their essays will be published on TGC’s website. In addition, every writer who submits an essay will receive a coupon code for $50 off the Gen-Z registration for our TGC25 conference .

Essay Requirements

Each 800–1,000 word essay must be original, previously unpublished, and must respond to one of the following three prompts. With each of these prompts, contestants should draw from their own experiences and convictions, and use Scripture to support their conclusions. (Want examples? Read the winning essays from 2022 and 2023 .) Contestants must give permission to TGC to publish their work, and each essay will be judged by TGC’s editorial team.

Submissions will be accepted from June 1 to July 1 and winners will be announced on September 2, 2024.

1. When did the Lord love you by not giving you what you wanted?

Many of us have unfulfilled desires. When was a time you saw the Lord’s love and kindness when he withheld something from you? What was it that you wanted and how did you see the Lord’s faithfulness through not giving it to you? Tell us what you learned from your experience, especially considering that our culture tells us we deserve to have all our desires fulfilled.

2. How has the gospel changed your relationship with your phone?

Today, phones are considered a necessity rather than a luxury. How does the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ change how you view your phone and how you use it? How has your phone been a hindrance and how has it been an asset to your relationship with the Lord? Tell us what you’ve learned in navigating how to use your phone for the glory of God.

3. Why are you considering full-time ministry?

There’s a greater need than ever for young people to pursue full-time ministry. Why are you considering making ministry your vocation? Tell us your heart behind it, why you think it’s important, and what influences in your life have led you to move forward in this direction.

The contest winner will receive $500; second place will receive a $100 gift card to the TGC bookstore; third place will receive an assortment of books. The winning essays will be published on TGC’s website, as will any other essays the judges select.

Read the full contest rules and upload your essay. Questions? Contact [email protected] .

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The Contemporary Women's Writing Essay Prize

The journal of Contemporary Women’s Writing (Oxford University Press) is delighted to announce the launch of the 2024 Essay Prize.  The Contemporary Women’s Writing Essay Prize aims to encourage new scholarship in the field of contemporary women’s writing, recognise and reward outstanding achievement by new researchers and support the professional development of next generation scholars.   Contemporary Women’s Writing critically assesses writing by women authors who have published approximately from 1970 to the present, especially in essays that reach beyond a reading of a single text in order to challenge existing thinking or extend debates about an author, genre, topic, or theoretical perspective and relate literary analysis to wider cultural and intellectual contexts.   The winner of the 2023 CWW Essay Prize was Kimberley Mather for “The Destruction of Cherished Ideals: Examining the Idealisation of the Butch as Queer Object through Kadji Amin’s Disturbing Attachments and S Bear Bergman’s Butch is a Noun”

The winning entry will be:

  • Submitted for publication in Contemporary Women’s Writing
  • Awarded one year’s free membership of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Association, including one year’s free subscription to Contemporary Women’s Writing
  • Awarded a choice of Oxford University Press books to the value of £100

Other entries of sufficient quality may also be considered for publication.

Entry Requirements

The Contemporary Women’s Writing Essay Prize is open to anyone currently registered for PhD study or within three years of completion.  Entrants may be asked to provide formal confirmation of their status.

Essays must be 7,000-9,000 words in length.  The deadline for submission is 1st March 2024 .  The entry must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.  Submissions must comply with the journal’s Instructions to Authors .  Entrants must submit essays by the standard Online Submission procedures .  Please ensure that you select ‘Essay Prize’ in the ‘Submission Type’ box.

Essays should meet the general aims and scope of the journal . Please note that essays submitted for publication will be subject to the standard Peer Review process.  Entries will be judged by members of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Editorial Board and a member of the Contemporary Women’s Writing Association Executive Committee. 

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Best 2024 Competitions for Students in Grades K-12

Competitions in STEM, ELA and the arts, and more!

Best Student Contests and Competitions for 2023

We tell students that learning is its own reward, and that’s certainly true. But it’s also nice to win money and other prizes! Knowing they could gain recognition or even a prize for winning can be incredibly motivating. This roundup includes the best contests and competitions for high school students, as well as middle school and elementary too.

Contests and Competitions for High School Students

Contests and competitions for middle school students, contests and competitions for elementary school students, contests and competitions for students of all ages, adcap challenge.

Come up with a big idea to help create meaningful change and healthier school communities. Then use the AdCap project designer to submit your idea, and compete for funding to bring your project to life.

