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Immerse Education Essay Competition for Students Worldwide 2024

Published: 06 Nov 2023 1,106 views

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 the full Essay Competition Guide. 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship to study at a world-leading university of their choosing. Outstanding runners-up also receive partial scholarships.

Immerse Education Essay Competition

Benefits of immerse education essay competition, requirements for immerse education essay competition, application deadline, how to apply.

Benefits 

• Funded scholarship to study abroad:  The essay competition offers students like you the chance to win a full or partial scholarship to one of their 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 the team as you write your essay, with free guides and top tips to help you along the way. Sign up to receive the full Essay competition Guide and free tips and tricks as you write.
• 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.
• 1st place: 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship.
• 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. Usually, around 7% of entrants receive scholarship funding to attend an Immerse programme.
• The Immerse Education Essay Competition is open to students worldwide of all nationalities.
• You must be aged between 13-18 during your chosen programme.
• Be interested in all subjects, from Architecture to Medicine, Creative Writing to Film Studies.

For more details,visit  Immerse Education website

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Immerse Education opens 2023 essay competition

One of the best ways to find out if a subject is a good match for a student is for them to have the experience of studying it at university level.

A short-term academic experience which takes place in the summer holidays gives students a taste for higher education and creates the motivation to pursue the specialism that interests them.

This week, Immerse Education has begun accepting entries for their bi-annual Essay Competition - with applications open for students across the globe from ages 13 to 18.

For those not familiar with Immerse Education’s programmes, these two-week courses give students the opportunity to live in world-renowned universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, London or Sydney. Participants are taught their chosen subject by expert academics who teach and tutor current Oxbridge students.

Participants experience a fantastic array of social and cultural activities and excursions including formal dining in the great university halls, and a visit to London to explore the big city.Classes include practical, subject-specific workshops such as moot courts in law, exploring start-ups with business management, and an exploration of surgery through the ages for medicine students.

The essay competition enables students to explore their chosen subject through the creation of an academic essay that answers the essay question set by Immerse Education. Essays are a maximum of 500 words, with a 10% threshold so students should make sure their academic writing is concise, answering the question set in a creative, interesting and academically insightful manner.

There are a wide variety of subjects available for students to write about, and Immerse allows for students to interpret the question as they see fit - you can find out more about the subjects Immerse offers by heading to their website.

Although essay-writing is not every student's first choice when they have free time, essay-writing is the perfect way to showcase that students are passionate about their chosen subject, with many students using their essay as evidence to support their university applications.

Not only does essay-writing provide students with a taste of what university will be like, the competition prize is the opportunity of a lifetime.

Winners of the Immerse Education Essay Competition will be awarded a 100% fully-funded scholarship to attend one of the Immerse Education academic summer programmes, with runners-up being awarded up to a 70% scholarship.

The Immerse summer programmes run in July and August every summer for Oxford, Cambridge and London, and in January for Australia. Subjects include Engineering, Computer Science, Coding, Mathematics, Medicine as an Academic Insights programme as well as a Career Insights programme.

You can learn more about the Immerse Essay Competition by visiting the competition page.

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The Immerse Education Essay Competition

Resource details.

https://www.immerse.education/essay-competition/  

Provides The Opportunity For Students Aged 13-18 To Submit Essay Responses To A Pre-Set Question Relating To your Chosen Subject.

Immerse Education Essay Competition 2021: What makes a good Doctor?

Four highly motivated Grade 10 students spent a portion of their Christmas holiday writing submissions for the Immerse Education Essay Competition in the hope of winning a 100% scholarship to attend a summer course at Cambridge University in the UK.  The competition is a challenging one: entrants must pick one question from a list of eighteen controversial topics and have only 500 words to defend their answer.  Essays must be fully referenced with footnotes and bibliography.  While we all have our fingers crossed for their success, we are quite simply hugely proud of them for taking the initiative to enter this competition – well done!

Below are two entrants’ essays on this topic ordered alphabetically by name of author:

What makes a good doctor.

Being a medical professional is considered one of the noble and ancient vocations in society. However, considering the plurality of people who become doctors, there must be a plethora of ways to go about being a doctor. This raises the question – what makes a good doctor?

