Participate in the Oxford Scholastica Essay Competition 2025 which is being organised by the Oxford Scholastica Academy. Submit by May 11!
About the Oxford Scholastica Essay Competition
At the Oxford Scholastica Academy, we’re passionate about giving you the edge to succeed, find your purpose and make a difference in the world.
We’re optimistic about the opportunities that lie ahead and about the potential of young people to make the most of them (you can read more about our Worldview below).
The Oxford Scholastica Academy Essay Competition gives you the chance to think about the future, challenge yourself beyond the school curriculum and consider your subject through a wider lens.
All shortlisted entrants will be invited to attend one of our Online Conferences free of charge, and there are a variety of prestigious prizes for the winners.
We look forward to reading your submission!
Entries for Spring 2025 are open now. See below to enter.
Eligibility
The only eligibility criteria is that you must be aged between 15-18 years old. You don’t need to have previously joined an Oxford Scholastica programme in order to take part.
Please note, to be eligible for any of the free places we offer as prizes, winners must be between the ages of 15-18 at the beginning of the course or internship.
Subject Categories
The 2025 subject categories are:
- Architecture
- Biology
- Business
- Computer Science
- Economics
- Engineering
- Geography
- History
- Law
- Mathematics
- Medicine
- Philosophy
- Politics
- Psychology
- Writing & Journalism
Submission Guidelines
There are three parts to the essay:
- Title: The title of your essay can be up to 100 characters long, including spaces.
- Essay: Your essay can be up to 3,800 characters, including spaces (about 500 words). This includes everything you write, such as the main body and in-text citations. These citations are part of your word count, so make sure to include them. We’ve put together some helpful guidelines here on how to include in-text citations in your essay.
- References: There’s no word limit for references and you can include as many as you need. Please include a section at the end of your essay for your references, using the guidelines above. This won’t count towards your essay character limit, so be sure to list all the sources you used to show where your information came from.
Evaluation Criteria
We’ll be assessing essays on the following criteria:
- Fluency of written English
- Coherence
- Relevance to the question
- Relevance to the Oxford Scholastica worldview
- Creativity and originality of ideas
- Use of evidence and examples
Prizes
Prizes include:
- Most Outstanding Essay (prize: a place at our Oxford Summer School, worth £6,995)
- Best Essay for each subject category (prize: a place on an Oxford Scholastica Academy Online Course or Online Internship, worth £995)
- Highly Commended (the top 20% of entries will receive a Certificate of Achievement and an optional partial scholarship – please see our FAQs below for details on this)
How to Register?
Interested participants can register through this link.
Deadline
The deadline for this year’s essay competition is 11th May 2025, 9pm BST. If you submit after this deadline, we’re unable to consider your entry.
