Also in:
繁中 (Traditional Chinese)
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:
| John Locke Institute Essay Competition Basic Info | |
| Task: | The essay must respond to one of the provided questions in their chosen subject category. Essays should consider counterarguments and objections to be successful. |
| Word count: | 2,000 words or less (excluding diagrams, tables, endnotes, bibliography, and authorship declaration). |
| Subject categories: | 1. Economics 2. History 3. Law 4. Philosophy 5. Politics 6. Psychology 7. Theology Plus a junior category for students 14 and under |
| Who can participate? | -Secondary (high school) students from all countries ages 15 to 18. -Junior Category: students 14 and under |
| Judging criteria: | Based on “on knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the competent use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force.” |
| Prizes: | The winner of each subject category receives a US$2,000 scholarship towards the cost of JLI’s summer and gap year programs. The winner of the best overall essay will receive a US$10,000 scholarship for the same. |
| Entry fee: | $0 |
| Important Dates | |
| Registration opens: | 1 April, 2024 |
| Registration deadline: | 31 May, 2024 |
| Submission deadline: | 30 June, 2024 11.59 pm BST |
| Late entry deadline: | 10 July, 2024 |
| Notification date: | 31 July, 2024 |
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?
Economics
- 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?
History
- 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?
Law
- 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?
Philosophy
- 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?
Politics
- Is there such a thing as too much democracy?
- Is peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip possible?
- When is compliance complicity?
Psychology
- 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?
Theology
- “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.
References
Harvard College Writing Center, “Strategies for Essay Writing”
Manas Pant, “The Ultimate Guide to the John Locke Essay Competition,” Lumiere Education.
Also in:
繁中 (Traditional Chinese)