It appears to be universally agreed upon and that medical professionals must put the patients well-being before all else in a quest to minimise suffering. The Hippocratic oath is, despite its age, considered an ethical benchmark even today. It seems so ingrained in all our understanding that it is barely questioned by patients and doctors alike. So when people, be it doctors or patients, talk about ‘good doctors’, what do they actually expect to see from them? More often than not, one will hear the words ‘competence’ and ‘empathy’ being muttered. Although this may seem a bit simplistic, come to think of it, those concepts may well be more intertwined than meets the eye. A competent doctor arrives at a correct and timely diagnosis, initiates an adequate and effective treatment. Key to what patients and their relatives consider great consultations is that their respective concerns, ideas and expectations are addressed, respected and incorporated into the decision making. Empathy forms the missing link. It can allow for a more profound rapport to be established between doctors and patients, helping to obtain a more detailed medical history and aid diagnostics. Obedience to a certain treatment can be improved by tailoring it to a patient’s needs, which, in turn, will improve outcomes. Maintaining a patient centered approach will help decide upon an adequate treatment in the first place. It is safe to say that throughout all stages of the patient’s journey, the idea of empathy has the potential to make the difference between a doctor and a good doctor. Having said all this, it seems by no means easy to display empathy at all times. Increasing specialisation and ever more detailed knowledge and understanding of subspecialities causes ever steeper knowledge gradients to make communication between doctors and patients difficult. This in turn prevents medical professionals from being able to fully dedicate themselves to patients. The increasing availability of in part questionable information and data can both empower patients or destroy the doctor-patient relationship. Similarly, the uncontested status of doctors as ‘demigods in a white coat’ appears to slowly decrease, rendering them to be seen as service providers rather than allies at times. These are changes that affect multiple aspects of society. Therefore, I would conclude that a doctor, as a person and profession, is a reflection of society as a whole. Hence, apart from detailed knowledge and profound understanding of their scientific field, traits that make a good doctor are the same that make a good person and empathy is found at the very core of it. A good doctor is someone who goes above and beyond the call of duty to put the well-being of his or her peers above their own. Someone who, regardless of their own cultural background, political ideology and ethnic heritage, goes out of their way to understand their patients. Finally, someone who, when needed, even forgoes the very science they dedicate their lives to, in order to make a patient feel well. After all, doctors treat patients, not conditions.

Bibliography:

• Dr. med. B. Hibbeler, “Was ist ein ‘guter’ Arzt”, Ärzteblatt 51-52 (2011) 28th December 2020
• Saint George University. Unknown Author, “What makes a good doctor?”, 04.02.2018 [ https://www.sgu.edu/blog/medical/what-makes-a-good-doctor/ last accessed: 3rd January 2021]
• Harvard Blogs. Unknown Author, “What makes a good doctor? Can we measure it?”, 20.03.2014 [ https://blogs.sph.harvard.edu/ashish-jha/2014/03/20/what-makes-a-good-doctor-and-can-we-mea sure-it/ last accessed: 3rd january 2021]
• The Lancet. Unknown Author, “What makes a good doctor?”, 28.08.2010 [ https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)61317-7/fulltext#articleInfo rmation last accessed: 29th December 2020]
• Physicians Practice. M. Byington, “What are patients looking for in a doctor?”, 10.05.2017 [ https://www.physicianspractice.com/view/what-are-patients-looking-physician last accessed: 2nd January 2021]

A doctor is defined as a person who has been trained in medical science, whose job is to treat people who are ill or injured. According to this definition, what makes you a doctor is clear: the licences and certificates. However, the question of what makes a good doctor is much broader, and for this reason this essay will focus on the comparison between empathy, objectivity and technical competence in relation to the patients recovery and well-being. Firstly, objectivity helps doctors, to a certain extent, to be professionally distant from their patients and apply skills and knowledge rather than emotions to make judgements about treatment for an effective recovery. For example, a heart surgeon uses high amounts of skill during a surgery. When getting emotionally engaged with a patient, the physician can make a biased decision that might not be helpful towards recovery. Emotional detachment is helpful for the doctor too, as the involvement can be difficult to handle mentally. Nevertheless, professionals have stated that complete objectivity is not even possible to achieve and that physicians will always make decisions slightly based upon emotions, experiences and their view of right and wrong. However, people have argued that empathy should be desired rather than objectivity anyways. This consists of listening to a patient but also communicating in a way that can be understood. Medicine should be about treating a person rather than simply curing an illness, and should be taken with a more holistic approach, as our emotional side is what makes us differ from a computer. Whilst a machine might have the technical competence to recognize symptoms and cure the illness, we as humans should ensure that we cure the patient. Many patients want an understanding physician, as this gives them a sense of security. Studies have shown that when this is achieved, the recovery process has a higher chance of being effective. This is partially because up to 30% of all illnesses are somatization, where the mind is involved in the physical condition and only when we relieve the mind we can treat the illness. Moreover, when we look at the patients as people we can prevent further illnesses in the long term by treating more than just the symptoms. A doctor can be differentiated from a good doctor by the balanced coexistence of objectivity and empathy. Whilst the objective side of a person is needed in making effective decisions, the empathic side is what distinguishes between treating a condition and curing a person. However, this must be carefully balanced, for too much objectivity leads to being very distant and too much empathy leads to faulty decision making, both ultimately being harmful to a patient. How this is balanced, however, ranges based on which field you are in, as a cardiologist performs a different job than a family doctor. With this in mind, we should evaluate the contents of studying medicine and consider teaching the students how to reach their own balance, by letting them deal with patients at an early stage, as there is no blueprint to becoming a good doctor. Each individual must find a balance of their own, to make a positive impact on the field and to become the best doctor they can possibly be.

