what is the john locke essay competition

Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize.

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 four British universities, for each 16-point increase in IQ, the likelihood of getting married increases by 35% for a man but decreases by 40% for a woman. Why? 

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.

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 for essay competition finalists, 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

Upcoming Summer 2024 Application Deadline is April 14, 2024.  

Click here to apply.

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• 12 min read

The Ultimate Guide to the John Locke Essay Competition

Humanities and social sciences students often lack the opportunities to compete at the global level and demonstrate their expertise. Competitions like ISEF, Science Talent Search, and MIT Think are generally reserved for students in fields like biology, physics, and chemistry.

At Lumiere, many of our talented non-STEM students, who have a flair for writing are looking for ways to flex their skills. In this piece, we’ll go over one such competition - the John Locke Essay Competition. If you’re interested in learning more about how we guide students to win essay contests like this, check out our main page .

What is the John Locke Essay Competition?

The essay competition is one of the various programs conducted by the John Locke Institute (JLI) every year apart from their summer and gap year courses. To understand the philosophy behind this competition, it’ll help if we take a quick detour to know more about the institute that conducts it.

Founded in 2011, JLI is an educational organization that runs summer and gap year courses in the humanities and social sciences for high school students. These courses are primarily taught by academics from Oxford and Princeton along with some other universities. The organization was founded by Martin Cox. Our Lumiere founder, Stephen, has met Martin and had a very positive experience. Martin clearly cares about academic rigor.

The institute's core belief is that the ability to evaluate the merit of information and develop articulate sound judgments is more important than merely consuming information. The essay competition is an extension of the institute - pushing students to reason through complex questions in seven subject areas namely Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology, and Law​.

The organization also seems to have a strong record of admissions of alumni to the top colleges in the US and UK. For instance, between 2011 and 2022, over half of John Locke alumni have gone on to one of eight colleges: Chicago, Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.

How prestigious is the John Locke Contest?

The John Locke Contest is a rigorous and selective writing competition in the social sciences and humanities. While it is not as selective as the Concord Review and has a much broader range of students who can receive prizes, it is still considered a highly competitive program.

Winning a John Locke essay contest will have clear benefits for you in your application process to universities and would reflect well on your application. On the other hand, a shortlist or a commendation might not have a huge impact given that it is awarded to many students (more on this later).

What is the eligibility for the contest?

Students, of any country, who are 18 years old or younger before the date of submission can submit. They also have a junior category for students who are fourteen years old, or younger, on the date of the submission deadline.

Who SHOULD consider this competition?

We recommend this competition for students who are interested in social sciences and humanities, in particular philosophy, politics, and economics. It is also a good fit for students who enjoy writing, want to dive deep into critical reasoning, and have some flair in their writing approach (more on that below).

While STEM students can of course compete, they will have to approach the topics through a social science lens. For example, in 2021, one of the prompts in the division of philosophy was, ‘Are there subjects about which we should not even ask questions?’ Here, students of biology can comfortably write about topics revolving around cloning, gene alteration, etc, however, they will have to make sure that they are able to ground this in the theoretical background of scientific ethics and ethical philosophy in general.

Additional logistics

Each essay should address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, footnotes, bibliography, or authorship declaration).

If you are using an in-text-based referencing format, such as APA, your in-text citations are included in the word limit.

You can submit as many essays as you want in any and all categories. (We recommend aiming for only one given how time-consuming it can be to come up with a single good-quality submission)

Important dates

Prompts for the 2023 competition will be released in January 2023. Your submission will be due around 6 months later in June. Shortlisted candidates will be notified in mid-July which will be followed by the final award ceremony in September.

How much does it cost to take part?

What do you win?

A scholarship that will offset the cost of attending a course at the JLI. The amount will vary between $2000 and $10,000 based on whether you are a grand prize winner (best essay across all categories) or a subject category winner. (JLI programs are steeply-priced and even getting a prize in your category would not cover the entire cost of your program. While the website does not mention the cost of the upcoming summer program, a different website mentions it to be 3,000 GBP or 3600 USD)

If you were shortlisted, most probably, you will also receive a commendation certificate and an invitation to attend an academic ceremony at Oxford. However, even here, you will have to foot the bill for attending the conference, which can be a significant one if you are an international student.

How do you submit your entry?

You submit your entry through the website portal that will show up once the prompts for the next competition are up in January! You have to submit your essay in pdf format where the title of the pdf attachment should read SURNAME, First Name, Category, and Question Number (e.g. POPHAM, Alexander, Psychology, Q2).

What are the essay prompts like?

We have three insights here.

Firstly, true to the spirit of the enlightenment thinker it is named after, most of the prompts have a philosophical bent and cover ethical, social, and political themes. In line with JLI’s general philosophy, they force you to think hard and deeply about the topics they cover. Consider a few examples to understand this better:

“Are you more moral than most people you know? How do you know? Should you strive to be more moral? Why or why not?” - Philosophy, 2021

“What are the most important economic effects - good and bad - of forced redistribution? How should this inform government policy?” - Economics, 2020

“Why did the Jesus of Nazareth reserve his strongest condemnation for the self-righteous?” - Theology, 2021

“Should we judge those from the past by the standards of today? How will historians in the future judge us?” - History, 2021

Secondly, at Lumiere, our analysis is that most of these prompts are ‘deceptively rigorous’ because the complexity of the topic reveals itself gradually. The topics do not give you a lot to work with and it is only when you delve deeper into one that you realize the extent to which you need to research/read more. In some of the topics, you are compelled to define the limits of the prompt yourself and in turn, the scope of your essay. This can be a challenging exercise. Allow me to illustrate this with an example of the 2019 philosophy prompt.

“Aristotelian virtue ethics achieved something of a resurgence in the twentieth century. Was this progress or retrogression?”

Here you are supposed to develop your own method for determining what exactly constitutes progress in ethical thought. This in turn involves familiarizing yourself with existing benchmarks of measurement and developing your own method if required. This is a significant intellectual exercise.

Finally, a lot of the topics are on issues of contemporary relevance and especially on issues that are contentious . For instance, in 2019, one of the prompts for economics was about the benefits and costs of immigration whereas the 2020 essay prompt for theology was about whether Islam is a religion of peace . As we explain later, your ‘opinion’ here can be as ‘outrageous’ as you want it to be as long as you are able to back it up with reasonable arguments. Remember, the JLI website clearly declares itself to be, ‘ not a safe space, but a courteous one ’.

How competitive is the JLI Essay Competition?

In 2021, the competition received 4000 entries from 101 countries. Given that there is only one prize winner from each category, this makes this a very competitive opportunity. However, because categories have a different number of applicants, some categories are more competitive than others. One strategy to win could be to focus on fields with fewer submissions like Theology.

There are also a relatively significant number of students who receive commendations called “high commendation.” In the psychology field, for example, about 80 students received a commendation in 2022. At the same time, keep in mind that the number of students shortlisted and invited to Oxford for an academic conference is fairly high and varies by subject. For instance, Theology had around 50 people shortlisted in 2021 whereas Economics had 238 . We, at Lumiere, estimate that approximately 10% of entries of each category make it to the shortlisting stage.

How will your essay be judged?

The essays will be judged on your understanding of the discipline, quality of argumentation and evidence, and writing style. Let’s look at excerpts from various winning essays to see what this looks like in practice.

Level of knowledge and understanding of the relevant material: Differentiating your essay from casual musing requires you to demonstrate knowledge of your discipline. One way to do that is by establishing familiarity with relevant literature and integrating it well into their essay. The winning essay of the 2020 Psychology Prize is a good example of how to do this: “People not only interpret facts in a self-serving way when it comes to their health and well-being; research also demonstrates that we engage in motivated reasoning if the facts challenge our personal beliefs, and essentially, our moral valuation and present understanding of the world. For example, Ditto and Liu showed a link between people’s assessment of facts and their moral convictions” By talking about motivated reasoning in the broader literature, the author can show they are well-versed in the important developments in the field.

