Mastering the art of writing is crucial for high school students; it is not only an essential skill but also a vital tool for personal expression and communication. If you are accomplished in writing, then entering an essay contest is certainly a great opportunity to showcase your talent. This will not only help you gain accolades and recognition, but it will also add flair to your future college applications.

If you are looking for a platform to showcase your writing talents, then keep an eye on our selection of 10 essay contests for high school students. These contests will not only help you further your writing skills but also help you achieve more and be recognized for your academic and personal development. Let's explore these contests and find your stage!

JASNA Essay Competition

Founded in 1979, JASNA is an organization dedicated to the study of Jane Austen and her works. As one of its key activities, JASNA organizes an annual essay competition that encourages young students to explore the themes, characters, and periods of Jane Austen's novels.

The contest is open to both full-time and part-time students, as well as home-schooled high school students.

Each winner will not only have the opportunity to win a scholarship but will also receive a one-year membership in JASNA and a set of Norton Review editions of Jane Austen's novels. Their winning essays will also be published on the official JASNA website.

If you are interested in learning more about this competition, you can view this comprehensive guide here!

The London school of economics and political science Essay Competition

The LSE Economics Essay Competition is organized by the LSE Economics Society, one of the largest academic societies in the School. Since its inception, the competition has been dedicated to stimulating students' passion for economics and developing their ability to analyze and solve economic problems. The competition is not only a unique opportunity for students who are interested in applying for economics programs or wish to further their studies in the field of economics but also an excellent way to demonstrate their academic strength to prestigious universities. As one of the top schools in the field of economics, the LSE Economic Essay Competition attracts outstanding students from all over the world to participate every year, which is not only an academic competition but also a stage to show their economic insights and critical thinking.

For high school students with a passion for economics, the 2024 LSE Economics Essay Competition is an academic feast not to be missed.

2024 Competition Topic Revealed

1. There is a serious moral hazard in the financial industry as portfolio managers cannot be held accountable for poor investment performance.
2. This is often used as a justification for higher pay and bonuses in the financial industry. With this in mind, how do bonus caps affect the financial industry?
3. How does the adoption of AI technology affect differences in the pace of development across countries?
4. Do election cycles affect economic decisions and financial markets?
5. What are the economic impacts of gentrification (middle-classification) on urban communities?
6. How does microfinance affect climate refugees in developing countries?
7. Should social welfare maximization be the focus of all policymaking efforts?

You can refer to the 2024 prompts here .

The Concord Review Essay Competition

Founded in 1987, The Concord Review is currently the world's only quarterly journal of scholarly historical papers for high school students and is considered the highest honor in the field of high school history.

TCR builds platforms for students in colleges and universities to develop a bridge of communication with a historical background. More critically, it prepares students for the research papers they may have to write in college.TCR's evaluations are extremely rigorous, and participating submissions are submitted to the program's National Writing Commission, where they are evaluated according to an independent standard for writing scholarly expository essays. The standards are recognized by Harvard, Michigan, Princeton, Stanford, Virginia, Yale, and 33 other universities.

The TCR is open to current middle school students in grades 9-12 who are not enrolled in college, and submission of an essay needs to be completed during middle school.

Authors who successfully submit a paper and the application fee are entitled to an electronic copy of The Concord Review journal for the next 1 year (i.e., four issues).

Successful authors will receive an additional copy of their single paper (TCR Singles), which many former students include in their college applications because TCR is the first and only journal in the world that publishes essays by high school students, and thus makes a significant contribution to college applications.

You can view the requirements for writing submissions here .If you want to learn more about the competition and seek one-on-one guidance from a mentor, you can seek help here.

National History Day Essay Competition

National History Day (NHD) is a nonprofit educational organization that attracts more than 600,000 middle and high school students from around the world each year to conduct and publish original research on historical topics. The contest is a year-long academic program focused on fostering historical research, interpretation, and creative expression among students in grades 6 through 12.

During the competition, students can delve into the past through extensive research in libraries, archives, and museums.

Present their conclusions and evidence through essays, exhibitions, performances, documentaries, or websites, and be assessed by professional historians and educators through a range of competition levels.

The competitions focus on honing students' communication, project management, and historical thinking skills, all of which shine brightly in the eyes of college admissions officers.