Maren S. Bibliography: “Doctor_1 Noun – Definition, Pictures, Pronunciation And Usage Notes | Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary At Oxfordlearnersdictionaries.Com”, Oxfordlearnersdictionaries.Com , 2021 https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/doctor_1 [accessed 21 December 2020] Hirsch, Elliot, “The Role Of Empathy In Medicine: A Medical Student’s Perspective”, Journal Of Ethics | American Medical Association , 2021 [accessed 20 December 2020] Ross, Donald, “The Objectivity Illusion In Medical Practice”, Association For Psychological Science – APS , 2021 https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/the-objectivity-illusion-in-medical-practice (accessed 22 December 2020)

“What Makes A Good Doctor, And Can We Measure It?”, An Ounce Of Evidence | Health Policy , 2021 <https://blogs.sph.harvard.edu/ashish-jha/2014/03/20/what-makes-a-good-doctor-and-can-we-measure-it/ (accessed 20 December 2020)

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Medical School Expert

Medicine Essay Prizes (7 Competitions For Year 12 and 13’s)

Every article is fact-checked by a medical professional. However, inaccuracies may still persist.

Having a medical essay prize on your CV looks absolutely fantastic when it comes time for you to apply to medical school.

In such an overcrowded marketplace, anything that sets you apart from the crowd in a positive manner is sure to drastically increase your chances of getting an offer.

Although when I was applying to medical school I hadn’t managed to win an essay competition (despite my best efforts!) hopefully you’ll have more luck than me!

To save you some research time, I’ve compiled a list of 7 medicine essay competitions that you can enter this year.

Competitions that if you win will skyrocket your chances of application success.

INCLUDED IN THIS GUIDE:

The Libra Essay Prize

The Libra essay prize is an annual essay prize for all students in years 12 and 13 looking to prepare for university.

Libra Education themselves describe it as:

“An excellent way for 6th-form students to demonstrate that they have the makings of a scholar, the Libra Essay Prize offers a chance to prepare for the academic rigour required by university assignments and provides a great accomplishment to discuss on a personal statement or at an interview.”

Students are free to choose any subject from a list of categories (one of which being science) and then have to write an essay with a title containing a chosen word.

The small pool of words you can choose from change each year but are all generally quite abstract so you can connect and use them in creative ways.

The essay has to be between 1,500 – 2,000 words, with Harvard style referencing which isn’t included in the word count.

Libra accept entries from all over the world, but the essays must be written in English.

First prize wins £50, second prize £30, and third £20, all paid out in book vouchers. There’s also Commended and Highly Commended entries for each category.

Minds Underground Essay Competition

Minds Underground is an online learning platform, designed to support and enhance the learning and problem-solving of determined young students.

Every year they run a medicine essay competition, primarily aimed at year 12’s (although they do say younger or older students are also welcome to apply).

To enter, you have a choice of three questions, to which you need to write a 1,000 – 1,500 word answer.

“Should all healthcare be free? Discuss.” “What goes wrong for cancers to develop?” “Tell us about a key development/invention that you think has been most influential to medicine.” – Past Minds Underground medicine essay questions

If you’re feeling ambitious, students are permitted to enter an essay for more than one subject- so you could have a crack at the psychology or science one too!

Helpfully, under each question Minds also give you a few pointers to get your creative juices flowing.

Newnham Essay Prizes

Newnham College of the University of Cambridge runs a medicine essay competition with a twist:

Only female students are allowed to enter.

Again, students have a choice of three differing questions.

For example, the questions in the 2021-22 competition were:

• How realistic is it to develop a small molecule therapy for Covid-19? Could such a therapy be rolled out in a timeframe that it could have an impact on the current pandemic?
• Sleep deprivation in clinical health settings. Does it matter?
• Looking to the future. Will stem cell therapies be outpaced by machine-brain interfaces for the treatment of retinal disease?

