Essay writing requires more than just an ability to write. It is a medium where good grammar, exceptional vocabulary, imaginative capacity, critical thinking, articulation of voice and sharing an opinion come together in a few thousand words or less, to make an impact without being a heavy read. Essay has come a long way. The first known forerunner of what we call an essay in modern times, dates back to the ancient times, where philosophers like Plutarch and Seneca wrote prose pieces about their philosophy. The first essay, or rather a collection of essays was written in 1580 by Michel de Montaigne, a French philosopher who used essays to talk about bout his other written work and philosophy. He called his collection Essais, taken from the French word “essayer” which means “to attempt”. This was followed by a collection of the world’s first English essays simply titled, Essays, by Francis Bacon in 1597.
What started as an outlet for philosophies of taciturn thinkers, soon became a mouthpiece for revolution, as can be seen in essays by freedom fighters globally, from Thomas Paine and Alexander Hamilton during the American Revolution to compositions and political essays by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh and so many others during the Indian Freedom Struggle.
Today, while remaining a powerful medium for the oppressed to raise their voice, essays have become a critical deciding point for admissions to top educational institutions as well as a medium for hiring. It has become almost a necessity for students to get trained in essay writing, in order to get into an institution or in a profession of their choice.
International Essay Contests are a great way to get into essay writing and challenge oneself to inculcate the art of composition writing and use it as a means of expression. Institutions and organisations worldwide conduct essay contests internationally, catering to all age groups and skill levels, right from middle school students to professional writers.
Essay contests for school students
School students are often introduced to essays write at the advent of their writing skills, as most language curriculum consist of an essay writing section to test a student’s fluency in the language.
Essay writing in exam papers is often seen by students as a necessary evil.
International essay contests for school age students are a great way to inculcate interest in the art of essay writing and even to prepare them for future literary and academic endeavors.
Some of the international essay contests for school students include:
The Cambridge Re: Think Essay Competition
Organized by the Cambridge Center for International Research of the Cambridge University, UK, this competition is conducted for secondary school students worldwide.
The competition is conducted in two age categories.
The Junior category is for students aged 11-13 years and the Senior category is for students aged 14-18 years.
The contest is based on prompts and commentary on those prompts, which are given by professors of various departments from the Cambridge University. Prompts are more moral and daily problem based for the Junior category, with topics such discussing the nuanced outcomes of honesty or fairness in a school setting.
Prompts for the senior category are more sociopolitical and often argumentative, touching upon topics such as populism, meritocracy, systemic injustice or topics dealing with modern technology such as moonshot scientific projects and AI.
Essays submitted to this contest must be 2000 words and free of plagiarism.
The contest has a huge number of shortlists and honourable mentions, and winners are awarded with prizes, cash and a dinner at Cambridge University.
The contest is a great opportunity for students to raise their awareness on global issues and think critically on everyday issues that affect them.
John Locke Institute Global Essay Prize
This is another UK based prize organized by the John Locke Institute and is open to students worldwide.
The Contest has two age categories where students up to the age of 15 years participate in the Junior category while students over the age of 15 years participate in the Senior category.
The topics for this contest are given in the form of questions. The questions are divided by categories such as History, Science and Technology, Theology and Politics and each such category has three questions.
Participants must write a 2000 word essay, answering any one of the questions so there is a lot of topics to choose from and the participants need not be confined to a single category.
The best essays of the contest are given cash prizes and scholarships along with an invitation to attend a prize ceremony in London.
This contest is great for students to introspect upon the lesser asked questions and broaden their understanding of various topics.
The Harvard Crimson Global Essay Competition
This contest is an annual virtual writing contest for students aged 10-18 years worldwide.
The contest gives participants an option to choose from three different essay styles, which are creative, argumentative or journalistic.
Prompts for the essays are released after the registration and participants must write a 500 word essay based on the prompt and their chosen style.
The short word count is quite a challenge as passion and a flair for writing can often cause students to write longer works of prose, but the contest requires participants to express themselves in a concise manner.
Winners of the contest are awarded a cash prize and a spot in the Harvard Crimson Summer Journalism Programme.
The contest is quite journalistic in its nature and it gives students a good exposure to the basics of journalism and even explores creative essay writing which is a good break from general nonfiction themes.
Essay contests for school students are mainly prompt based as they are aimed at shaping a student’s way of thought. Geopolitical scenarios, social issues, argumentative topics based on history or religion, science and technology and even law and philosophy gives students a well rounded exposure to current affairs and various streams of thought.
Essay contests for professional writers
Essay contests for adults and professional writers take a turn towards non fiction and literary themes.
In most cases, the theme for the contest is open, unlike the prompt based contests for students and if the topics are given, they are more open to interpretation, in contrast to the specifically spelt out questions that are given for student contests.
Essay contests for adults my also take a turn towards academia and technical writing, and can be a part of a larger research project.
Some of the international essay contests for professional writers include:
The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize
This prize is a theme based contests, where writers are given a single theme to base their writing on. The theme for the latest contest was Fear and it is open to interpretation by the writer.
Participants can approach the topic in any manner, taking into account different writing styles such as creative essays, opinion pieces or even philosophical and introspective pieces.
The contest aims to scout for writing talent among a global group of participants and to support both emerging and established writers in the field of non fiction prose.
Winners of the contest receive cash prizes and global recognition.
It is a good platform for emerging writers to showcase their essay writing skills.
Financial Times/ McKinsey Bracken Bower Prize
This is a unique contest for young and emerging writers.
Participants are required to write an essay which is to be written in the form of a chapter for a book about changing business and economic trends.
The contest follows a rather technical theme and it is a good opportunity for non fiction writers with a finance expertise to pitch their idea for a potential novel.
The contest leaves little scope for creativity so its focus is rather niche but writers looking to expand their literary toolkit may find the contest to be an opportunity for learning.
Winners are given mentorship by the Financial Times and their book idea is actually developed into a novel, making this a great incentive for first time non fiction writers.
Virtual and website organized essay contests
Essay contests for adults are mostly organized by writing based websites and online magazines, rather than universities and educational institutions which organise on student level contests.
Online magazines span many genres, calling for non fiction prose across themes such as travel, social issues, philosophy or even open themes.
The Intrepid Times is one such online magazine which publishes travel based essays from writers all around the world. They have open submissions once a year and the website even organises a the,ed contest, exploring the various aspects of global travel.
The Aesthetica Magazine is a creative writing magazine which also publishes essays and short non fiction prose as a part of its anthology.
Websites such as Monomousumi also organise annual and monthly essay contests, where writers get an opportunity to showcase their work and get an exposure to content writing.
Essay writing is an art which can really benefit one’s writing skills and enable writers to explore a vast range of topics from all branches of knowledge. It is an art for, which caters to all age groups and encourages diversity in thought and free speech, all through a written medium.
By: Samiksha Deshpande
Write and Win: Participate in Creative writing Contest & International Essay Contest and win fabulous prizes.
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