John Locke Institute Global Essay Prize

The 2,000 words cover body text only. Diagrams, data tables, endnotes, the bibliography and the authorship declaration are all excluded. Two catches: footnotes are not permitted at all, so use endnotes or in-text citations; and if you use an in-text style such as APA, those citations do count toward the limit. Going over breaks the rules, so make your last revision pass purely about cuts.

You may submit one essay in each category and as many categories as you like, but the Institute itself recommends focusing on a single strong essay. Choose by argument, not by school grades: pick the question where you can state a claim someone could reasonably dispute and then defend it. The ten categories are Economics, History, International Relations, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Public Policy, Science & Technology and Theology. Read all thirty questions in February before deciding.

Yes, eligibility covers both middle and high school levels. Age is measured on the regular submission deadline: for the 2026 cycle you had to be under 19 on 31 May 2026, with no minimum age, and turning 19 on 1 June or later still qualifies. Entrants under 15 on that date are Junior; 15 to 18 is Senior. From 2026 juniors no longer get separate questions - they answer the same prompts but are judged separately within each subject category. For a middle schooler in Irvine, the Junior division is a low-risk way to try academic writing early.

Yes - on the Common App it goes in the Honors section, and on a UC application it fits under the academic entries in the Activities List. The official ladder runs shortlist, commendation, high commendation, then category first, second and third prizes, and the Grand Prize. Each rung is an official result, and only shortlisted entrants can download the Institute's eCertificate, so a reader can verify it. Name the exact level and category - 'Shortlisted, Economics' - rather than writing the vague word 'winner'.

The Institute is based in Oxford, but the 2026 academic conference and awards dinner were held in London - the conference on 2-4 October and the dinner on 3 October - with shortlisted entrants and prize-winners invited. The website states plainly that nobody is required to attend and you can win a prize without travelling. Note that while the competition is free, the conference and dinner are not; family, friends and teachers are welcome to come.

The normal route is free: registration opens in early February, closes 31 March, submissions open in April and the regular deadline is 31 May. Late options exist for a fee - GBP 10 for late registration up to 30 April, GBP 25 for a seven-day extension and GBP 75 for twenty-one days. The late fee is charged per contestant, not per essay. It is cheap, but treat it as an emergency exit rather than planned slack.

You must name an academic referee at registration - a teacher or responsible adult who is not a relative. AI may be used for research and ideation, but the Institute warns that AI-generated prose tends to lower essay quality, and it screens for plagiarism and ghost-writing. Irvine students who want real feedback on their argument can ask an English or social-science teacher, or work through the John Locke essay prep course. Two technical rules trip students up every year: your name must not appear anywhere in the document, and the file must be named FirstName-LastName-Category-QuestionNumber.pdf.

As of September 2026 the 2027 questions and dates are not yet posted - watch the official site. Recent cycles have opened registration and released questions together in early February. The most useful way to spend the gap is to settle on one or two categories, read three to five serious books or papers in them, and write an 800-word argument every two weeks so that stating a thesis and answering objections is already automatic when the prompts appear.