Newnham do give you a bit more of a range when it comes to the word count, accepting anything from 1,500 to 2,500 words.

There’s a generous £400 prize for first place, £200 for second and £100 for third.

Unfortunately for you as an individual though, prize money is split 50:50 between the essay prize winner and the funding of resources for their school…

John Locke Institute Essay Competition

“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. “

The John Locke Institute arguably gives away the most generous prize out of any competition on this list.

You get a scholarship worth $2,000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute program, as well as an invitation to their prize-giving ceremony in Oxford.

The essay questions for each subject are published in January, with the deadline for submission generally being in late June.

As well as the opportunity to secure the prize for medicine, the candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship- which comes with a $10,000 scholarship to attend one or more of their courses!

American Society Of Human Genetics Essay Contest

Although this next essay competition comes from America, it’s open to students worldwide.

The American Society Of Human Genetics supports national DNA day through its annual DNA day essay contest: commemorating the completion of the Human Genome Project in April 2003 and the discovery of the double helix of DNA in 1953.

The contest is open to students in grades 9-12 worldwide and asks students to “examine, question, and reflect on important concepts in genetics.”

With a limit of only 750 words, not including reference lists, this is a short but sweet chance to bag yourself a considerable cash prize for your efforts.

In addition to the personal prize money, the ASHG will also provide you with a $1,000 grant towards genetics research or teaching materials.

Although it is a worldwide contest, so undoubtedly will have plenty of entries, there are also 10 honorable mentions up for grabs (in addition to 1st, 2nd and 3rd place) that all come with a $100 prize too.

Immerse Education Essay Competition

Immerse Education run summer programs for over 20 different subjects in Oxford, Cambridge, London and Sydney.

The reason why students get so much value from these courses is because they’re immersed in centers of academic excellence whilst learning from experts in their chosen field.

The good news for you is that their essay competition gives you the chance to attend one of their summer school programs for free.

10 winners receive a 100% scholarship and runners up are awarded partial scholarships of up to 50% to study their chosen subject.

According to Immerse, around 7% of entrants receive scholarship funding to attend a program- which is pretty good odds if you ask me!

“There is no downside to entering the competition. If you win, it is awesome. If you don’t win, you gained an experience. Entering the competition and working as hard as I did for it was one of the most gratifying experiences.” – Pedro L (100% scholarship winner)

You can find the full list of essay questions, in addition to top tips for writing academic essays (as well as the terms and conditions for the competition), simply by signing up via Immerse’s website.

The RCSU Science Challenge

The Royal College of Science Union (RCSU) is a student union at Imperial College London and run an annual science challenge open to both home and international school students.

The focus of the challenge is communicating scientific concepts in a non-technical manner, so that people without a science background could still understand and enjoy the content.

The big twist with this essay competition is that you don’t actually have to enter an essay!

The idea is to produce a ‘short piece of science communication’ which can be an essay or can be a short video in answer to one of the four questions set by the judges.

Written entries must be less than 1,000 words, whilst video entries must be less than 3 minutes and 30 seconds long.

For this competition, it’s really all about short and snappy responses that will captivate the reader whilst answering the question in a precise but easy to understand manner.

We hope to inspire those who take part in the Science Challenge to explore, develop and use their scientific skills along with their passion for their corner of science to help others see what all the excitement is about.

Why You Should Enter Medicine Essay Competitions

I think it’s fair to say that competition to get into medical school in the UK is insanely high- and it’s only getting worse.

With such large numbers of incredibly qualified candidates, medical schools have to find some way of differentiating them.

One way to make it easy for a university to pick you is to stand out from the crowd by having a medical essay prize on your application.

An essay prize demonstrates your dedication to the subject, scientific knowledge and an ability to write expressively and persuasively- all ideal qualities when it comes to being a doctor.

You may surprise yourself.

Often, not as many people as you might think enter these competitions.

Simply by writing the essay, you’re also going to greatly increase your knowledge about that particular topic, which can still come in really handy at interview.

Even if you don’t win, just discussing the fact you entered still looks good in the eyes of an interviewer.

It shows that you’re willing to go above and beyond your school curriculum, to explore subjects you’re interested in and that you’re a highly motivated candidate.

How To Increase Your Chances Of Winning An Essay Prize

Although when I was applying to medical school I didn’t manage to win an essay prize, there are a couple of things I did that would have greatly increased my chances of doing so.

First and foremost, I think you’ve got to cast your net wide.

Don’t limit yourself to just one shot at the target: if you’ve got the time then I’d recommend trying to enter at least a couple of different competitions.

More entries will mean more chances for you to have your essay officially recognised.