Competent use of evidence: In your essay, there are different ways to use evidence effectively. One such way involves backing your argument with results from previous studies . The 2020 Third Place essay in economics shows us what this looks like in practice: “Moreover, this can even be extended to PTSD, where an investigation carried out by Italian doctor G. P. Fichera, led to the conclusion that 13% of the sampling units were likely to have this condition. Initiating economic analysis here, this illustrates that the cost of embarking on this unlawful activity, given the monumental repercussions if caught, is not equal to the costs to society...” The study by G.P. Fichera is used to strengthen the author’s claim on the social costs of crime and give it more weight.

Structure, writing style, and persuasive force: A good argument that is persuasive rarely involves merely backing your claim with good evidence and reasoning. Delivering it in an impactful way is also very important. Let’s see how the winner of the 2020 Law Prize does this: “Slavery still exists, but now it applies to women and its name in prostitution”, wrote Victor Hugo in Les Misérables. Hugo’s portrayal of Fantine under the archetype of a fallen woman forced into prostitution by the most unfortunate of circumstances cannot be more jarringly different from the empowerment-seeking sex workers seen today, highlighting the wide-ranging nuances associated with commercial sex and its implications on the women in the trade. Yet, would Hugo have supported a law prohibiting the selling of sex for the protection of Fantine’s rights?” The use of Victor Hugo in the first line of the essay gives it a literary flair and enhances the impact of the delivery of the argument. Similarly, the rhetorical question, in the end, adds to the literary dimension of the argument. Weaving literary and argumentative skills in a single essay is commendable and something that the institute also recognizes.

Quality of argumentation: Finally, the quality of your argument depends on capturing the various elements mentioned above seamlessly . The third place in theology (2020) does this elegantly while describing bin-Laden’s faulty and selective use of religious verses to commit violence: “He engages in the decontextualization and truncation of Qur'anic verses to manipulate and convince, which dissociates the fatwas from bonafide Islam. For example, in his 1996 fatwa, he quotes the Sword verse but deliberately omits the aforementioned half of the Ayat that calls for mercy. bin-Laden’s intention is not interpretive veracity, but the indoctrination of his followers.” The author’s claim is that bin-Laden lacks religious integrity and thus should not be taken seriously, especially given the content of his messages. To strengthen his argument, he uses actual incidents to dissect this display of faulty reasoning.

These excerpts are great examples of the kind of work you should keep in mind when writing your own draft.

6 Winning Tips from Lumiere

Focus on your essay structure and flow: If logic and argumentation are your guns in this competition, a smooth flow is your bullet. What does a smooth flow mean? It means that the reader should be able to follow your chain of reasoning with ease. This is especially true for essays that explore abstract themes. Let’s see this in detail with the example of a winning philosophy essay. “However, if society were the moral standard, an individual is subjected to circumstantial moral luck concerning whether the rules of the society are good or evil (e.g., 2019 Geneva vs. 1939 Munich). On the other hand, contracts cannot be the standard because people are ignorant of their being under a moral contractual obligation, when, unlike law, it is impossible to be under a contract without being aware. Thus, given the shortcomings of other alternatives, human virtue is the ideal moral norm.” To establish human virtue as the ideal norm, the author points out limitations in society and contracts, leaving out human virtue as the ideal one. Even if you are not familiar with philosophy, you might still be able to follow the reasoning here. This is a great example of the kind of clarity and logical coherence that you should strive for.

Ground your arguments in a solid theoretical framework : Your essay requires you to have well-developed arguments. However, these arguments need to be grounded in academic theory to give them substance and differentiate them from casual opinions. Let me illustrate this with an example of the essay that won second place in the politics category in 2020. “Normatively, the moral authority of governments can be justified on a purely associative basis: citizens have an inherent obligation to obey the state they were born into. As Dworkin argued, “Political association, like family or friendship and other forms of association more local and intimate, is itself pregnant of obligation” (Dworkin). Similar to a family unit where children owe duties to their parents by virtue of being born into that family regardless of their consent, citizens acquire obligations to obey political authority by virtue of being born into a state.” Here, the author is trying to make a point about the nature of political obligation. However, the core of his argument is not the strength of his own reasoning, but the ability to back his reasoning with prior literature. By quoting Dworkin, he includes important scholars of western political thought to give more weight to his arguments. It also displays thorough research on the part of the author to acquire the necessary intellectual tools to write this paper.

The methodology is more important than the conclusion: The 2020 history winners came to opposite conclusions in their essays on whether a strong state hampers or encourages economic growth. While one of them argued that political strength hinders growth when compared to laissez-faire, the other argues that the state is a prerequisite for economic growth . This reflects JLI’s commitment to your reasoning and substantiation instead of the ultimate opinion. The lesson: Don’t be afraid to be bold! Just make sure you are able to back it up.

Establish your framework well: A paragraph (or two) that is able to succinctly describe your methodology, core arguments, and the reasoning behind them displays academic sophistication. A case in point is the introduction of 2019’s Philosophy winner: “To answer the question, we need to construct a method that measures progress in philosophy. I seek to achieve this by asserting that, in philosophy, a certain degree of falsification is achievable. Utilizing philosophical inquiry and thought experiments, we can rationally assess the logical validity of theories and assign “true” and “false” status to philosophical thoughts. With this in mind, I propose to employ the fourth process of the Popperian model of progress…Utilizing these two conditions, I contend that Aristotelian virtue ethics was progress from Kantian ethics and utilitarianism.” Having a framework like this early on gives you a blueprint for what is in the essay and makes it easier for the reader to follow the reasoning. It also helps you as a writer since distilling down your core argument into a paragraph ensures that the first principles of your essay are well established.

Read essays of previous winners: Do this and you will start seeing some patterns in the winning essays. In economics, this might be the ability to present a multidimensional argument and substantiating it with data-backed research. In theology, this might be your critical analysis of religious texts .

Find a mentor: Philosophical logic and argumentation are rarely taught at the high school level. Guidance from an external mentor can fill this academic void by pointing out logical inconsistencies in your arguments and giving critical feedback on your essay. Another important benefit of having a mentor is that it will help you in understanding the heavy literature that is often a key part of the writing/research process in this competition. As we have already seen above, having a strong theoretical framework is crucial in this competition. A mentor can make this process smoother.

Lumiere Research Scholar Program

If you’re looking for a mentor to do an essay contest like John Locke or want to build your own independent research paper, then consider applying to the Lumiere Research Scholar Program . Last year over 2100 students applied for about 500 spots in the program. You can find the application form here.

You can see our admission results here for our students.

Manas is a publication strategy associate at Lumiere Education. He studied public policy and interactive media at NYU and has experience in education consulting.

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A Complete Guide To ✨The John Locke Essay Competition✨

Join our exclusive info session if want to find out more about the john locke competition and what it takes to enter an award-winning essay. session 1: 5 pm (gmt-0) feb 24th session 2: 3 am (gmt-0) feb 25th, are you ready to make a mark in the prestigious john locke essay competition.

Join us for an exclusive information session that unveils the secrets to success in this renowned competition.

During this enlightening info session, you will:

📚 Discover what the John Locke Essay Competition is all about and why it's a golden opportunity for aspiring writers.

🎓 Uncover the winning strategies and techniques to ace the competition and stand out from the crowd.

🌐 Engage with experts who have excelled in the competition and get valuable tips on crafting an impressive essay.

🤝 Q&A…and so much more!