AFSA National High School Essay Contest

If you’re looking to help students take a deep dive into international relations, history, and writing, look no further than this essay contest. Winners receive full tuition to the Semester at Sea program as well as a trip to Washington, D.C., to meet with a leader at the Department of State.

All American High School Film Festival

Student films have the opportunity to become an Official Selection, screened at the AMC Empire 25 Theaters in Times Square, the busiest movie theater in America! Each October, thousands of student filmmakers gather in New York City for an action-packed weekend of resources and entertainment, including the Teen Indie Awards Show, where over $500,000 in prizes and scholarships are handed out.

ArtEffect Project

The ArtEffect Project teaches middle and high school students about their power to effect positive change through creative storytelling that celebrates unsung heroes from history. Students submit high-quality creative art projects in the visual arts, narrative film, theater, and creative nonfiction genres. Winners can receive thousands of dollars in prizes.

Biomimicry Youth Design Challenge

The Youth Design Challenge (YDC) is a free hands-on project-based learning experience that provides classroom and informal educators with a new framework to introduce biomimicry and an interdisciplinary lens on science and environmental literacy. It’s open to middle school and high school students.

Breakthrough Junior Challenge

Students submit a big scientific idea in fundamental physics, life sciences, or mathematics in video form. Winners receive college scholarships, plus money for their teacher and school.

BUILD’s Design Challenge

Students in grades 7–12 use design thinking to create solutions to real-world challenges. In this 10-hour experience, students develop entrepreneurial skills and empathy while learning about prototyping and testing.

Congressional Art Competition

Each spring, the Congressional Institute sponsors a nationwide high school visual art competition. Winners are recognized both in their district and at an annual awards ceremony in Washington, D.C. The winning works are displayed for one year at the U.S. Capitol.

Conrad Challenge

Design an innovation, solve an important problem, and establish yourself as an entrepreneur. You might just change the world in the process! Students work in teams of two to five to compete for prizes such as scholarships, pro-bono legal and consulting services, and a Dell Chromebook.

C-SPAN’s StudentCam Competition

This national contest invites all middle and high school students to create a five-to-seven-minute documentary based on an annual theme.

DECA Competitive Events

DECA prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. DECA’s competitive events can be grouped into three broad categories: role-plays and case studies, prepared events, and online simulations. Events take place around the country and throughout the year.

International Compost Awareness Week Poster Contest

Students create a poster for International Compost Awareness Week, which takes place in May. The winner gets $500 and the chance to see their poster produced professionally.

Jane Austen Essay Contest

High school students can win up to $1,000 in scholarship money by writing an essay on a new Austen theme each year, sponsored by the Jane Austen Society of North America.

NAQT Quiz Bowl

Quiz Bowl is a fast-paced buzzer competition in which teams of four players compete to answer questions that cover academic subjects like literature and science as well as the broader world of popular culture and current events. Local middle school and high school tournaments send their winners on to regional and national championships.

National Academic League

As middle and high school student teams compete to answer questions aligned to national standards, they must also cooperate and use teamwork to tackle each quarter’s new challenge. Each school can field a team of 15 to 40, giving lots of kids a chance to participate.

National History Day (NHD)

National History Day (NHD) is an annual event for teachers and students in grades 6–12 that promotes critical thinking skills through project-based learning. Students begin their journey by presenting their projects in classrooms, schools, and districts around the world. Top entries are invited to the state/affiliate-level contests. The top two entries in every category at the state/affiliate level are then invited to the National Contest.

National Young Composers Challenge

The challenge is simple: First, students write their own composition for a small ensemble (two to six instruments) or full orchestra. Then, a panel of judges chooses the top three orchestral and top three ensemble compositions to be performed and recorded by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra at the NYCC Composium held in Orlando, Florida.

New York Times Student Writing Contests

Each month, the New York Times announces a new writing contest for middle and high school students ages 13 to 19. The topics and requirements are different each month, with something to appeal to all sorts of young authors and journalists.

PicoCTF Cybersecurity Competition

PicoCTF is a computer security game for middle and high school students. The game consists of a series of challenges centered around a unique storyline where participants must reverse-engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do whatever it takes to solve the challenge. The challenges are all set up with the intent of being hacked, making it an excellent, legal way to get hands-on experience.