Secondly, if you have the choice between entering a local or national competition, I’d always go with the local one.

Although a national prize would look slightly better on your CV, simply due to the number of entries, you’ll have a much higher chance of winning the more local competition.

By local I mean this could be a more regional charity, nearby hospital or university, or even your school.

Even better yet, you could always enter both!

Lastly, I think one of the best ways you can increase your odds of winning a prize is by entering a competition around a topic that you’re genuinely passionate about.

If you’ve no interest in genetics, then I wouldn’t enter the American Society Of Human Genetics’ contest!

Your interest in the subject will come through in your language, depth of knowledge and motivation to go above and beyond for your essay- all of which will put you in a much better position for winning.

Where You Can Find Further Essay Competitions

In addition to the essay prizes described above, there are tonnes of other opportunities available for you to distinguish yourself as a medicine applicant.

Loads of the Royal Colleges run an ever changing variety of prizes and competitions, usually to encourage interest in their specialty.

The opening dates and deadlines for these prizes are always changing so it’s worth keeping an eye out for the perfect essay question or new prize that’s just been announced.

Some of these organisations that run their own competitions include:

• The Royal Society of Medicine
• Royal College of Emergency Medicine
• British Orthopaedic Association
• British Society for Haematology
• Royal College of Pathologists
• Royal College of Psychiatrists
• British Association of Dermatologists

But there are many more out there. If you have a particular interest in one specialty or area of science then I’d definitely recommend doing a bit of digging to see if there’s a society or organisation related to that field that runs their own competitions!

Final Thoughts

There really aren’t many downsides to entering one of these competitions.

You get a shot at winning, gain a talking point at interview and develop your scientific knowledge (not to mention technical writing skills).

Although you might feel that some of the smaller prizes aren’t worth your time and effort to write the essay, the real value comes from the boost one of these prizes would give your medicine application.

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Immerse Education Essay Competition 2022

• Deadline August 31, 2022

• Partially Funded

Immerse Education opened their Essay Competition round for 2023 programmes. With this competition, participants like you get the chance to showcase your subject knowledge and essay writing skills, with the opportunity to win a full scholarship to one of their 2023 programmes in Oxford, Cambridge, London or Sydney.

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. 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship, with runner-up prizes also awarded.

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• 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship, and the Runners Up will be awarded partial scholarships of up to 70% 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. Usually, around 7% of entrants receive scholarship funding to attend an Immerse programme.

Eligibilities

Students of all nationalities who will be aged 13-18 during the summer of 2023.

Application Process

There is a specific list of topics for 13-15 years students and 16-18 years students. Check their website for the topics you can write about.

Essay specifications:

• Your answers should be no more than 500 words +/- 10% (excluding references, headings and title text)
• Your entry must consist of a single PDF document, double-spaced and written in Times New Roman, font size 11.
• Your entry should be anonymous. You should NOT include your name on your file upload or within the answer itself.
• Entries must be written in English. If English is not your first language, judges will take this into account and mark accordingly.
• Bibliographies and appendices should be included in the same document as your essay. Only one file will be sent to the judges.
• All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party.
• Essays should be submitted directly via the competition entry form. Essays received by email will not be considered.
• Only one entry is allowed per person.
• After finishing your essay, complete the form and submit your application.
• You should also check the GUIDE on official link to help you with your application.

Application Deadline: August 31, 2022

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EIM student participates in the Immerse Education Essay competition and wins 20% scholarship!

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Some weeks later, he got the exciting news that he won a 20% scholarship, which is a huge achievement for him and for our school. We are proud of his work and of his commitment and wish him all the best for this experience!

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Immerse Education Essay Competition 2024

Published: 09 Apr 2024 385 views

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 the full Essay Competition Guide. 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship to study at a world-leading university of their choosing. Outstanding runners-up also receive partial scholarships.

• Table of Content

About Immerse Education

Essay competition, aim and benefits of essay competition, requirements for essay competition qualification, application deadline, how to apply.

Immerse Education was founded in 2012 with the aim of providing students aged 13-18 with unparalleled educational experiences. We have educated thousands of students through our exceptional academic enrichment programmes in the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge University, University College London and the University of Sydney. Check out our courses in Cambridge, Oxford, London, Sydney and Online courses. At Immerse, we are committed to the highest quality of education. Our programmes are unique in their focus on academic rigour, stimulating our participant&rsqu... continue reading

• Funded scholarship to study abroad:  The essay competition offers students like you the chance to win a full or partial scholarship to one of their 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 the team as you write your essay, with free guides and top tips to help you along the way. Sign up to receive the full Essay competition Guide and free tips and tricks as you write.
• 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.
• 1st place: 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship.
• 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. Usually, around 7% of entrants receive scholarship funding to attend an Immerse programme.
• The Immerse Education Essay Competition is open to students worldwide of all nationalities.
• You must be aged between 13-18 during your chosen programme.
• Be interested in all subjects, from Architecture to Medicine, Creative Writing to Film Studies.

