john locke essay competition 2019

 Competition Results

Announcing the 2023 essay prize winners special congratulations to those who achieved a distinction or high distinction in this year's competition. those who did so but did not attend the prize-giving ceremony will be contacted by email, providing access to their ecertificates by the end of the month . p hotographs from our prize-winning ceremony and related events in oxfo rd will be emailed to those who attended.  , grand prize, hosei kishida, shanghai american school, china.

Junior Prize

Winner:    Xibei Kuang, Pinehurst school, New Zealand

Second Prize:  Alissa Song, Kambala, Australia

Third Prize:   Iris Zhu, Bement School, USA

ECONOMICS Prize

Winner:  Kit Young Tham , Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore

Second Prize:  Kevin Hao, Knox Grammar School, Australia

Third Prize:   Zhong Yang M. Yeh, Shanghai High School International Division, China

PHILOSOPHY Prize

Winner:    Hosei Kishida, Shanghai American School, China

Second Prize:  Amanda Sun, Princeton High School, USA

Third Prize:   Qianyu Lin , Raffles Institution, Singapore

POLITICS Prize

Winner:  William Zhou, Hunter College High School, USA

Second Prize:  Ziyi Wei, Westridge School for Girls, USA

Third Prize:   Xiaoya Du , The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, China

HISTORY Prize

Winner:    Yoo Jin Cho, Presbyterian Ladies' College, Australia

Second Prize:  Hannah Fareed, Karachi Grammar School, Pakistan

Third Prize:   Quynh Anh La Le, Saigon South International School, Vietnam

Winner:  Youran Wu, Nanjing Foreign Language School British Columbia Academy, China

Second Prize:  Kayson Hu, Reddam House Sydney, Australia 

Equal Third Prize:  L ucienne Keyoung, Manhasset High School, USA

Equal Third Prize:  Esme Vallois-Davies, Colchester Royal Grammar School, UK

THEOLOGY Prize

Winner:    Hanyu Li, High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China, China

Second Prize:  Shivraj Sharma, Neerja Modi School, India

Third Prize:   Scarlet Strogov, South Orange Middle School, USA

PSYCHOLOGY Prize

Winner:    Claire Yura Kim, Berkshire School, USA

Second Prize:  Arnav Pandey, The International School Bangalore, India 

Third Prize:   Hannah Kim, La Canada High School, USA

RECENT Essay Prize Winners

Grand Prize

Benjamin Who, The Hotchkiss School, USA

Winner: Selena Teng, Millburn High School, USA

Second Prize: Jinchuan Li, The Experimental High School attached   to Beijing Normal University, China

Third Prize: Vivian Li, Magdalen College School, UK

Winner: Pengzhe Lin, Cranbrook Schools, USA

Second Prize: Brandon Ma, Living Word Shanghai Bilingual School, China

Third Prize: Fengshuo Wang, Allendale Columbia School, USA

Winner:  Benjamin Who, The Hotchkiss School, USA

Second Prize: Ke Ren, Ulink Beijing, China

Third Prize: Yixi Zhang, Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University, China

Winner: Yifan Liu, Independent Schools Foundation, Hong Kong

Second Prize: Xiaoyi Shi, Shanghai Foreign Language School Affiliated to SISU, China

Third Prize: Chenrui Dai, Ruian High School International Department, China

Winner: Shahmeer Bukhari, Karachi Grammar School, Pakistan

Second Prize : Sujeong Park, North London Collegiate School Jeju, Republic of South Korea