Princeton 10-Minute Play Contest

Looking for student writing contests for budding playwrights? In this competition, judged by the theater faculty of Princeton University, students submit short plays in an effort to win recognition and cash prizes of up to $500. (Note: Only open to 11th graders.)

Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

The nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition program for creative teens (ages 13+, grades 7–12) awards scholarships and gives kids a chance to showcase their skills for some of the foremost leaders in the arts.

Slingshot Challenge

Produce a 1-minute video with a solution to a current environmental problem (think: uniting creative waste reducers on social media or rehabilitating forests affected by fire) for the chance to receive up to $10,000 in funding.

Solve for Tomorrow

The Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition invites middle and high school teachers to lead a group of students in creating a STEM-centered solution that addresses a need in their communities. Teachers and students compete to win a share of $2 million for their schools. The National Winner prize is $100,000 in technology and classroom materials.

Space Settlement Design Competitions

These events emulate, as closely as possible for high school students, the experiences of working as members of aerospace design and proposal teams. Students learn cooperation, management, and communication skills. Finalists win the chance to travel to Kennedy Space Center!

Stossel in the Classroom

Stossel in the Classroom wants to know what high school and middle school students think about entrepreneurship and innovation. With $20,000 in cash prizes up for grabs, kids can enter the essay contest or the video contest . There are bonus prizes for teachers too!

United States Academic Decathlon

The United States Academic Decathlon is a 10-event scholastic competition for teams of high school students. Each high school enters a team of nine students: three honors students (3.80–4.00 GPA), three scholastic students (3.20–3.799 GPA), and three varsity students (0.00–3.199 GPA). They’ll need a wide variety of academic knowledge and skills to come out on top!

U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad

This tiered competition for high school students consists of a series of chemistry exams. Local winners move on to the national exam, whose winners participate in a study camp and international exam contest over the summer.

World of 8 Billion Video Contest

Middle and high school students create a short video—up to 60 seconds long—about human population growth that highlights one of the following global challenges: climate change, gender equality, or waste. Kids can win up to $1,200!

Future City

Future City is a project-based learning program in which students in 6th, 7th, and 8th grades imagine, research, design, and build cities of the future.

The Hardest Math Problem

This contest challenges students in grades 6–8 to practice critical thinking supported by accurate computation. Both kids and their teachers are eligible for prizes.

New Moon Girls

New Moon Girls publishes contributions from girls ages 8–14. The magazine publishes four times each year, and submissions are more likely to be published if they fit an upcoming editorial theme.

Ocean Awareness Contest

Students ages 11 to 18 can learn about environmental issues through art-making and creative communication, explore their relationship to a changing world, and become advocates for positive change. Submit a piece recognizing climate change heroes, using visual arts, poetry and creative writing, film, performing arts, or multimedia. Prizes include cash awards and eligibility for special opportunities.

Promising Young Writers Program

Teachers and schools can nominate 8th grade students to compete in this contest. Nominees submit a piece of writing based on the year’s prompt. Winners receive certificates in various levels of distinction.

Ranger Rick Photo Contest

Kids 13 and under can enter any nature-themed photo they’ve taken on their own using a camera or phone camera app. Every month, winners will be selected by the judges and posted on the contest homepage in the Recent Contest Winners slideshow. Online winners will be in the running for Ranger Rick’s “Your Best Shots” Magazine Award. Magazine Award winners will be selected three times each year for publication in Ranger Rick magazine’s December–January, April, and August issues.

Rubber Band Contest

This contest challenges students in grades 5–8 to design and create a working invention/artwork that incorporates at least one rubber band. Students can compete in one of two separate divisions: Arts & Leisure or Science & Engineering. Winners receive up to $300.

Young Scientist Challenge

Students in grades 5–8 create a one-to-two-minute video describing a new, innovative solution that could solve an everyday problem. Ten finalists will be chosen for their passion for science, spirit of innovation and ingenuity, and effective communication skills.

YouthPLAYS Prospective Authors

Authors 19 and under can submit a one-act play to the New Voices competition. They’re particularly interested in plays that speak to BIPOC teens and youth.

Doodle for Google

Did you know that each year, one student in grades K–5 has a chance to see their own doodle featured on the Google search page? This annual contest gives kids the opportunity to reach millions of viewers with their design.

New Moon Girls publishes contributions from girls ages 8 to 14. The magazine publishes four times each year, and submissions are more likely to be published if they fit an upcoming editorial theme.

