John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2023 [Prizes Upto Rs. 1.6L]: Submit by June 30

Applications are invited for the John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2023. The last date for submission of entries is June 30, 2023.

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. This 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 the essay prizes are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities including Oxford and Princeton.

The judges will choose their favorite essay from each of the seven subject categories, and a junior category for those under 15s, and then select an overall ‘best essay’ across the seven subjects: Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology, and Law.

​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 program, and the essays will be published on the Institute’s website.

Prize-giving ceremonies will take place in Oxford, 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, subject to capacity constraints.

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 gap year courses.

Interested candidates can submit their entries through this link.

Any queries regarding the essay competition should be sent to global.essay.prize[at]johnlocke.com.