Third Prize: Samantha Shim, Phillips Academy, USA

Winner: Jonathan Pan, The King's School, Australia

Second Prize: Xinyue Zhu, Bard College at Simon's Rock, USA

Third Prize: Chloe Huang, Westminster School, UK

​Winner: Gabriel Stoney, Rugby School, UK

Second Prize: Yifei Chen, Wuxi Big Bridge Academy, China

Third Prize: Donghong Wei- Shenzhen College of International Education, China ​

Winner:   Cheuk Hei Chung, Chinese International School, Hong Kong

Second Prize: Teresa Yan, PS/MS 219 Paul Klapper, USA

Third Prize: Jia ning Zhang, Veritas Christian Academy, USA

Huaming Li, Xi’an Gaoxin No.1 High School, China

Winner: Austin Swaffer, Knox Grammar School, Australia

Second Prize: Chongwen Gu, YK Pao School, China​

Third Prize: Dana Song, Horace Mann, USA

Winner: Andre Pancholi, Latymer Upper School, UK

Second Prize: Yuhan Wang, Dunman High School, Singapore

Third Prize: Justin Chan, Harrow School, UK

Winner:  Marc Kadir, The Manchester Grammar School, UK

Second Prize: Arshiya Jain, Modern School Vasant Vihar, India

Third Prize: Alexander Chen, Archmere Academy, USA

Winner: Major Shokar, Aylesbury Grammar School, UK

Second Prize: Zoya Fasihuddin, Karachi Grammar School, Pakistan

Third Prize: Stella Zhu, Northfield Mount Hermon, USA​

Winner: Eugene Choi, International School Manila, Philippines

Second Prize: InChan Yang, Winchester College, UK

Third Prize: Sarah Carr, Sidcot School, UK

Winner: Aiden Whitham, St. Paul's School, UK

Second Prize: Laura Koscielska, The Purcell School For Young Musicians, UK

Third Prize: Naciima Mohamed, Columbia Heights High School, USA

​Winner: Hao Tian, Beijing New Talent Academy, China

Second Prize: Huaming Li, Xi’an Gaoxin No.1 High School, China

Third Prize: Corey Koh, Raffles Institution, Singapore ​

Winner:  Joonyoung Heo, Pacific Cascade Middle School, USA

Second Prize: Stephanie Mo, Indian Mountain School, USA

Third Prize: Rena Kim, Menlo School, USA​​​

Ethan Christian Tan, Anglo-Chinese School, Singapore

Winner: Ethan Christian Tan, ACS (Independent), Singapore

Second Prize: Min-Jun Kang, Korea International School, Korea

Third Prize: Ali Haider, Wallington County Grammar School, UK

Winner: Helny Hobbs, Newstead Wood School, UK

Second Prize: Elizabeth Zhu, University of Toronto School, Canada

Third Prize: Calvin Xu, Appleby College, Canada

Winner:  Raphael Conte, Sir William Borlase's Grammar School, UK

Second Prize: Saskia Poulter, The Tiffin Girls' School, UK

Third Prize: Jaimin Shah, King Edward VI Grammar School, UK

Winner: Runan Lin, Georgetown Preparatory School, USA

Second Prize: Christopher Conway, King's College School, UK

Equal Third Prize: Sungjin Park, Wellington College, UK and

                                  Megan Cui, Phillips Andover Academy, USA

Winner: Tianyi Jia, Princeton High School, USA

Second Prize: Henry Barker, Felsted School, UK

Third Prize: Jessica Na, Interlake High School, USA

Winner: Noah Buckle, Watford Grammar School for Boys, UK

Second Prize: Zheng Wei Lim, Raffles Institution, Singapore

Third Prize: Varun Venkatesh, Tanglin Trust School, Singapore

​Winner: Sirui Cai, Raffles Institution, Singapore

Second Prize: Junfang Zhang, Hwa Chong Institution, Singapore

Third Prize: Christopher Bong, ARCH Education, Hong Kong ​

Winner:  Jason Hausenloy, UWCSEA East Campus, Singapore

Second Prize: Anna Rantakari, Wellington College, UK

Third Prize: Alexander Fletcher, St Paul's School, UK

Luke Duthie, Germantown Academy, Pennsylvania, US

Winner: Younghoon Seo, Chadwick International School, South Korea

Second Prize: Jiajun Chung, Anglo-Chinese Junior College, Singapore

Third Prize: Maximilian Fawcett, St Paul's School, UK

Winner: Nayah Victoria Thu, Oslo International School, Norway

Second Prize: Daniel Craig-McFeely, St Paul's School, UK

Third Prize: Haritha Kumar, Cupertino High School, US

Winner:  Luke Duthie, Germantown Academy, US

Second Prize: Janusha Uthayakumar, Woodford County High School for Girls, UK

Third Prize: Harry Toube, City of London School, UK

Winner: Rosie Ashmore, Hagley Roman Catholic High School, UK

Second Prize: Mihira Philip, Sutton Grammar School, UK

Equal Third Prize: George Chadney, The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, UK