Kids 13 and under can enter any nature-themed photo they’ve taken on their own, using a camera or phone camera app. Every month, winners will be selected by the judges and posted on the contest homepage in the Recent Contest Winners slideshow. Online winners will be in the running for Ranger Rick’s “Your Best Shots” Magazine Award. Magazine Award winners will be selected three times each year for publication in Ranger Rick magazine’s December–January, April, and August issues.

90-Second Newbery Film Festival

The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is an annual video contest in which young filmmakers create movies that tell the entire story of a Newbery award–winning book in about 90 seconds. Winning entries are screened at events nationwide including in New York, Chicago, and Boston.

Celebrating Art

This contest is open to K–12 students attending public schools, homeschool, and art studios. Kids and teachers can win prizes, classroom supplies, and more!

Discovery Award

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes Discovery Award provides students in grades 4–12 a unique opportunity to research primary sources and develop outstanding projects that feature unsung heroes who can serve as role models and inspire others to create change.

EngineerGirl Writing Contest

Each year, EngineerGirl sponsors an essay contest with topics centered on the impact of engineering on the world. Students can win up to $500 in prize money. This contest is a nice bridge between ELA and STEM and great for teachers interested in incorporating an interdisciplinary project into their curriculum. It’s open to students in grades 3 and up.

Invention Convention

The Invention Convention program is a K–12 project-based learning curriculum to help students learn to think critically by identifying problems in their world. Inventors and entrepreneurs are invited to compete at prestigious annual events.

NAfME Music Competitions

The National Association for Music Education (NAfME) holds multiple music competitions each year for composers and songwriters in several categories. Students of all ages are eligible to win cash prizes.

NASA CineSpace Short Film Competition

Competitors submit a short film inspired by, and using, actual footage from NASA’s digital archives for a chance to earn cash prizes and have their film screened at the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, held each November. Although entrants must be at least 18 to enter, parents and guardians can enter submissions on behalf of their children.

NASA Langley Student Art Contest

The contest is open to all K–12 students attending public, private, parochial, and homeschool who are residents of the United States, and grades K–12 of U.S. military members stationed overseas.

National History Bowl

The National History Bowl is a buzzer-based history quiz competition for teams of up to six students ages 19 or younger. Local competitions send their winners on to compete in the national championships.

National PTA Reflections Awards

Students of all ages create and submit original works of art in the areas of dance choreography, film production, literature, music composition, photography, and visual arts. Local winners move on to the regional, state, and national levels. National-level awards include an $800 prize and a trip to the National PTA Convention.

National Spelling Bee

Is the country’s next spelling champion in your own classroom? Find out by holding your own spelling bee, then sending the winner on to compete in regional competitions leading to the ultimate national competition. Students up to age 16 are eligible to participate.

PepsiCo Recycle Rally Contests

Encourage friendly competition throughout your K–12 schools or express creativity through writing and designing with a PepsiCo Recycle Rally contest.

Scope Writing Contests

Scope magazine (published by Scholastic) features a wide variety of contests to excite students in grades 4–12 about writing. Plus they can win awesome prizes!

SIBA Invention Competition

The Student Ideas for a Better America contest welcomes applications from pre-K through 12th grade. Enter any idea for a new way to demonstrate an educational concept, an idea for a new product, or an improvement for an existing product or procedure.

Students With Solutions

This project is designed for educators to engage their students in bullying prevention. Students watch a video followed by a handout review. Then they respond to the content in their own creative way through art, writing, graphics, or videos for the chance to win prizes for their school.

Telling Room Founders Prize

Students ages 6–18 can submit fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to The Telling Room . Each year, the Founders Prize is awarded to the best piece of writing to come out of a Telling Room program.

Toyota Dream Car USA Art Contest

The Toyota Dream Car USA Art Contest inspires creativity in youths ages 4 to 15 and helps them imagine the future of mobility. Kids can win hundreds of dollars in prize money.

Did we miss one of your favorite contests or competitions for high school, middle school, or elementary school students? Come share in our We Are Teachers HELPLINE group !

Plus, check out  the ultimate guide to college scholarships ..

Find exciting competitions for high school students, plus middle school and elementary-age kids, in STEM, ELA and the arts, and more.

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Soro Soke: The Young Disruptors of an African Megacity

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy

The question, "are digital technologies making politics impossible".