The John Locke Essay Competition is your gateway to excellence, and we invite you to a special information session to guide you on the path to success!

Register today, and receive a special GIFT for attending the webinar!

Fill in your details below to sign up for the event.

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Who should join?

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who aims for top universities

Session 1: 5 PM (GMT-0) Feb 24th

Session 2: 3 AM (GMT-0) Feb 25th

Online via Zoom

(aka anywhere!)

Meet the Speaker

Benjamin Goldstein

• A Fulbright Scholar, a graduate of Oxford, Columbia, and Cambridge
• A former head coach for the Concord Review history journal
• Has personally overseen essay submissions by many past John Locke winners
• Extensively working with hundreds of students over the past five years tutoring students in historical research and writing skills

What is the John Locke Essay Competition?

The John Locke essay competition is a famous, worldwide essay competition. Winners and honorably mentioned individuals in this competition have gone on to Oxford, Princeton, and other Ivy Leagues.

Even getting an honorable mention, not to mention achieving a top 3 spot in the competition, is an incredible addition to your admissions profile, recognized by admissions officers from Harvard to Stanford and beyond as one of the most prestigious achievements possible for a high school student!

Crimson Students’ Success

Every year we celebrate our students’ outstanding results in this highly competitive essay competition. Working with their dedicated mentors, they submit work that has already been shortlisted with numerous student recipients of the major prize(s).

From Law to Economics to History, our students have been shortlisted across numerous categories with a special mention for junior prize winners (Crimson Rise students!) from across the US, Asia, and all over the world.

In 2023, a 35% Global Shortlist Rate in comparison to the global average of < 10% was achieved after taking our most recent John Locke Essay Competition Masterclass!

Ready to join?

Sharpening your writing skills and boosting your chances of success in the john locke essay competition.

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John Locke Institute Essay Competition

Resource details.

2022 Essay Competition | johnlockeinstitute  enables you to answer essay questions on Economics topics such as 'What's wrong with the housing market? How can we fix it?' and 'Is Henry George's land value tax fair, efficient, both or neither?'. There are also Law questions which may be relevant if you are considering Land Economy. You can enter as many categories as you would like. 

2024 John Locke Essay Competition Prompts: The Incredible, Transformative Power of the John Locke Institute Essay Competition

We’ve written about the John Locke Institute Essay Competition (JLIEC) before , discussing the basics of the competition, and how it can improve your chances of college admissions, and shared the success of Ivy-Way students shortlisted for the Junior and regular Essay Competition. In general, the goal of the JLIEC is to encourage “independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style.” For the uninitiated, here’s the breakdown of the basic information:

You can get the latest information and deadlines, submission guidelines, and questions for each subject directly from the JLI’s website . 

Given that the JLIEC prompts for 2024 just came out on February 13, 2024, we thought we would revisit the topic in the form of Q&A. We’ve tried not to cover the same ground we’ve covered before so please take a look at our previous post if you still have questions.

Should you consider writing an essay for the John Locke Institute Essay Competition?

If you have any interest in the liberal arts (humanities or social science), especially one of the seven subject categories of the competition (Economics, History, Law, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, and Theology), Ivy-Way counselors often recommend our students to submit an essay to the John Locke Institute Essay Competition . It’s also a great opportunity for anyone who has even a passing interest in writing.

Why? Regardless of whether you receive a commendation, the process of responding to one of the essay prompts will deepen your understanding of the subject and give you practice in writing a research-based argumentative essay (a common college assignment). Besides, the prompts are interesting; you’ll be sure to learn something that’s useful for you personally, and when you are applying to colleges, you may . Most of the students we’ve guided through the process have reported that it was an incredible, transformative experience . They felt like they became better writers and more critical thinkers as a result. 

What are the prompts like?

All of the prompts have something of a philosophical bent (not just the philosophy prompts). They challenge you to apply concepts from different fields to analyze contemporary and hypothetical scenarios. Take a look at this sample from the 2023 prompts to see what we mean:

• “A government funds its own expenditure by taxing its population. Suppose, instead, it relied solely on money newly created by the central bank? What would be the advantages and/or disadvantages?” Economics-1
• “In what sense are you the same person today that you were when you were ten?” Philosophy-2
• “Which characteristics distinguish successful movements for social change from unsuccessful ones?” History-3
• “If China becomes the leading superpower, what would that mean for the people who live there? What would it mean for everyone else?” Politics-2

What are the prompts for 2024?

• What is the optimal global population?
• Accurate news reporting is a public good. Does it follow that news agencies should be funded from taxation?
• Do successful business people benefit others when making their money, when spending it, both, or neither?
• Why was sustained economic growth so rare before the later 18th century and why did this change?
• Has music ever significantly changed the course of history?
• Why do civilisations collapse? Is our civilisation in danger?
• When, if ever, should a company be permitted to refuse to do business with a person because of that person’s public statements?
• 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?
• 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?
• Do we have any good reasons to trust our moral intuition?
• Do girls have a right to compete in sporting contests that exclude boys?
• Should I be held responsible for what I believe?
• Is there such a thing as too much democracy?
• Is peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip possible?
• When is compliance complicity?
• According to a study by four British universities, for each 16-point increase in IQ, the likelihood of getting married increases by 35% for a man but decreases by 40% for a woman. Why?
• There is an unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people. Can we fix this? How?
• What is the difference between a psychiatric illness and a character flaw?
• “I am not religious, but I am spiritual.” What could the speaker mean by “spiritual”?
• Is it reasonable to thank God for protection from some natural harm if He is responsible for causing the harm?
• Does God reward those who believe in him? If so, why?

Junior Prize

• Does winning a free and fair election automatically confer a mandate for governing?
• Has the anti-racism movement reduced racism?
• Is there life after death?
• How did it happen that governments came to own and run most high schools, while leaving food production to private enterprise? 
• When will advancing technology make most of us unemployable? What should we do about this?
• Should we trust fourteen-year-olds to make decisions about their own bodies?

How do you get started?

First, you’ll want to start by researching the topic and critically evaluating different viewpoints before constructing your own argument. The prompts don’t give you much to work with. In most cases, you’ll have to define some terms and set the limits of the scope of the argument you want to make. You’ll need to use evidence to support your plans, and students often find a writing research mentor at Ivy-Way to help them choose the best prompt and brainstorm the evidence.

Taking the economics prompt above–about government funding through money creation rather than taxation–as an example, you could start with an overview of monetary policy and the role of central banks in managing a country’s money supply. Then you need to present both advantages and disadvantages: the benefits of economic stimulus by avoiding direct taxation against the long-term risks of inflation and potential laws of confidence in the currency. You could use historical examples and economic theories to support your analysis. 

Second, you’ll also need to consider potential counter-arguments. Using the philosophy prompt above about the continuity of the self, you might argue that personal identity persists over time through the continuity of consciousness. You are the same person as you were at ten because of your continuous psychological experiences, memories, and sense of self that you can trace back to your younger self. The counterargument is that personal identity is not fixed due to physical changes. Consider the Ship of Theseus argument applied to the human body: cells, tissues, and organs rejuvenate periodically and over a 7 to 10-year period your entire body has completely regenerated. The person you are today differs significantly from who you were at ten due to physical development and biological processes. Dramatic physical changes challenge the notion of a singular, unchanging identity.

Finally, you must ensure your essay is coherent, well-structured, and persuasive. From start to finish the entire task is somewhat complex and probably best done with some help from an experienced advisor.

Where can you find past essay winners?

One of the best ways to prepare to write your own essay is to read past winning essays and use them as “mentor texts” (as the NY Times editors refer to them). Mentor texts are “pieces of literature that you…can return to and reread for many different purposes. They are texts to be studied and imitated…” (the National Writing Project ). The point of mentor texts is to learn the craft your own essay by discovering the moves the writers make and how they effectively make your own argument.