                                  Clemmie Read, St Paul's Girls' School, UK

Winner: Zikai Zhou, Xiaoshi High School, China

Second Prize: Claire Yoonsuh Kim, Chadwick International School, South Korea

Third Prize: Sophie Kelly, Millfield School, UK

Winner: Elijah Lee, Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), Singapore

Second Prize: Cindy Xin, Albany High School, US

Third Prize: Andrzej Karpiński, II High School In Poznan, Poland

​Winner: Judy Hyojoo Rhee, University Hill Secondary School, Canada

Second Prize: Jonathan Lee, Abingdon School, UK

Third Prize: Alexander Archer, Eton College, UK ​

Equal First Prize: Ethan Zhu, The King's School, Australia

                                Indigo Lee-Wilson, Ascham School, Australia

Third Prize: Jason Hausenloy, UWC South East Asia East Campus, Singapore​​​

Everything You Should Know about the John Locke Institute (JLI) Essay Competition

By Jin Chow

Co-founder of Polygence, Forbes 30 Under 30 for Education

2 minute read

We first wrote about the world-famous John Locke Institute (JLI) Essay Competition in our list of 20 writing contests for high school students . This contest is a unique opportunity to refine your argumentation skills on fascinating and challenging topics that aren’t explored in the classroom.

The Oxford philosopher, medical doctor, political scientist, and economist John Locke was a big believer in challenging old habits of the mind. In that spirit, the JLI started this contest to challenge students to be more adventurous in their thinking. 

While not quite as prestigious as getting published in The Concord Review , winning the grand prize or placing in one of the 7 categories of the JLI Essay Competition can get your college application noticed by top schools like Princeton, Harvard, Oxford, and Cambridge. Awards include $2,000 scholarships (for category winners) and a $10,000 scholarship for the grand prize. (The scholarships can be applied to the JLI’s Summer Schools at Oxford, Princeton, or Washington D.C., or to its Gap Year programs in Oxford, Guatemala, or Washington, D.C.) 

But winning isn’t necessarily the best thing about it. Simply entering the contest and writing your essay will give you a profound learning experience like no other. Add to that the fact that your entry will be read and possibly commented on by some of the top minds at Oxford and Princeton and it’s free to enter the competition . The real question is: why wouldn’t you enter? Here’s a guide to get you started on your essay contest entry.

Eligibility

The John Locke Institute Essay Competition is open to any student anywhere in the world , ages 15-18. Students 14 or under are eligible for the Junior prize. 

JLI Essay Competition Topics

The essay questions change from year to year. You can choose from 7 different categories (Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology, and Law). Within each category, there are 3 intriguing questions you can pick from. When you’re debating which question to write about, here’s a tip. Choose whichever question excites, upsets, or gives you any kind of strong emotional response. If you’re passionate about a topic, it will come through in your research and your writing. If you have any lived experience on the subject, that also helps. 

re are some sample questions the 2023 contest for each of the seven JLI essay subject  categories and the Junior Prize (the questions change each year):

Philosophy : Is tax theft? 

Politics : Do the results of elections express the will of the people?

Economics : What would happen if we banned billionaires?  

History : Which has a bigger effect on history: the plans of the powerful or their mistakes?

Psychology : Can happiness be measured?

Theology : What distinguishes a small religion from a large cult?

Law : Are there too many laws?

Junior Prize : What, if anything, do your parents owe you?

John Locke Writing Contest Requirements

Your essay must not exceed 2,000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography, or authorship declaration) and must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category. No footnotes are allowed, but you may include in-text citations or endnotes. 