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

James Williams

35-year-old James Williams, a doctoral candidate researching design ethics at Oxford University, has been announced as the inaugural winner of the US$100,000 Nine Dots Prize.

James’ entry Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Persuasion in the Attention Economy argues that digital technologies are making all forms of politics worth having impossible as they privilege our impulses over our intentions and are ‘designed to exploit our psychological vulnerabilities in order to direct us toward goals that may or may not align with our own’. You can read two short extracts from his entry here .

Born in Cape Canaveral, Florida and raised in Texas, James Williams is currently a doctoral candidate at the Oxford Internet Institute and Balliol College, Oxford, where he researches the philosophy and ethics of attention and persuasion as they relate to technology design. In particular, he is interested in advancing the ways we can understand and protect user freedom in environments of highly persuasive design.

James is a member of the Digital Ethics Lab at Oxford and founder of the Oxford Internet Institute’s PhilTech seminar series. He directed the Oxford Data Experience Lab project on virtual reality and has helped teach the master’s-level Internet Technology and Regulation course. He is also a visiting researcher at the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.

Prior to this he worked for over ten years at Google, where he received the Founders’ Award – the company’s highest honour – for his work on advertising products and tools. He holds a master’s in design engineering from the University of Washington and as an undergraduate studied literature at Seattle Pacific University. He is a co-founder of the Time Well Spent campaign, a project that aims to steer technology design towards having greater respect for users’ attention, goals and values.

James is a frequent speaker, consultant for companies and governments, and commentator on technology issues in the media. A big part of his mission is to make philosophy and ethics more accessible and relevant to designers, developers, and company leaders. His other interests include virtual/mixed reality systems, gaming, space travel, and the work of James Joyce.

May 31, 2018

James Williams launches a plea to society and to the tech industry to help ensure that the technology we all carry with us every day does not distract us from pursuing our true goals in life. As information becomes ever more plentiful, the resource that is becoming more scarce is our attention. In this ‘attention economy’, we need to recognise the fundamental impacts of our new information environment on our lives in order to take back control. Drawing on insights ranging from Diogenes to contemporary tech leaders, Williams’s thoughtful and impassioned analysis is sure to provoke discussion and debate. This title is free to download.

James’ book has now been translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, and an audiobook version is available.

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Professor Simon Goldhill (Chair of Prize Board)

Professor of greek literature and culture at the university of cambridge.

Simon Goldhill is Professor of Greek Literature and Culture and Fellow of King's College, Cambridge.

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Professor Alcinda Honwana

Strategic director at the firoz lalji centre for africa at the london school of economics.

Alcinda Honwana is Strategic Director at the Firoz Lalji Centre for Africa and Centennial Professor at the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Peter Kadas

Trustee of the kadas prize foundation.

Peter Kadas is a Trustee of the Kadas Prize Foundation.

Roger Martin

Professor Roger Martin

Professor emeritus at the rotman school of management at the university of toronto.

Roger Martin is Professor Emeritus and former Institute Director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Professor Riccardo Rebonato

Professor of finance at edhec business school.

Riccardo Rebonato is Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School and Scientific Director of the EDHEC-Risk Climate Impact Institute. Previously he was Global Head of Rates and FX Research at PIMCO. He also served as Global Head of Market Risk, Global Head of Research and Head of Complex IR Derivatives Trading at several UK-based international institutions.

david runciman

Professor David Runciman

Professor of politics at the university of cambridge.

David Runciman is Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge and presenter of the podcast Past Present Future

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Professor Diane Coyle

Bennett professor of public policy at cambridge university.

Diane Coyle is the author of numerous books including GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History, The Economics of Enough, and The Soulful Science (all Princeton University Press).

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Professor Paul Gilroy

Professor of english at kings college london.

Professor Gilroy joined Kings College London as Professor of English in September 2012, having previously been Giddens Professor of Social Theory at the London School of Economics (2005-2012), Charlotte Marian Saden Professor of African American Studies and Sociology at Yale (1999-2005) and Professor of Cultural Studies and Sociology at Goldsmiths College (1995-1999).

E J Graff author journalist

Journalist, editor and author

Managing Editor of the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog and Senior Fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University

oxford essay competition 2023 winners

Professor Ira Katznelson

Professor of political science and history, columbia university.

Ira Katznelson is an Americanist whose work has straddled comparative politics and political theory as well as political and social history. He returned in 1994 to Columbia, where he had been assistant and then associate professor from 1969 to 1974.

