So you’re a critical thinker, passionate about your opinions. You want to share your ideas with the world and become a better writer in the process. You might already be an excellent essayist, or maybe you’re still developing your unique skills and talents. Either way, it’s not about whether or not you should enter an essay competition. The benefits are endless—you’ll get to respond to thought-provoking topics, explore disciplines outside of your school curriculum, and potentially gain international recognition as a result of your hard work. What you should be wondering is which essay competition is right for you. There are countless, reputable essay competitions out there, so it’s crucial to find the best fit. Here is a list of some of the most highly acclaimed competitions and journals: The Concord ReviewJournal of Student Research (JSR)John Locke Essay Competition (John Locke)Ayn Rand Anthem Essay Contest (Ayn Rand)Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest (HIR)Scholastic Art & Writing Awards (Scholastic) Harvard International Economics Essay Contest (HIEEC)YoungArts Writing Awards (YoungArts)Bennington College Young Writers Awards (Bennington)Columbia Undergraduate Law Review High School Essay Contest (CULR)John F. Kennedy Profile In Courage Essay Contest (JFK)International Philosophy Olympiad (IPO) This list may look a little intimidating at first glance, so we’ll make it easy for you. Here are the top three things you’ll want to consider when you’re selecting the right essay competition for you: Category: Start by researching each essay competition, reading the winning results, and trying to figure out what the overall “categories” are.” You could be writing about history, literature, journalism, creative writing, economics, law, politics, psychology, theology, sociology, science, or philosophy, to name a few. So, if you hate math, you might not want to enter an economics competition. You’ll want to think about where your talents and interests lie and then pick a realistic competition to enter. You should, however, challenge yourself. So, if you see yourself as more of a “creative” person but you’ve always been interested in researching gender inequalities in the art world, then you might want to give the JSR a try. There’s nothing wrong with taking yourself outside your comfort zone—as long as it remains within your sphere of interests. The more passionate you are about the category you enter, the better your writing will be. Product: You may have multiple interests and be torn between Scholastic, John Locke, or JSR. This is a common problem. There are a lot of great competitions out there, so you might feel like you have to enter them all. While you can definitely enter more than one (the competitions have different deadlines, so it’s feasible to enter around four per year), you should think about what type of product you want to end up with. In other words, do you want to write a short story, essay, or research paper? Think about the benefits of working on different forms of writing and consider your current goals. Do you want to be better at writing persuasive essays? Then maybe you should enter John Locke. Are you planning to major in a STEM field in college? Then you could consider getting more practice writing research papers and submitting one to JSR. Remember, everything you write for essay competitions becomes part of your writing portfolio, so you want to be smart about what you show off. Outcome: Each essay competition offers different rewards and types of recognition. John Locke, for example, gives winners an invitation to an academic conference in London, and scholarship money for its summer schools or other programs. HIR shares certificates and online publications, a recognition that also affiliates winners with the impressive Harvard University. Think carefully about what kind of outcome you would like to receive from each essay competition, and how it will look on your resume. If you’re passionate about politics and dream of majoring in International Relations at Harvard, then entering HIR would be a wise choice. But keep in mind that at the end of the day, writing for essay competitions is as much a results-based process as a learning-based one. You shouldn’t just be in it to win it—you should be in it to grow. As the great William Faulkner said about writing, “Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.” Entering essay competitions is about knowing yourself, maximizing outcomes, and learning as you write. And if you still aren’t sure what to do—take a chance.