You can find a selection of past essay winners on JLI’s website . There are eight winning essays on that page, from first to third prize from 2021 to 2023, including 2023’s grand prize winner. That’s a fairly limited collection of essays. Here are some other winning essays you can use as mentor texts:

Economics – 2020 First Prize . Prompt: “What is the socially efficient level of crime?”

Law – 2020 First Prize . Prompt: “Does a law that prohibits the selling of sex protect or infringe women’s rights?”

History – 2020 First Prize . Prompt: “How is the modern world different from previous periods of history and why did it come into existence when and where it did?”

Theology – 2020 First Prize . Prompt: “Many people have committed acts, execrated and deplored by others, in obedience to sincerely held beliefs. Can we reasonably ask anyone to do better than simply to obey his own conscience?”

Philosophy – 2020 Grand Prize . Prompt: “Is intuition to philosophy as observation is to science?”

Politics – 2020 First Prize . Prompt: “American citizens give away more than $300 billion each year in charitable donations. Only a tiny fraction of this (less than 0.001%) is donated to federal, state, and local governments. Politicians claim that they spend taxpayers’ money efficiently, to accomplish the most good with the budgets at their disposal. But if this were true wouldn’t governments be able to compete more successfully with private charities? What are the implications of your answer?”

Psychology – 2020 First Prize . Prompt: “Isn’t all reasoning (outside mathematics and formal logic) motivated reasoning?”

Junior Category – 2020 First Prize . Prompt: “Who should own your data? The companies with which you agree to share your data, everybody, just you, or nobody?”

What are some tips for crafting a successful essay?

• Read the question/prompt carefully. Make sure you understand what the question is asking and that you address all parts of it.
• Demonstrate familiarity with relevant theories. Others have written about the question at hand. Find some authors (through research, of course) that you find particularly convincing or unconvincing.
• Figure out what you want to argue and write a thesis. You are writing to convince the reader. Keep that reader in mind throughout.
• Use evidence effectively. You’ll need to show how you arrived at your claim from the evidence you examined. Evidence may include quotations, paraphrasing, data, graphs, or primary sources. It’s not enough just to state some evidence: you’ll need to analyze it and explicitly connect it to your claim. 
• Think of alternative answers to your question and anticipate objections. Offering and analyzing evidence that supports your thesis isn’t enough. You need to consider the arguments that readers can raise to challenge your thesis and explain why your argument is stronger than the alternatives.
• Make sure your essay has a clear logical flow. When you have strong clear paragraphs, you guide the reader through your argument by showing how each point fits to your thesis. 
• End with a conclusion. The form of the conclusion varies depending on the nature of the essay you’ve written. But in general, you should conclude by stating “what” you have said, explaining the “so what” (why the reader should care), and end with the “now what,” some insight or new way to understand the question that results from reading your essay.

Take a look at Lumiere’s excellent article for additional tips along with illustrative examples. Their writing tips include: focusing on essay structure, grounding arguments in theory, being bold in conclusions, and seeking mentorship for guidance in logic and argumentation.

How competitive is it? To what extent can the JLIEC boost my chances of college admissions?

It’s fairly competitive. Each year 1,000s of entries are submitted from over 100 countries. About 10% of essays for each category are shortlisted and considered for a prize. Shortlisted candidates are also invited to Oxford for the award ceremony. There are three prizes for each of the seven categories one of which is chosen as the overall best essay, so 21 prizes not counting the junior category winners.

That being said, some subjects are more popular and receive more submissions. In 21, Theology had about 50 people on the shortlist while Economics had over 200 . So one strategy might be to submit for a category that has fewer entries. However, given how long it takes to research and write one of these essays (weeks at least), you might be better off just choosing a topic that genuinely interests you.

Recent winners of the grand prize have gone to essays in Philosophy (2023), Economics (2022), Law (2021), Philosophy (2020), and Economics (2019).

As to how much of a boost it gives your college application, it will certainly demonstrate your abilities to conduct research, engage with complex ideas, and articulate a well-reasoned argument. All of these are considered valuable by admissions officers at elite universities. Over half of the John Locke alumni enrolled in just eight universities: Chicago, Columbia, Georgetown, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale.

Final Thoughts

The John Locke Institute Essay Competition is a great opportunity for you to practice your research and writing skills and gain some insight into a subject that you’re interested in. It also has the potential to help you develop as a critical thinker and demonstrate your curiosity and creativity. And, of course, it will make your college application stronger.

If you’re looking for a mentor for the John Locke competition or want to do your own independent research, consider applying to Ivy-Way’s Research Mentor Program.

Harvard College Writing Center, “Strategies for Essay Writing”

Manas Pant, “The Ultimate Guide to the John Locke Essay Competition,” Lumiere Education.

Dr. R.J. is a writer, editor, teacher, and academic coach & consultant. He's a devotee of speculative fiction, especially stories involving spaceships, robots, time travel, and/or laser swords. He currently works at Ivy-Way Academy helping students achieve their full academic potential.

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• Expert Guide to the John Locke Essay Competition Theology Questions
• Last modified 2024-03-29
• Published on 2024-03-28

1. John Locke Essay Competition Theology Questions 2024

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.

When approaching the first question of the John Locke Essay Competition regarding spirituality, it’s crucial for students to delve into its multifaceted nature. The biggest piece of this question is defining the terms of ‘religion’ and ‘spirituality,’ as well as determining if there is a meaningful distinction between the two. Though there are official, dictionary definitions for these words, this question is asking students to consider a more subjective perspective of what an individual might mean by making a distinction between spiritual and religious.

In general, religion most often refers to an organized group of people that follow the same set of rules and rituals in their community. So, then, what is spirituality? Is it a connection to something greater than oneself? These are questions that guide one’s understanding of spirituality and should be thoroughly explored in response to the prompt.

Furthermore, exploring the contrast between Eastern and Western spirituality can offer interesting insights. Eastern spiritual traditions, such as Yoga, Vedanta, Buddhism, and Jainism, emphasize meditation and detachment from material desires. In contrast, Western spirituality, such as Christianity, often intertwines with religions, placing emphasis on faith and rituals. Some other examples of spiritualities that students can investigate include Hinduism and Taoism and their spiritual traditions.

Lastly, the prompt invites students to explain whether spirituality is distinct from organized religion. It prompts students to explore alternative sources of meaning and purpose in life, such as human connection, creativity, and personal growth.

This question deals directly with a prominent issue in theological philosophy: The Problem of Evil. This issue asks, “how can a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omni-benevolent allow for natural/senseless evils to occur in the world?” There is no clear answer to this problem in philosophy, though there are many possible solutions and refutations. When addressing this question, students should consider the many different perspectives and their counterarguments.

For example, many philosophers have tried to explain; however, these theories pose problems because they either lessen the power of God or turn him into a figure that may not be worth following. Additionally, there is the idea of Theodicy, which many religious scholars have presented to solve this problem, that students can dive deeper into. Theodicy is the concept that God is not only justified in allowing such evils and suffering into the world but also that there are logically compatible and sound reasons why these evils exist that humans can understand.

This question is particularly complicated because it involves the ethics of belief, the justification of evil, the nature of natural suffering, the real suffering experienced by people all over the world, and the responsibility of God in these situations. All of these factors should be considered when answering this question.

In tackling the third question, students are encouraged to explore soteriology across various major religions. By examining traditional soteriological doctrines, students can gain an understanding of how different religious traditions conceptualize salvation and divine recompense.