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COMMENTS

  1. Prize Winners

    2024 Essay Competition. Prize Winners; Plagiarism; Past Essays; Summer Schools. Summer 2025; Singapore 2024; Admissions; ... 2023. 2022. 2021. 2020. 2019. Announcing the 2023 Essay Prize Winners Special congratulations to those who achieved a Distinction or High Distinction in this year's competition. ... Oxford: +44 (0)1865 566166 . Princeton ...

  2. Essay Competition Results

    We were thrilled to receive over a thousand entries for our Essay Competition 2024! See below for the winners, the overall Most Outstanding Essay, and the recording of our Awards Ceremony. ... with an essay on the subject of Engineering. She has won a free place on the Oxford Scholastica Academy (our sister organisation) Oxford Summer School ...

  3. Essay Competition 2024

    OxBright is hosting an essay competition for students around the world. Submit your essay to be eligible to win an award. ... Winner, History, 2023. ... The Oxford Scholastica 2024 Summer School is likely to be fully booked in April 2024, when the Essay Competition winner will be announced. However, if you win, we'll be in touch to discuss ...

  4. 2024 Essay Competition

    Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024. Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024. Contact. 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.

  5. Essay Competition Winners

    This online programme sees students work 1-1 with tutors from renowned institutions like Cambridge, Oxford, and Ivy League schools. Online Insights. ... 2023 Essay Competition Winners 2023 Essay Competition Winner - 16-18 - Business Management; 2023 Essay Competition Winner - 13-15 - Medicine;

  6. Brain 2023 essay competition

    Masud Husain, Brain 2023 essay competition, Brain, Volume 146, Issue 7, July 2023, Page 2657, ... Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide.

  7. Mary Renault Classical Reception Essay Competition

    Home → Study Here → Outreach → Essay Competitions → Mary Renault Classical Reception Essay Competition. The Principal and Fellows of St Hugh's College, Oxford are pleased to be offering two or more prizes, worth up to £300 each, for the best essays on classical reception or influence by pupils who, at the closing date, have been in ...

  8. 2023 Brain essay competition results

    essay competition results. The 2023 Brain essay competition stimulated some wonderfully thoughtful and creative writing. The essays we publish are not scientific articles, but writing that provides a wider perspective, to make us reflect and examine aspects of our lives from different viewpoints. This year's submissions covered topics ranging ...

  9. $25,000 for the best essays on global problems

    We will award prizes worth a total of $25,000 for the top three entrants, along with access to the Pivotal Library for the top 50 finalists. $15,000 — 1st place$7,000 — 2nd place$3,000 — 3rd place. $25,000 in prizes for the best essays. Top 5%. of the participants will be invited to the Pivotal Circle.

  10. PDF Oxford Law Equality and Diversity Essay Competition 2023

    A prize of £1,000 will be awarded to the winner of the competition. This sum has been set with a view to enabling the prize-winner to take up opportunities for vacation work that might otherwise be inaccessible given travel and accommodation costs. The winning essay will also be published on the Oxford Law website. A second prize of £250 will ...

  11. Oxford and Cambridge Essay Competitions

    This essay competition is designed to give students the opportunity to develop and showcase their independent study and writing skills. Unfortunately, for external reasons, the essay won't be running in 2023, but may well be running in 2024 so do keep an eye out so you don't miss it! Sample Essay Questions from 2020.

  12. Hedges announces winners of its 2023 local schools' essay competition

    Hedges, one of Oxfordshire's longest-serving law firms, has announced the three winners of its 2023 annual schools' essay competition. The prize-giving took place at a special closed-doors event held at St Anne's College, University of Oxford, last week. Now in its 9th year, this year's competition was the first time Hedges has been able to hold the competition since the start of the ...

  13. Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition

    11 Aug 2023. Launched in February 2020, the Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition is a joint venture between Tom Rocks Maths and St Edmund Hall at the University of Oxford, which asks high-school students to explain their favourite mathematical topic in an essay aimed at a non-specialist audience. The hope is to give them experience in ...

  14. Competitions

    The Bernard Williams Essay Prize in 2023 attracted a substantial number of entries responding to the question, 'What decisions should computers not make?' After careful consideration, three finalists - Lina Alrawashdeh (PPE, Jesus College), Wyatt Radzin (PPE, Brasenose College) and Chase Mizzell (PPE, Harris Manchester College) - were invited to Oxford to present and defend their essays on ...