For more details, visit  Immerse Education website

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Worldwide Immerse Education 2024 Essay Competition for Students.

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 the full Essay Competition Guide. 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship to study at a world-leading university of their choosing. Outstanding runners-up also receive partial scholarships.

Benefits 

• Funded scholarship to study abroad:  The essay competition offers students like you the chance to win a full or partial scholarship to one of their 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 the team as you write your essay, with free guides and top tips to help you along the way. Sign up to receive the full Essay competition Guide and free tips and tricks as you write.
• 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.
• 1st place: 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship.
• 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. Usually, around 7% of entrants receive scholarship funding to attend an Immerse programme.

Requirements

• The Immerse Education Essay Competition is open to students worldwide of all nationalities.
• You must be aged between 13-18 during your chosen programme.
• Be interested in all subjects, from Architecture to Medicine, Creative Writing to Film Studies.

Method of Application

Click here to apply.

For More Information,

Visit the Official Webpage

Application Deadline: January 4, 2024 .

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English & Creative Writing Competitions for High School Students

Updated: Apr 19

Writing is an essential skill that plays a crucial role in students' academic and professional success. Writing contests are a great way to focus on a topic that excites you, organize your thoughts, showcase your research and creativity, join a community, and gain recognition.  Essays exercise your communication and critical thinking skills, and a student’s essay reveals much about their confidence, brain power, social skills, and commitment. There’s a reason why universities require personal statements. However, with so many writing competitions available, it can be challenging for students to know which ones are worth entering. Here is a list of prestigious writing competitions that offer high school students the chance to showcase their talent, and exercise their creativity through writing.

National Scholastic Art and Writing Awards

Focus:  The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards is one of the most prestigious art and writing competitions for middle and high school students. High school students can submit creative works across 28 different categories, including short stories, personal essays, poetry, and screenplays. The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards recognize students both locally and nationally with awards, exhibitions, publications, and scholarships. National Medalists are eligible to win scholarships up to $12,500. 

Eligibility:  Grade 7-12 students

Deadline:  December-January

2. National Council of Teachers of English Essay Competition

Focus:  The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) hosts the annual Achievement Awards in Writing, recognizing high school sophomores and juniors for the best student writing. Students can submit a personal narrative, fictional story, informative or persuasive essay, series of poems, photo essay, or graphic novel/narrative.

Eligibility:  Grade 10 and 11 students

Deadline:  February 15

3. Princeton University Contests

Focus:  Princeton University hosts two contests for high school juniors. One is a poetry contest judged by members of the Princeton University Creative Writing faculty. The other is a Ten-Minute Play Contest judged by members of the Princeton University Program in Theater faculty. Each contest has a first-place prize of $500, second-place prize of $250, and third-place prize of $100.

Eligibility:  Grade 11 students

Deadline:  Poetry - Late November

      Play - April 1

4. Bennington Young Writers Awards

Focus:  Bennington College has an impressive history of literary alumni, including three U.S. poet laureates, twelve Pulitzer Prize winners, four MacArthur Geniuses, two of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people, and countless New York Times  bestsellers. The Young Writers Awards were created to continue this legacy, promote writing excellence, and recognize talented high school writers. High school students are encouraged to submit to poetry, fiction, and nonfiction categories.

Eligibility:  Grades 9-12 students

Deadline:  November 1

5. Jane Austen Society Essay Contest

Focus:  The Jane Austen Society Essay Contest is an annual competition that invites high school and college students to submit their essays on Jane Austen's novels and their impact on literature and society. The contest is organized by the Jane Austen Society of North America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the study and appreciation of Jane Austen's works. The contest is open to students from all over the world, and the winners receive cash prizes and a one-year membership in the Jane Austen Society. The contest aims to encourage young writers to engage with Austen's timeless themes and to inspire the next generation of Austen scholars and enthusiasts.

Deadline:  June 1

6. John Locke Essay Competition

Focus:  This contest gives you a chance to refine your skills in argumentation (e.g., independent insights, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis, and rhetoric) and have your work assessed by experts. You can choose from 1 of 3 challenging questions posed in 7 different categories (Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology, and Law) in the form of a 2,000-word (max) essay. There’s also a junior category for students who are under age 15 (i.e., 14 or younger).

Eligibility:  Senior category - Ages 15-17

       Junior category - Ages 14 and under

Deadline:  June 30

7. Immerse Education Essay Competition

Focus:  The Immerse Education Essay Competition allows students to submit essay responses to a question of their choice relating to a subject of interest. There are over twenty questions to choose from. 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship to study at a world-leading university of their choosing. Outstanding runners-up also receive partial scholarships.

Eligibility:  Students aged 13-18

Deadline:  September 12th

8. Adroit Prizes for Poetry and Prose

Focus:  You can give up to 3 writings at a time, with a 9,000-word limit across the pieces. For poetry, you can submit 6 at a time, with no word count limit. Winning entries will be featured in the Adroit Journal. And their authors will receive a cash prize of $200.

Deadline:  May 1

9. NSHSS Creative Writing Scholarship

Focus:  Awards will be presented to students with the top submissions in the two categories below :

Poetry : Students may submit their original poetry in any style, from formal verse to free verse to experimental. The poem should be formatted as you wish it to appear in publication.

Fiction : Students may submit a piece of short fiction, which must be no more than 5,000 words and should not be single-spaced. The entry may be any genre of the student’s choice, including graphic novel or story.

10. Ayn Rand Essay Competition

Focus:   These contests encourage students to seriously engage with Rand’s ideas through reflection on her profound and influential novels. Students who participate will need to read the book they have selected carefully, grapple with its complex themes, and push the boundaries of their writing ability. By doing so, we hope students will better appreciate Rand’s literary works and develop a curiosity for the philosophy underlying them.

Eligibility:  Grades 6-12 students

Deadline:  End May-Mid June depending on the book chosen

11. World Historian Student Essay Competition

Focus:  The World Historian Student Essay Competition is an annual writing competition for high school students around the world. The contest is organized by the World History Association, an organization dedicated to promoting the study of world history. Participants are asked to submit an essay on a given topic related to world history, and the winners are selected based on the quality of their writing and their historical analysis. The competition aims to encourage students to think critically about historical events and their impact on the world today. The winners receive a cash prize, and a certificate of recognition, and their essays are published on the World History Association's website. The competition provides young writers with an opportunity to showcase their research and writing skills while also promoting the importance of studying world history.

Eligibility:  Grade K-12 students

To understand which of these programs is ideal for you, speak to your mentors at OnCourse who will be able to make the most effective recommendations while keeping in mind your interests, your current academic standing, and your resume. If you are not enrolled with OnCourse , reach out to set up a consultation meeting  to understand more about our mentoring programs for students from Grade 8 to Grade 12.

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Immerse Education Essay Competition 2024

Deadline: September 12, 2024

Applications are open for the Immerse Education Essay Competition 2024 . 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 the full Essay Competition Guide. 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship to study at a world-leading university of their choosing. Outstanding runners-up also receive partial scholarships.

Participating in the competition comes with the following perks:

• Funded scholarship to study abroad:  The essay competition offers students like you the chance to win a full or partial scholarship to one of their 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 the team as you write your essay, with free guides and top tips to help you along the way. Sign up to receive the full Essay competition Guide and free tips and tricks as you write.
• 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.
• 1st Place: 10 winners will receive a 100% scholarship.
• Runners Up: 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%.

Eligibility

• The Immerse Education Essay Competition is open to students worldwide of all nationalities.
• You must be aged between 13-18 during your chosen programme.
• Be interested in all subjects, from Architecture to Medicine, Creative Writing to Film Studies.

Application

There is no entry fee and you do not need to have already enrolled onto any of their programmes to take part in the essay competition.

Register your Interest here and Apply here !

For more information, visit Immerse Education Essay Competition .

Jude Ogar is an educator and youth development practitioner with years of experience working in the education and youth development space. He is passionate about the development of youth in Africa.

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Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, registrations are now open all essayists must register  here  before friday 31 may, 2024.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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. To register, click here .  

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 th e deadline to avoid any last-minute complications.

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!

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.

2020 Essay Competition Winner – 13-15

Home › Essay Competition 2024 › Essay Competition Winners › 2020 Essay Competition Winner – 13-15

Table of Contents

Read one of this year’s winning entries to the Immerse Education Essay Competition from the International Relations category. Congratulations to all participants and in particular to the 10 winners of 100% scholarships !

Is the UN an effective body?