In addition, students may want to consider Pascal’s Wager as a point of discussion. This is the idea that it is most logically sound for one to believe in God based on the soteriological consequences of this belief. However, one of the most prominent arguments against Pascal’s Wager is the idea of doxastic voluntarism—can one choose their own beliefs? This is relevant in terms of this question because it brings up the question of whether God would reward those who believe in Him even if they had no control over choosing whether or not they believe in Him.  

The second question students can approach is exploring soteriological beliefs across major religions to reveal perspectives on divine rewards for faith. Delving into the reasons behind these soteriological beliefs unveils a complex interplay of theological, philosophical, and cultural factors. One example students can investigate is by looking at John Calvin, a key figure in Reformed theology, who provides a compelling framework for understanding the relationship between faith and divine reward.

Furthermore, students are encouraged to examine broader concepts such as grace, merit, and divine justice. By scrutinizing these theological constructs, students can gain insights into the rationale behind the belief in divine rewards for faith and the complexities of divine-human interactions within religious traditions.

Some General Tips for Students to Keep in Mind While Writing Their Essay

Analyze the questions and link them to John Locke’s philosophy

Take the time to understand the essay prompt and what the question is asking for. By drawing connections between Locke’s philosophy and the essay prompt, you can provide a nuanced and insightful analysis that demonstrates a deep understanding of both the question and Locke’s ideas. This approach not only showcases your comprehension of the material but also allows you to engage critically with the topic at hand.

Clear reasoning with evidence drawn from extensive research

Once you decide on your stance about the question, it’s important to present your argument with logical reasoning and strong evidence from reputable sources. Students can utilize a variety of sources, including academic journals, books, and scholarly articles to gather relevant information and develop a well-informed argument. In addition, make sure that you have a strong thesis statement and that your structure and ideas are presented clearly, allowing your reader to navigate your essay with ease.

Engage in critical analysis

In addition to providing reasoning and evidence that support students’ arguments, students should also examine alternative perspectives to show that they have the ability to evaluate evidence critically– specifically the strengths and weaknesses of different viewpoints. The most important part of an argumentative essay is to answer the question, “so what?” Students should consider the wider implications of their argument, as well as why their audience should deeply care about what they have to say.

Refine Your Writing Style

This type of essay falls under the argumentative essay type. This essay type requires a third-person perspective throughout the introduction, body, and conclusion. Students should also use headings and transitions to create a smooth flow and overview of ideas without providing an excess of information.

Proofreading and Editing

Before submitting your essay and throughout the writing process, always seek feedback from peers and teachers to gain valuable insights and perspectives on your essay to help you make revisions and create the best essay you possibly can.

Aralia’s John Locke Competition Prep

In this John Locke Essay Competition Prep course, students will learn the ins and outs of essay writing, in preparation for entering the competition. We offer prep classes in all categories: philosophy, politics, economics, history, psychology, theology, and law. Students will choose one topic, compose an original thesis and argument, and write an essay for submission. Students will engage in a guided analysis of primary and secondary sources, develop critical thinking skills, and discover interesting insights. In addition to the group lecture classes, students will receive guidance on their individual projects from the instructor, in one-on-one sessions.

Further reading:

• Complete Guide to John Locke Essay Competition 2024
• Guide to the John Locke Essay Competition Economics Questions
• Guide to the John Locke Essay Competition History Questions
• Expert Guide to the John Locke Essay Competition Philosophy Questions
• Competitions

Interested in learning more?

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BHS students win honours in global essay competition

Sienna Spurling learnt about embryonic stem cell research in biology class at the Bermuda High School.

The 14-year-old was intrigued by the controversy. Embryonic stem cells are the building blocks of the body and can become any kind of cell. Scientists want to use them to research a range of diseases but harvesting them kills the embryo.

“There is a global debate with so many different views political, religious, and scientific,” she said. “It is very similar to the abortion debate in that there are opposing pro-life and pro-choice camps.”

Two thousand words on the topic won her a distinction in the prestigious John Locke Institute 2023 Global Essay Competition , based in Oxford, England.

Her classmate, Joy Yammine, also received a distinction in the Under-15 category; 13-year-old Aditi Varwandkar was shortlisted.

Each year 19,000 students from around the world enter the competition; 100 are shortlisted. Three winners are chosen; the top 15 per cent receive distinctions.

Essays were judged on the writer’s understanding of the relevant material, the use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force.

The contest was named for the English philosopher John Locke and asks students 18 and under to ponder questions such as why John Locke is considered the father of liberalism; why safety is more important than fun; and if you had $10 billion, how would you use it to make the world better.

Sienna and Joy wrote in response to the question, what is something important that people are often wrong about?

Joy took a philosophical angle, making her essay about happiness.

“It is something I have been interested in for a while,” she said. “My essay was about how people pursue happiness. Often happiness is looked at as a destination, when it is really a journey. It is not a tangible feeling. You do not know if you have reached happiness.”

The 14-year-old looked at the correlation between money and happiness.

“Beyond the point where all your basic needs are met and you are comfortable with food and shelter, there is no correlation with happiness,” she said. “Money does not make you any more happy.

“In my conclusion, I said that if you want to pursue happiness over a long period of time, you first need to find fulfilment, and contentment.”

Aditi tackled the question what, if anything, do parents owe their children?

“My take on it was that a parent owes their child the best life possible and the tools to succeed in life,” she said.

The teenager discussed central things that children need, such as food, water, clothing, and love. She felt they also needed practice for the real world and tools such as education.

“All children deserve a parent but not all parents deserve a child,” Aditi said. “It’s just about making sure that you’re in the position where you can give your child that better life.”

Their prize was a weekend seminar at Oxford University and admission to a prizegiving reception and gala dinner there.

The girls were scheduled to be in England for the weekend of September 16, but Hurricane Lee intervened, brushing past Bermuda with high waves and power cuts.

“Our flights were pushed back,” said Sienna. “Joy and I arrived a day late.”

That meant they missed the gala dinner and workshops arranged for the Saturday morning.

“At least we got to go to most of the seminars and the main award ceremony on Saturday evening at the Sheldonian Theatre,” Joy said. “That was really great.”

The awards ceremony was very formal.

“They don’t make you walk across the stage to receive your certificate [but] they call your name,” Sienna said. “It is very exciting to see so many people from around the world.”

It was her second time attending after she was shortlisted last year for an essay on taxes.

“We were told we were in the room where students take exams,” Sienna said. “There was a giant clock on the wall. The instructor told us that if we went to Oxford this would be one of the most stressful places for us.”

Seminar topics covered everything from essay writing, to tips on the United Kingdom university application process, to application to Oxford and Cambridge. The winning students also shared their essays.

“Getting into Oxford or Cambridge is not my main goal but that was very interesting,” Sienna said. “There were lots of people at the awards ceremony. It was good that BHS could be represented.”

Students took part in the competition with the help of BHS global politics and history teacher Amy Dingley-Jones.

“I’ve directed students to the John Locke essay prize for the last eight or nine years while working in different countries,” she said.

She added that the competition was a great opportunity for students to explore subjects they were interested in.

“They have to cut it down and structure it in a way that is readable but also different to the other thousands of entries,” Ms Dingley-Jones said. “They also have to give references. It is really impressive that they have been not only shortlisted but received distinctions, as well.”

Reading and writing about embryonic stem cell research cemented Sienna’s fascination with science. “I might go into biology or medicine,” she said.

Joy would like to take courses in psychology. “As a career, I might go into medicine or dentistry,” she said.

Meanwhile, Aditi was also considering psychology, or law.

• For more information on the John Locke Institute Global Essay Competition see www.johnlockeinstitute.com/essay-competition

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Discourse, debate, and analysis

Cambridge re:think essay competition 2024.

Competition Opens: 15th January, 2024

Essay Submission Deadline: 10th May, 2024 Result Announcement: 20th June, 2024 Award Ceremony and Dinner at the University of Cambridge: 30th July, 2024

We welcome talented high school students from diverse educational settings worldwide to contribute their unique perspectives to the competition.

Entry to the competition is free.

About the Competition

The spirit of the Re:think essay competition is to encourage critical thinking and exploration of a wide range of thought-provoking and often controversial topics. The competition covers a diverse array of subjects, from historical and present issues to speculative future scenarios. Participants are invited to engage deeply with these topics, critically analysing their various facets and implications. It promotes intellectual exploration and encourages participants to challenge established norms and beliefs, presenting opportunities to envision alternative futures, consider the consequences of new technologies, and reevaluate longstanding traditions. 

Ultimately, our aim is to create a platform for students and scholars to share their perspectives on pressing issues of the past and future, with the hope of broadening our collective understanding and generating innovative solutions to contemporary challenges. This year’s competition aims to underscore the importance of discourse, debate, and critical analysis in addressing complex societal issues in nine areas, including:

Religion and Politics

Political science and law, linguistics, environment, sociology and philosophy, business and investment, public health and sustainability, biotechonology.

Artificial Intelligence 

Neuroengineering

2024 essay prompts.

This year, the essay prompts are contributed by distinguished professors from Harvard, Brown, UC Berkeley, Cambridge, Oxford, and MIT.

Essay Guidelines and Judging Criteria

Review general guidelines, format guidelines, eligibility, judging criteria.

Awards and Award Ceremony

Award winners will be invited to attend the Award Ceremony and Dinner hosted at the King’s College, University of Cambridge. The Dinner is free of charge for select award recipients.

Registration and Submission

Register a participant account today and submit your essay before the deadline.

Advisory Committee and Judging Panel

The Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition is guided by an esteemed Advisory Committee comprising distinguished academics and experts from elite universities worldwide. These committee members, drawn from prestigious institutions, such as Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, and MIT, bring diverse expertise in various disciplines.

They play a pivotal role in shaping the competition, contributing their insights to curate the themes and framework. Their collective knowledge and scholarly guidance ensure the competition’s relevance, academic rigour, and intellectual depth, setting the stage for aspiring minds to engage with thought-provoking topics and ideas.

We are honoured to invite the following distinguished professors to contribute to this year’s competition.

The judging panel of the competition comprises leading researchers and professors from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, and Oxford, engaging in a strictly double blind review process.

Keynote Speeches by 10 Nobel Laureates

We are beyond excited to announce that multiple Nobel laureates have confirmed to attend and speak at this year’s ceremony on 30th July, 2024 .

They will each be delivering a keynote speech to the attendees. Some of them distinguished speakers will speak virtually, while others will attend and present in person and attend the Reception at Cambridge.

Why has religion remained a force in a secular world? 

Professor Commentary:

Arguably, the developed world has become more secular in the last century or so. The influence of Christianity, e.g. has diminished and people’s life worlds are less shaped by faith and allegiance to Churches. Conversely, arguments have persisted that hold that we live in a post-secular world. After all, religion – be it in terms of faith, transcendence, or meaning – may be seen as an alternative to a disenchanted world ruled by entirely profane criteria such as economic rationality, progressivism, or science. Is the revival of religion a pale reminder of a by-gone past or does it provide sources of hope for the future?

‘Religion in the Public Sphere’ by Jürgen Habermas (European Journal of Philosophy, 2006)

In this paper, philosopher Jürgen Habermas discusses the limits of church-state separation, emphasizing the significant contribution of religion to public discourse when translated into publicly accessible reasons.

‘Public Religions in the Modern World’ by José Casanova (University Of Chicago Press, 1994)

Sociologist José Casanova explores the global emergence of public religion, analyzing case studies from Catholicism and Protestantism in Spain, Poland, Brazil, and the USA, challenging traditional theories of secularization.

‘The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere’ by Judith Butler, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and Cornel West (Edited by Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen, Columbia University Press, 2011)

This collection features dialogues by prominent intellectuals on the role of religion in the public sphere, examining various approaches and their impacts on cultural, social, and political debates.

‘Rethinking Secularism’ by Craig Calhoun, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Jonathan VanAntwerpen (Oxford University Press, 2011)

An interdisciplinary examination of secularism, this book challenges traditional views, highlighting the complex relationship between religion and secularism in contemporary global politics.

‘God is Back: How the Global Rise of Faith is Changing the World’ by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (Penguin, 2010)

Micklethwait and Wooldridge argue for the coexistence of religion and modernity, suggesting that religious beliefs can contribute to a more open, tolerant, and peaceful modern world.

‘Multiculturalism’ by Tariq Modood (Polity Press, 2013)

Sociologist Tariq Modood emphasizes the importance of multiculturalism in integrating diverse identities, particularly in post-immigration contexts, and its role in shaping democratic citizenship.

‘God’s Agents: Biblical Publicity in Contemporary England’ by Matthew Engelke (University of California Press, 2013)

In this ethnographic study, Matthew Engelke explores how a group in England seeks to expand the role of religion in the public sphere, challenging perceptions of religion in post-secular England.

Gene therapy is a medical approach that treats or prevents disease by correcting the underlying genetic problem. Is gene therapy better than traditional medicines? What are the pros and cons of using gene therapy as a medicine? Is gene therapy justifiable?

Especially after Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, gene therapy is getting more and more interesting approach to cure. That’s why that could be interesting to think about. I believe that students will enjoy and learn a lot while they are investigating this topic.

The Hall at King’s College, Cambridge

The Hall was designed by William Wilkins in the 1820s and is considered one of the most magnificent halls of its era. The first High Table dinner in the Hall was held in February 1828, and ever since then, the splendid Hall has been where members of the college eat and where formal dinners have been held for centuries.

The Award Ceremony and Dinner will be held in the Hall in the evening of  30th July, 2024.

Stretching out down to the River Cam, the Back Lawn has one of the most iconic backdrop of King’s College Chapel. 

The early evening reception will be hosted on the Back Lawn with the iconic Chapel in the background (weather permitting). 

King’s College Chapel

With construction started in 1446 by Henry VI and took over a century to build, King’s College Chapel is one of the most iconic buildings in the world, and is a splendid example of late Gothic architecture. 

Attendees are also granted complimentary access to the King’s College Chapel before and during the event. 

Confirmed Nobel Laureates

Dr Thomas R. Cech

The nobel prize in chemistry 1989 , for the discovery of catalytic properties of rna.

Thomas Robert Cech is an American chemist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman, for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. Cech discovered that RNA could itself cut strands of RNA, suggesting that life might have started as RNA. He found that RNA can not only transmit instructions, but also that it can speed up the necessary reactions.

He also studied telomeres, and his lab discovered an enzyme, TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase), which is part of the process of restoring telomeres after they are shortened during cell division.

As president of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he promoted science education, and he teaches an undergraduate chemistry course at the University of Colorado

Sir Richard J. Roberts

The nobel prize in medicine 1993 .

F or the discovery of split genes

During 1969–1972, Sir Richard J. Roberts did postdoctoral research at Harvard University before moving to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was hired by James Dewey Watson, a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and a fellow Nobel laureate. In this period he also visited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology for the first time, working alongside Fred Sanger. In 1977, he published his discovery of RNA splicing. In 1992, he moved to New England Biolabs. The following year, he shared a Nobel Prize with his former colleague at Cold Spring Harbor Phillip Allen Sharp.

His discovery of the alternative splicing of genes, in particular, has had a profound impact on the study and applications of molecular biology. The realisation that individual genes could exist as separate, disconnected segments within longer strands of DNA first arose in his 1977 study of adenovirus, one of the viruses responsible for causing the common cold. Robert’s research in this field resulted in a fundamental shift in our understanding of genetics, and has led to the discovery of split genes in higher organisms, including human beings.