  15. Essay Winners

    The articles below are past winners of the RES essay prize. Winners of the prize from 2005 onwards are available to read free online: 2023 Winner 'Sacred to t. ... 2020: Caroline R. Batten, University of Oxford, UK The Style of the Old English Metrical Charms. 2019: Fergue McGhee, Magdalen College, Oxford

  16. Julia Wood History Essay Competition

    2023 Julia Wood Prize Winners. This year the number of entries to the Julia Wood Prize was 321. The prizes were awarded as follows: First Place. Clara Ahnert, Year 12, St George's School, Edinburgh for an essay entitled: Redeeming the State: Political Crisis and the Emergence of German Ordoliberalism, 1919-1949. Runners Up.

  17. Essay Competition 2024

    Our Guest Judges. 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 ...

  18. Winners Of Heirs Insurance Essay Championship To Win N8m Scholarship

    The three top winners of the 2024 Heirs Insurance Essay Championship will win N8 million scholarship. Ad. While the winning student will receive a N5million scholarship, and their school will ...

  19. 2024 New Year's Day Deck Log Contest Winners Announced

    2024 New Year's Day Deck Log Contest Winners Announced. June 5, 2024. The tradition of the Midnight New Year's Day Poem allows Sailors to write the first deck log entry of the New Year in verse. Naval History and Heritage Command encourages the preservation of this tradition through an annual New Year's Day Deck Log Contest.

  20. Essay Competitions

    These are a fantastic opportunity to explore a topic of interest in a particular subject in more depth, whether something you have studied at school has inspired you, or whether you are keen to broaden your horizons in a new academic discipline. All four competitions are now open: the deadline for submissions is 5pm (GMT) on Friday 26th July 2024.

  21. Staff. Sgt. Rosado is the winner of Installation Management Command

    February 14, 2023 Meet the winners of the 2023 Army's Best Medic Competition October 10, 2022 Army announces winners of prestigious 2022 competition awards August 17, 2021 2021 DoD Warrior Games ...

  22. Announcing TGC's 2024 Essay Contest for Young Adults

    Writers Aged 16-22 Can Get Published and Win $500. The Gospel Coalition announces its 2024 essay contest, inviting young adults (ages 16-22) to explore and write about God's faithfulness, their relationship with technology, and their heart for full-time ministry in our secular age. Winning authors will receive a prize, and their essays ...

  23. essay prize

    The winner of the 2023 CWW Essay Prize was Kimberley Mather for "The Destruction of Cherished Ideals: Examining the Idealisation of the Butch as Queer Object through Kadji Amin's Disturbing Attachments and S Bear Bergman's Butch is a Noun" The Prize. The winning entry will be: Submitted for publication in Contemporary Women's Writing

  24. Standings for ICPC World Finals (all years)

    ICPC 2023 World Finals. Was held in Luxor, Egypt on April 18, 2024 Top-4 winners: Rank Country Team 1 ... University of Oxford (Oxford Blues): Harris Leung, Radostin Chonev, Viktor Kozhuharov. See full results ... Top-4 winners: Rank Country Team 1 Canada.

  25. Best 2024 Competitions for Students in Grades K-12

    Rubber Band Contest. This contest challenges students in grades 5-8 to design and create a working invention/artwork that incorporates at least one rubber band. Students can compete in one of two separate divisions: Arts & Leisure or Science & Engineering. Winners receive up to $300.

  26. James Williams

    James Williams. 35-year-old James Williams, a doctoral candidate researching design ethics at Oxford University, has been announced as the inaugural winner of the US$100,000 Nine Dots Prize. James' entry Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Persuasion in the Attention Economy argues that digital technologies are making all forms of politics ...

  27. The ICPC International Collegiate Programming Contest

    The International Collegiate Programming Contest is an algorithmic programming contest for college students. Teams of three, representing their university, work to solve the most real-world problems, fostering collaboration, creativity, innovation, and the ability to perform under pressure. Through training and competition, teams challenge each other to raise the bar on the possible.

  28. International Tchaikovsky Competition

    Vladimir Putin at the gala concert of winners of the XV International Competition. The International Tchaikovsky Competition is a classical music competition held every four years in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, Russia, for pianists, violinists, and cellists between 16 and 32 years of age and singers between 19 and 32 years of age.The competition is named after Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich ...