Students shortlisted in John Locke Institute Global Essay Competition

News - Sep 21

The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers; independent thought, depth in knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. Its Global 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 the competition can build knowledge and refine skills of argumentation. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. Essay prizes are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities including Oxford and Princeton. The judges choose their favourite essay from each of the seven subject categories, and then select an overall ‘best essay’ across Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law.

We are proud to announce that Ethan P and Ben M, both Economics students in Year 13, have been shortlisted for their economics essays in this global competition which had over 19,000 entries. Prize winners will be announced at a ceremony at University of Oxford’s Sheldonian Theatre.

Ben M said: “There were over 19,000 entries into all questions within the essay competition, so it was lovely to find out that I had been shortlisted over the summer. There was an estimated 10% of essays that had been shortlisted. I really enjoyed writing the essay on such an interesting hypothetical which allowed me to learn about some previously unknown aspects of economics. The essay competition was a great chance for me to develop my essay writing skills and explore economics in greater detail to enhance my scholarship within the subject. It was a great honour to find out that I had been shortlisted and nice to see my hard work be recognised.”

Ethan P added: “I was extremely grateful to be shortlisted for the John Locke Essay Competition. Being able to compete in such a large international competition has been an incredible experience and enabled me to further my scholarship and dive deeper into the areas of economics that particularly interest me.”