Timeline and Deadlines

January - New essay questions are released

April 1st - Registration opens

May 31st   - Registration deadline

June 30th - Essay submission deadline

We highly recommend you check the JLI website as soon as the new questions are released in January and start researching and writing as soon as you can after choosing your topic. You must register for the contest by the end of May. The deadline for the essay submission itself is at the end of June, but we also recommend that you submit it earlier in case any problems arise. If you start right away in January, you can have a few months to work on your essay. 

John Locke Institute Essay Competition Judging Criteria

While the JLI says that their grading system is proprietary, they do also give you this helpful paragraph that describes what they are looking for: “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. ” (We’ve bolded important words to keep in mind.) 

You can also join the JLI mailing list (scroll to the bottom of that page) to get contest updates and to learn more about what makes for a winning essay.

Research and Essay Writing Tactics

Give yourself a baseline. First, just write down all your thoughts on the subject without doing any research. What are your gut-level opinions? What about this particular question intrigued you the most? What are some counter-arguments you can think of right away? What you are trying to do here is identify holes in your knowledge or understanding of the subject. What you don’t know or are unsure about can guide your research. Be sure to find evidence to support all the things you think you already know. 

Create a reading/watching list of related books, interviews, articles, podcasts, documentaries, etc. that relate to your topic. Find references that both support and argue against your argument. Choose the most highly reputable sources you can find. You may need to seek out and speak to experts to help you locate the best sources. Read and take notes. Address those questions and holes in the knowledge you identified earlier. Also, continue to read widely and think about your topic as you observe the world from day to day. Sometimes unrelated news stories, literature, film, songs, and visual art can give you an unexpected insight into your essay question. Remember that c is a learning experience and that you are not going to have a rock-solid argument all at once.

Read past winning essays . These will give you a sense of the criteria judges are using to select winning work. These essays are meant to convince the judges of a very specific stance. The argument must be clear and must include evidence to support it. You will note that winning entries tend to get straight to the point, show an impressive depth of knowledge on the subject with citations to reputable sources, flow with excellent reasoning, and use precise language. They don’t include flowery digressions. Save that for a different type of writing.

Proof your work with a teacher or mentor if possible . Even though your argument needs to be wholly your own, it certainly helps to bounce ideas around with someone who cares about the topic. A teacher or mentor can help you explore different options if you get stuck and point you toward new resources. They can offer general advice and point out errors or weaknesses. Working with a teacher or mentor is important for another reason. When you submit your entry, you will be required to provide the email address of an “academic referee” who is familiar with your work. This should be a teacher or mentor who is not related to you. 

Research and Prepare for your Competition or Fair

Polygence pairs you with an expert mentor in your area of passion. Together, you work to create a high quality research project that is uniquely your own. Our highly-specialized mentors can help guide you to feel even more prepared for an upcoming fair or competion. We also offer options to explore multiple topics, or to showcase your final product!

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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ARCHIVE - John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2018

http://www.johnlockeinstitute.com/2018-essay-competition

THE DEADLINE IS 31st JULY 2018.

 The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. The John Locke Institute 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 academics from the University of Oxford. The judges will choose their favourite essay from each subject category and an overall 'best essay' across the four subjects: Philosophy, Politics, Economics and History.

A small number of exceptional candidates will be invited to Oxford ahead of the awards ceremony for a viva voce interview with a senior member of our faculty. These invitations will be issued after the First Reading, on the same day the Short List is announced, while the judging process is still ongoing.

Entry Requirements

Entry is open to students from any country and any school. Candidates must be eighteen years old or younger on the date of the submission deadline, 31 July 2018.

Submission Instructions

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). Please submit your essay as an email attachment, saved in pdf format. Both the subject line of the email and the title of the pdf attachment should read SURNAME First Name Subject Category Question Number (e.g. POPHAM Alexander Politics Q2).

Tuesday, 31 July 2018: Submission deadline

Tuesday, 14 August: Short-listed candidates notified

Friday, 14 September: Winners Announced at Awards Ceremony in Oxford

There is a prize for the best essay in each subject category, Philosophy, Politics, Economics and History. Each subject prize is worth £100, and the essays will be published (with the authors' permission) on the Institute website. The prize-giving ceremony will take place in Oxford, at which winners and runners-up will be able to meet the judges and other faculty members of the John Locke Institute. Family, friends and teachers are also welcome, subject to capacity constraints.