Dr Aaron Ciechanover

The nobel prize in chemistry 2004 .

F or the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation

Aaron Ciechanover is one of Israel’s first Nobel Laureates in science, earning his Nobel Prize in 2004 for his work in ubiquitination. He is honored for playing a central role in the history of Israel and in the history of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Dr Ciechanover is currently a Technion Distinguished Research Professor in the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute at the Technion. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Russian Academy of Sciences and is a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, he was a visiting Distinguished Chair Professor at NCKU, Taiwan. As part of Shenzhen’s 13th Five-Year Plan funding research in emerging technologies and opening “Nobel laureate research labs”, in 2018 he opened the Ciechanover Institute of Precision and Regenerative Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen campus.

Dr Robert Lefkowitz

The nobel prize in chemistry 2012 .

F or the discovery of G protein-coupled receptors

Robert Joseph Lefkowitz is an American physician (internist and cardiologist) and biochemist. He is best known for his discoveries that reveal the inner workings of an important family G protein-coupled receptors, for which he was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Brian Kobilka. He is currently an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as a James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry at Duke University.

Dr Lefkowitz made a remarkable contribution in the mid-1980s when he and his colleagues cloned the gene first for the β-adrenergic receptor, and then rapidly thereafter, for a total of 8 adrenergic receptors (receptors for adrenaline and noradrenaline). This led to the seminal discovery that all GPCRs (which include the β-adrenergic receptor) have a very similar molecular structure. The structure is defined by an amino acid sequence which weaves its way back and forth across the plasma membrane seven times. Today we know that about 1,000 receptors in the human body belong to this same family. The importance of this is that all of these receptors use the same basic mechanisms so that pharmaceutical researchers now understand how to effectively target the largest receptor family in the human body. Today, as many as 30 to 50 percent of all prescription drugs are designed to “fit” like keys into the similarly structured locks of Dr Lefkowitz’ receptors—everything from anti-histamines to ulcer drugs to beta blockers that help relieve hypertension, angina and coronary disease.

Dr Lefkowitz is among the most highly cited researchers in the fields of biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, and clinical medicine according to Thomson-ISI.

Dr Joachim Frank

The nobel prize in chemistry 2017 .

F or developing cryo-electron microscopy

Joachim Frank is a German-American biophysicist at Columbia University and a Nobel laureate. He is regarded as the founder of single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson. He also made significant contributions to structure and function of the ribosome from bacteria and eukaryotes.

In 1975, Dr Frank was offered a position of senior research scientist in the Division of Laboratories and Research (now Wadsworth Center), New York State Department of Health,where he started working on single-particle approaches in electron microscopy. In 1985 he was appointed associate and then (1986) full professor at the newly formed Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University at Albany, State University of New York. In 1987 and 1994, he went on sabbaticals in Europe, one to work with Richard Henderson, Laboratory of Molecular Biology Medical Research Council in Cambridge and the other as a Humboldt Research Award winner with Kenneth C. Holmes, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. In 1998, Dr Frank was appointed investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Since 2003 he was also lecturer at Columbia University, and he joined Columbia University in 2008 as professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of biological sciences.

Dr Barry C. Barish

The nobel prize in physics 2017 .

For the decisive contributions to the detection of gravitational waves

Dr Barry Clark Barish is an American experimental physicist and Nobel Laureate. He is a Linde Professor of Physics, emeritus at California Institute of Technology and a leading expert on gravitational waves.

In 2017, Barish was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics along with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”. He said, “I didn’t know if I would succeed. I was afraid I would fail, but because I tried, I had a breakthrough.”

In 2018, he joined the faculty at University of California, Riverside, becoming the university’s second Nobel Prize winner on the faculty.

In the fall of 2023, he joined Stony Brook University as the inaugural President’s Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics.

In 2023, Dr Barish was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Biden in a White House ceremony.

Dr Harvey J. Alter

The nobel prize in medicine 2020 .

For the discovery of Hepatitis C virus

Dr Harvey J. Alter is an American medical researcher, virologist, physician and Nobel Prize laureate, who is best known for his work that led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Alter is the former chief of the infectious disease section and the associate director for research of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. In the mid-1970s, Alter and his research team demonstrated that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A or hepatitis B viruses. Working independently, Alter and Edward Tabor, a scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, proved through transmission studies in chimpanzees that a new form of hepatitis, initially called “non-A, non-B hepatitis” caused the infections, and that the causative agent was probably a virus. This work eventually led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1988, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2020 along with Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice.

Dr Alter has received recognition for the research leading to the discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award conferred to civilians in United States government public health service, and the 2000 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research.

Dr Ardem Patapoutian

The nobel prize in medicine 2021 .

For discovering how pressure is translated into nerve impulses

Dr Ardem Patapoutian is an Lebanese-American molecular biologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel Prize laureate of Armenian descent. He is known for his work in characterising the PIEZO1, PIEZO2, and TRPM8 receptors that detect pressure, menthol, and temperature. Dr Patapoutian is a neuroscience professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. In 2021, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with David Julius.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I participate in the Re:think essay competition? 

The Re:think Essay competition is meant to serve as fertile ground for honing writing skills, fostering critical thinking, and refining communication abilities. Winning or participating in reputable contests can lead to recognition, awards, scholarships, or even publication opportunities, elevating your academic profile for college applications and future endeavours. Moreover, these competitions facilitate intellectual growth by encouraging exploration of diverse topics, while also providing networking opportunities and exposure to peers, educators, and professionals. Beyond accolades, they instil confidence, prepare for higher education demands, and often allow you to contribute meaningfully to societal conversations or causes, making an impact with your ideas.

Who is eligible to enter the Re:think essay competition?  

As long as you’re currently attending high school, regardless of your location or background, you’re eligible to participate. We welcome students from diverse educational settings worldwide to contribute their unique perspectives to the competition.

Is there any entry fee for the competition? 

There is no entry fee for the competition. Waiving the entry fee for our essay competition demonstrates CCIR’s dedication to equity. CCIR believes everyone should have an equal chance to participate and showcase their talents, regardless of financial circumstances. Removing this barrier ensures a diverse pool of participants and emphasises merit and creativity over economic capacity, fostering a fair and inclusive environment for all contributors.

Subscribe for Competition Updates

If you are interested to receive latest information and updates of this year’s competition, please sign up here.

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Supplement to John Locke

The influence of john locke’s works.

Hans Aarsleff remarks that Locke “is the most influential philosopher of modern times”. He notes that besides initiating the vigorous tradition known as British empiricism, Locke’s influence reached far beyond the limits of the traditional discipline of philosophy: “His influence in the history of thought, on the way we think about ourselves and our relation to the world we live in, to God, nature and society, has been immense” (Aarsleff 1994: 252). Locke may well have influenced such diverse eighteenth century figures as Swift, Johnson, Sterne, Voltaire, Priestly and Jefferson.

Beginning with the publication of the 92 page summary of the Essay in the Bibliotheque universelle et historique for January through March of 1688 along with the publication of the first edition in December 1689, the Essay was both popular and controversial on both the continent and in England for the next fifty years. The sustained argument in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding for rejecting the old scholastic model of knowledge and science in favor of empirically disciplined modes of inquiry was enormously successful. Locke’s arguments against innate principles and ideas largely prevailed. This was an early and striking success of the Essay . Recall that Locke’s attack on innate ideas was part and parcel of his anti-authoritarianism and his emphasis on the importance of free and autonomous inquiry. As Aarsleff also notes, the radical nature of Locke’s attacks on epistemic, political, and religious authority are difficult for us to grasp today. (Aarsleff, 1994, 258) Bishop Stillingfleet, the most prominent of Locke’s early critics, claimed that Locke’s new way of ideas would lead to skepticism and that his account of substance undermined the doctrine of the trinity. Locke denied this, but given that we have good reason to hold that Locke was an anti-trinitarian, we have some reason to doubt that this denial is sincere. Locke’s epistemological views and his advocacy of rational religion were taken up by early eighteenth century deists such as John Toland and Anthony Collins who drew conclusions about religion that outraged the orthodox. The age of rational religion was coming to a close by the middle of the eighteenth century.

