What is John Locke Essay Competition?
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 argumentation skills. 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, Prof Terence Kealey.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.
Entry Requirement and Further Details
Entry to the John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2025 is open to students from any country.Registration: Only candidates who registered before the registration deadline of Saturday, 31 May 2025 may enter this year's competition. You can register here.
Submission: Submissions open on Sunday, 1 June 2025. All entries must be submitted by 11.59 pm BST on the submission deadline: Monday, 30 June 2025. 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 Fee: Entry is free.
Essay Requirements: ● 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 the 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, and other events and programmes of the John Locke Institute and its associated entities.
Assessment● 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.
Results● The writers of the best essays will be shortlisted for a prize. Writers of shortlisted essays will be notified by 11.59 pm BST on Thursday, 31 July. They will also be invited to London for an invitation-only academic conference and awards dinner in October, where the prize-winners will be announced. Unlike the competition itself, the academic conference and awards dinner are not free. Please be aware that nobody 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.
Prizes● There are prizes for the best essays in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US$5000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme. The second place winner will receive a scholarship worth US$2000 and the third place winner will receive a scholarship worth US$1000. The prize-giving ceremony will take place in London on Saturday, 4 October, 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.
Key Dates
● Registration opens: 1 April 2025.
● Registration deadline: 31 May 2025. (Registration is required by this date for subsequent submission.)
● Submissions open: 1 June 2025.
● Submission deadline: 30 June, 2025.
● Late entry deadline: 7 July, 2025 (for seven ay extension) or 21 July, 2025 (for twenty-one day extension).
● Notification of short-listed essayists: 14 August, 2025.
● Academic conference: 3 - 5 October, 2025.
● Awards dinner: 4 October, 2025.
Registration Deadline: 31st of May 2025/ Days Left Until Registration ClosesRegistration Link: https://essaycompetition.johnlocke.com/
(You must register before the 31st of May 2025, in order to submit your essay)Essay Submission Deadline/Days Left Until Essay Submission Ends
For your convenience, below you can find the following items to help you best prepare for this competition:
1. Argumentative Essay Writing Outline or Template (Classical, Rogerian, and Toulmin). You can also find downloadable PDF Links. 2. 7 Essay category questions of 2025's competition and recommended reading, as well as key questions to consider for each of the questions.
Part I: How to Write an Argumentative Essay Outline
Knowing how to write an outline is just half the battle. Because an argumentative essay outline requires extra structure and organisation, it often requires more extensive planning than the standard outline. After all, the goal is to present the best argument for your topic, so you need to make sure each section is in the optimal place.
As mentioned, there are three main options for how to structure an argumentative essay. Before we dive into the details, let’s look at an overview of each so you can decide which one best fits your essay.
Classical (Aristotelian) Argumentative Essay Outline Template
When to use it: ● Straightforward arguments● The most forthright approach, the Classical or Aristotelian format, is closest to traditional essay structures. It follows a simple layout: explain your argument, explain your opposition's argument, and then present your evidence, all the while relying on credibility (ethos), emotion (pathos), and reasoning (logos) to influence the reader. ● Aristotle had a gift for explaining things clearly and logically; the Aristotelian argumentative essay structure leans into that. Also known as Classical or Classic, the Aristotelian format is the most straightforward: the writer presents their argument and then refutes the opposing argument.
[ Click on the button below to download the Classical Essay Writing Template. ]
Rogerian Argumentative Essay Outline Template
When to use it: ● Straightforward arguments● The most forthright approach, the Classical or Aristotelian format, is closest to traditional essay structures. It follows a simple layout: explain your argument, explain your opposition's argument, and then present your evidence, all the while relying on credibility (ethos), emotion (pathos), and reasoning (logos) to influence the reader. ● Aristotle had a gift for explaining things clearly and logically; the Aristotelian argumentative essay structure leans into that. Also known as Classical or Classic, the Aristotelian format is the most straightforward: the writer presents their argument and then refutes the opposing argument.
[ Click on the button below to download the Rogerian Essay Writing Template. ]
Toulmin's Argumentative Essay Outline Template
When to use it: ● Complicated arguments with multiple facets, rebuttals, and counterarguments● The Toulmin method is a deep analysis of a single argument. Given its methodical and detailed nature, it works best for breaking down a complicated thesis into digestible portions. ● The Toulmin method is rather nitpicky in a very systematic way. That makes it an ideal format if your essay is a rebuttal or counterargument to another essay—you can dissect and disprove your opposition point by point while offering a more reasonable alternative.● Stephen Toulmin's original purpose was to analyse the nature of arguments, but the application of his teachings has evolved into an argumentative essay format, especially for challenging existing arguments. It focuses on the six elements of a good argument: claim (thesis), grounds (data and reasons), warrants, backings, qualifiers, and rebuttals.
[ Click on the button below to download Toulmin's Essay Writing Template. ]
Part II: Essay Category and Questions
Philosophy Category
Question 1: What moral obligations do we owe to living persons that we do not owe to future persons? What are the implications of your answer for policy-making?
有哪些道德责任,是我们应当对当下活着的人承担的,但对未来的人则无需承担呢?你的答案会对政策制定产生怎样的影响?
Question 2: Should we treat non-human animals well because they have rights, interests, neither, or both?
我们是否应该善待非人类动物?因为它们拥有权利和利益,还是既没有权利也没有利益,或者既拥有权利又具备利益呢?
Question 3: "When civilians are the main target, there's no need to consider the cause. That's terrorism; it's evil." Is this correct?
“当平民成为主要目标时,就无需去追究其原因了。这就是恐怖主义,是邪恶的行为。”这是正确的吗?
Politics Cetegory
Question 1: Should politicians ever be punished for lying?
政客们应该因撒谎而受到惩罚吗?
Question 2: David Hume celebrated the wisdom of "unlettered men". In a democracy, do the votes of the unlettered tend to protect a country against the bad ideas of the lettered or do the votes of the lettered tend to protect a country against the bad ideas of the unlettered?
大卫·休谟曾称赞“未受教育者”的智慧。在民主制度中,那些未受过教育者的投票是否倾向于保护国家免受受过教育者的不良思想的影响?还是说,受过教育者的投票则倾向于保护国家免受未受教育者的不良思想的影响?
Question 3: Diversity is fashionable, but is it valuable?
多样性/多元化很流行,但它是否有实际价值呢?