The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, worth £500.

The judges' decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

Essays will be judged on the level of knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the quality of argumentation, the structure, writing style and persuasive force. Candidates are advised to answer the question as precisely and directly as possible.

2018 Essay Questions

 Politics and Law Questions

1. Suppose five years in prison is as effective a deterrent as fifty years. What good comes of imposing a life sentence on a deposed dictator guilty of war crimes?

​2. Is the state a universal category or a historically contingent and transient form of human organization?

3. If we know that a statement is both untrue and certain to cause offence, should we make it illegal?

Economics Questions

1. What would be the consequences of legalising all drugs in the United States of America?

2. It has been said that a company may hire a woman for four-fifths of what a man would earn, to do the same job and do it just as well. If this were true, why would any profit-maximising employer choose to hire any men at all? Is there another explanation for the perceived gender wage gap? What are the policy implications, if any?

3. What is education actually for? Are we doing it right?

John Locke Essay Competition

2023年征文比赛获奖论文

Is tax theft?

2023年Grand Prize-by Hosai Kishida

政府通过向人民征税来为自己的支出提供资金。相反，假设它完全依赖于中央银行新创造的货币？优点和/或缺点是什么？

2023年谭洁英一等奖

如果你不能说服你聪明、富有同情心的朋友接受你的宗教信仰体系，你有足够的理由相信你的信仰吗？

2023年Shivrav Sharma二等奖

成功的社会变革运动与不成功的社会变革运动有什么区别？

2023年Euginy Cho一等奖

直觉之于哲学就像观察之于科学吗？

亚里士多德的美德伦理在二十世纪取得了某种复兴。这是进步还是倒退？

美国公民只向政府捐赠0.01%的慈善捐款。如果政客们像他们声称的那样有效地花纳税人的钱，他们难道不能更成功地与私人慈善机构竞争吗？你的回答意味着什么？

政府做了很多事情，比如收税和征召人们参军，我们会反对个人这样做。这能合理吗？

我们应该在多大程度上关心社会凝聚力？

犯罪的社会效率水平如何？

强制再分配最重要的经济影响（好的和坏的）是什么？这应该如何为政府政策提供信息？

经济学 告诉我们移民的好处和成本是什么？我们应该采取什么政策？

现代世界与以前的历史时期有何不同，为什么它是在何时何地出现的？

强大的国家是经济增长的先决条件还是障碍？

根据亨利·基辛格（Henry Kissinger）的说法，“那些对[和平]的追求似乎永无止境的人似乎不太能够实现[和平]。根据 1945 年以来的事件对此发表评论。

不是所有的推理（数学和形式逻辑之外）都是有动机的推理吗？

根据进化心理学，我们进化到相信有用的东西，无论它是否也是真的。我们如何才能抵制以牺牲真理为代价来相信进化适应性的倾向？这样做会增加还是减少人类的繁荣？

最近从神经科学中获得的最重要的见解是什么，尚未广泛应用于教育？

许多人为了服从真诚的信仰而犯下了行为，受到他人的谴责和谴责。我们能合理地要求任何人做得比简单地服从自己的良心更好吗？

伊斯兰教是和平的宗教吗？

什么样的上帝会创造数万亿只动物，并允许其中许多人痛苦地死去？我们应该敬拜这样的神吗？

禁止易的法律是保护还是侵犯妇女的权利？

为什么种族歧视在就业网站上是非法的，而在Facebook或Tinder等社交网站上却不是？

普通法的基本原则是否要求陪审团被告知陪审团无效？

是否应该允许计算机生成的儿童色情制品？

谁应该拥有您的数据？您同意与之共享您的数据的公司，所有人，只有您，还是没有人？

谁是有史以来最好的领导者？

诺贝尔奖获得者米尔顿·弗里德曼（Milton Friedman）表示，“企业的社会责任只有一项......以增加其利润...”你同意吗？

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