Within a few years of the publication of the fifth edition of Locke’s essay, Berkeley attacked the alliance between empiricism and the science of Newton and the Royal Society which is an important feature of Locke’s Essay . Berkeley argued that the causal or representative account of perception leads to skepticism about the existence of the external world as there is no good solution to the problem of the veil of perception and the associated distinction between primary and secondary qualities is untenable. These attacks gave rise to several misapprehensions about the doctrines of the Essay and their connection with the history of philosophy. If one accepts Berkeley’s arguments the result is the view that empiricism leads to idealism and that the atomism which Locke regarded as the most plausible hypothesis about the world must be abandoned. Locke certainly thought he had the resources to solve the problems posed by the veil of perception doctrine and his account of the distinction between primary and secondary qualities is not the same as the one that Berkeley gives. Nonetheless, Berkeley’s attacks on the Essay have produced long lasting and influential misinterpretations of the Essay . These misinterpretations led Thomas Reid, for example, to the rejection of the way of ideas (as it leads to the denial of the existence of the external world) and probably fueled Kant’s notion that the British empiricism of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with its characteristic inadequacies and virtues is one of the two great streams leading inevitably towards his own transcendental idealism. If one does not accept the force of Berkeley’s arguments, then neither Reid’s conclusion or Kant’s story have much force to them.

Locke’s account of personal identity was genuinely revolutionary and a real contribution to philosophy. This, along with his agnosticism about whether the soul was material or immaterial, were debated hotly through much of the eighteenth century, and at least the debates about personal identity were largely recapitulated in the twentieth century. Much of this begins with the Clarke/Collins controversy of 1707–08. Locke’s account of free agency is just as interesting and important as his account of personal identity with which it is connected. Yet it seems not to have been as controversial as Locke’s account of personal identity. Gideon Yaffe’s recent book Liberty Worth the Name (2000) may well revive interest in Locke’s views on this subject as Yaffe argues that they are still of relevance to contemporary debates about free will and compatibilism.

The extent of the influence that Locke’s account of language has had over the centuries is a matter of scholarly debate. Norman Kretzmann (1968) holds that Locke’s views, while not original, had a powerful influence on the Enlightenment view of the connection of words and ideas. Noam Chomsky in Cartesian Linguistics (1966) traces the important ideas in linguistics back to Descartes and the school at Port Royal rather than Locke. This is largely a matter of the importance of the innate in Chomsky’s thought. Hans Aarsleff, on the other hand, believes that Locke stands at the beginning of the developments that produced contemporary linguistics and that Chomsky’s account is more polemical than historical (Aarsleff 1982: 101–119.

That Locke’s works on education had considerable influence is indicated by the four editions that were published in his lifetime, a fifth that came out after his death, and some twenty-one editions in the eighteenth century. There were numerous translations into European languages during the eighteenth century as well. Peter Gay remarked that “John Locke was the founder of the Enlightenment in education as in much else” (Gay 1964: 1).

The Two Treatises of Government were published anonymously, and it was only in Locke’s will that he acknowledged the authorship of this work and others such as the Letters Concerning Toleration. As a consequence, the Two Treatises had very little influence on the debates over how to justify the legitimacy of replacing King James II with William and Mary. John Dunn claims that in the eighteenth century in England, the work had little influence (Dunn 1969: 17). It was supposed that since it was written by England’s greatest philosopher, it must be the way things were done, but few bothered to read it. Certainly, conservatives such as Josiah Tucker read it and rejected its doctrines. There has been considerable scholarly debate about how much Locke’s political doctrines affected the American revolutionaries and the writing of the American declaration of independence. The original claim that Locke’s thought had considerable influence on the colonists was challenged and has more recently been reaffirmed. In France, Locke was influential through the first half of the eighteenth century and then rapidly lost influence as the French came to regard the English as conservative.

The ‘Republic of Letters’ was quite a success. Its members published many works on toleration, of which the two with the longest life and the greatest influence were Locke’s Letter on toleration and Pierre Bayle’s Philosophical Commentary. The journals founded by the members of the Republic of Letters began publishing accounts of scholars upon their death. John Marshall tells us: “The intent here was to declare that such a life in service of scholarship was significant and laudable as much as it was to identify critically what was valuable about the specific works composed by an individual.” (Marshall 2006, 516) Pierre Coste’s “Character of Mr. Locke” was such a work and set out the behavioral norms for scholars in the republic of letters. Coste’s encomium was filled with fulsome praise of Locke ’s good humor, humanity, pleasantness, and politeness in the search for truth. Marshall goes on to say:

The ethos here of ‘civility’ combined with a desire to gain from another’s knowledge and a willingness to change one’s mind in response to this knowledge was central to the attitudes of the ‘of letters’ and to the ‘Early Enlightenment’, and it was simultaneously central to the ethos of religious toleration by defenders of religious toleration in the 1680’s and 1690’s, who were simultaneously the editors of the journals of the ‘republic of letters.’ (Marshall 2006, 516–17)

Marshall continues: “it is important to stress that the ‘Early Enlightenment’combination of these commitments and practices in the late seventeenth century was crucial in their later evolution as the commitments and practices of the ‘High Enlightenment’” (Marshall 2006, 517).

In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Locke’s views were largely rejected, and his influence was at its lowest ebb. He was regarded as one of the prophets of the American and French revolutions. The doctrines of natural rights and human rights were rejected in favor of utilitarianism. Locke’s philosophy was largely misinterpreted and rejected. Even the publication of Fox Bourne’s two volume biography of Locke (1876) hardly raised any new interest.

In the twentieth century, with the sale of the Lovelace papers and their donation to Oxford University, interest in Locke among philosophers has considerably revived. These papers included letters, several drafts of the Essay , and other works. We now know considerably more about Locke and the development of his thought than was known previously, and Locke scholars have been putting Locke’s philosophy in its historical, religious, political and intellectual context. This renewed interest in Locke’s philosophy has continued apace into the twenty-first century.

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English writing teacher to coach writing competition.

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Hiring English (writing) teachers with a passion for nurturing critical thinking and writing skills in high school students We’re on the lookout for 10+ dedicated teachers to coach and guide students participating in the John Locke Essay Competition.

Qualifications: 🎓 Master’s degree or above 📚 Experience teaching high school students (writing experience preferred but not mandatory) ✍️ Excellent writing skills 🔍 Exceptional analytical research and critical thinking skills 🏆 Experience in coaching essay writing

Responsibilities: 🔍 Analyze essay prompts, linking them to John Locke’s philosophy 📊 Provide clear reasoning supported by evidence from extensive research 🤔 Engage in critical analysis 📝 Refine writing style for argumentative essays in a third-person perspective (introduction, body, and conclusion) ✅ Proofreading and editing support

Details: 🕰️ Part-time position 🚀 Immediate start 🌐 Online coaching via Zoom 💰 Rate: $100 per hour

Apply Now! If you’re ready to inspire and guide students through the art of argumentative essay writing, we invite you to join our dynamic team. Visit the John Locke Essay Competition 2024 official site for 2024 essay prompts.

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