While the United Nations has an, undoubtedly, extremely difficult task of preserving peace, order and safety in essentially every corner of the world, there have also been an undeniable number of concerns raised throughout of the world, by both everyday citizens and international academics about the true effectiveness of the body. From its inability to prevent conflicts, to the bias in its fundamentally democratic character, there are many improvements that can be made to the organization, and thus, to the world.

Firstly, the ineffectiveness of the United Nations is displayed in its numerous failures in stopping or preventing conflict, which was its original goal when the organization was established after WWII and the failure of the League of Nations. In the Rwandan genocide of 1994, in which Hutu extremists killed 800,000 ethnic Tutsis, the UN peacekeepers simply deserted the people during the middle of the conflict. The UN secretary-general himself said, in 2015, “we could have done much more” and that the UN was ashamed (‘UN “shame” over Rwanda genocide’, 2014).

Another inadequacy of the United Nations in the under-representation of countries that make up the security council, and the role of the five permanent members who have the power to cripple any resolution to potential world crisis with their singular vote (Shetty, 2018). Understandably, the crumbling system created 70 years ago is in desperate need of a change today. With the lack of African or Latin American countries in the permanent seats, very few people still agree that the security council is representative of the 193 member states (Borger et al., 2015). Meanwhile, controversial topics such as the Syrian conflict have been paralysed with vetoes from China and Russia, which has frustrated many critics (Nichols, 2019). Despite all this, the veto power is a tool which only serves to further the interests of certain countries, which is a difficult imbalance to fix.

The current system supports the narrowly-defined interests of each country’s government and undermines the overarching aim of the United Nations, which is to protect the interests of humanity as a whole (Weiss, 2012). The USA, for example, has consistently acted against the common interest in resolutions regarding Israel, having vetoed 43 resolutions in the security council in total. This includes one resolutions condemning Trump’s decision to move the Israel embassy to Jerusalem, though every other country voted in favour of this condemnation (MME Staff, 2017). However, this unilateralism is not confined to the veto power. Poorer countries in the UN General Assembly would often vote in the interests of a hegemon in exchange for aid. In the case of China and many African countries, this is usually in the form of large infrastructure projects such as bridges and high-speed trains (Yang, 2019). A US data analysis project shows this if Rwanda, for instance, voted in favour of China an additional 25% of the time, their aid could increase in value by 289% (China and Africa — A despot’s guide to foreign aid, 2016).

While there is consensus that the UN is ineffective, few people agree on how it should be improved. On the surface, it appears that the organization has simply been incompetent in maintaining peace, but what is more problematic is the member states’ reluctance to work multilaterally to create good as a whole. This is amplified by the skewed distribution of power in the security council. After all, it is extremely difficult to reduce the power of the states currently in charge which would be needed to make a substantial difference to the body’s effectiveness.

Why Apply To The Immerse Education Essay Competition? 

Are you a highly motivated student aged 13-18? Have you ever wanted to experience studying in Cambridge or Oxford? 

The Immerse Education essay competition allows you the chance to submit an essay for the chance to be awarded a scholarship to the award-winning Cambridge summer school . 

How To Apply To The Immerse Education Essay Competition? 

The Immerse Education annual essay competition is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to win a scholarship to a Cambridge or Oxford summer school . 

If you’re aged 13-18 and you’re interested in applying to the Immerse Education essay competition then please visit our essay competition page for more details.

Bibliography

Borger, J., Inzaurralde, B., Levett, C., Newell, C., Sheehy, F., & Maynard, P. (2015, September 23). Vetoed! What’s wrong with the UN security council – and how it could do better. The Guardian . https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2015/sep/23/un-security-council-failing-70-years China and Africa—A despot’s guide to foreign aid. (2016, April 16). https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2016/04/16/a-despots-guide-to-foreign-aid MME Staff. (2017, December 19). The 43 times US has used veto power against UN resolutions on Israel. Middle East Eye. https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/43-times-us-has-used-veto-power-against-un-resolutions-israel Nichols, M. (2019, December 20). Russia, backed by China, casts 14th U.N. veto on Syria to block cross-border aid. Reuters . https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-un-idUSKBN1YO23V Shetty, S. (2018, September 30). The Problem With the UN Veto Power [Interview]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPAONq36HKg UN ‘shame’ over Rwanda genocide. (2014, April 7). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26917419 Weiss, T. (2012). What’s Wrong with the United Nations and How to Fix It (2nd ed.). Polity Books. Yang, D. (2019, July 19). How China’s Africa Alliance is Shifting World Order. Inter Press Service . http://www.ipsnews.net/2019/07/chinas-africa-alliance-shifting-world-order/

There were over 5000 entries to the Immerse Education Essay Competition 2020. Return to our blog over the coming months as more winning entries are published.

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