For middle and high school students interested in the humanities and history, the NHD National History Day Competition is well worth looking into.

Open to students in grades 6-12 from around the world, the competition recognizes outstanding entries at all levels of the competition through certificates, plaques, trophies, special awards related to the topic, and scholarships.

Recently, the contest website released the theme for the 2025 contest, Rights & Responsibilities in History. This year's theme invites students to think about time and place, causes and effects, change over time, and impact and meaning. Key to this theme are rights and responsibilities. These are two powerful forces in history, but one cannot exist without the other.

You can view the contest rules here.If you want to learn more about the competition and seek one-on-one guidance from a mentor, you can seek help here.

Harvard International Review Essay Competition

Harvard International Review has a large global audience and is highly recognized. The quality of the journal is unquestionable, and each issue includes exclusive interviews and editorials with internationally renowned personalities, as well as an analysis of key international issues.

The competition is held on the official website on a theme related to today's international affairs, and entrants choose one of 13 areas, including agriculture, business, cybersecurity, defense, education, employment, immigration, energy, environment, economy, public health, science and technology, trade, and transportation, to contribute to the output.

Students can express their views on the same topic in different areas, and they can fully express their opinions in their areas of specialization, from economy to law, from enterprise to country, and from Asia to the world, there is a huge space for exploration. Of course, all the content from the point of view of the small to the large will ultimately end up in the global big picture, which also puts high demands on the student's knowledge reserve and macro narrative ability.

Although HAWC does not have any specialized academic thresholds, considering that the process of writing will collect a lot of information and have to use it for their purposes, it is still recommended that students who have a certain language foundation and written expression ability, and who are curious about socio-cultural issues, should consider participating.

There are two themes for the 2024 season, Theme A: Inequalities in a VUCA World and Theme B: Global Challenges and Collective Actions, and participants can choose either theme when writing their essays. In addition to submitting their essays, finalists for the gold, silver, and bronze prizes will have the opportunity to discuss their ideas online with senior editors from the Harvard International Review.

If you want to know the submission guidelines, please click here.

Marshall Society Essay Competition

The Marshall Society provides a platform for students from A-Level, IB, AP, and equivalent programs around the world to demonstrate their logical thinking and persuasive skills in the form of an essay.

It is recognized by top universities in the UK and the US as a highly prestigious economics essay competition! For students with deep writing skills and strong critical thinking abilities, the Marshall Competition is a rare opportunity. Especially for the Economics Department, which is one of the most difficult majors to apply for at Oxbridge, getting the Marshall Society's award is the standard for Oxbridge application, and 28% of the Cambridge admissions for related majors have participated in the Marshall Competition.

High school students interested in economics, regional economics, political economy, history, political science, sociology, and other subjects are eligible to enter.

To learn about the 2024 Marshall Competition Questions, you can see them here .

GRC Social Impact Essay Competition

The GRC Social Impact Essay Competition is organized by GRC Global Consulting.

GRC has affiliates at more than 20 prestigious universities around the world, including Harvard, MIT, Columbia, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Each year, GRC organizes an essay contest for high school students from around the world to encourage brainstorming.

High school students from all over the world can participate in the competition, and those who excel in this competition have the opportunity to receive internships at globally recognized consulting firms, as well as academic coaching opportunities with mentors from U.S. top schools.

This year's submissions open on September 1, 2024, and require students to write an argumentative piece that identifies an important problem facing the world today and proposes a compelling solution.

Students can choose one of the following topics:

1. Technology for Good
2. Global Health
3. Sustainable Development & Climate Change
4. Innovations in the Public Sector
5. Modern Solutions to Human Rights Issues
6. The Role of Education in Promoting Gender Equality & Social Mobility

You can view the competition timeline here.

New York Times Summer Reading Essay Competition

The New York Times Summer Reading Contest is a contest organized by The New York Times every summer since 2010 for high school students around the world. Each year, The New York Times invites high school students from around the world to read The New York Times articles, express their opinions, and publish the best student entries on The New York Times' official website.

The contest is open to middle and high school students between the ages of 13 and 19 around the world, and the winner's work will be featured on the contest website.

International History Bee and Bowl Essay Competition

is an academic competition that examines your knowledge of historical events, objects, and language, and provides an excellent platform for you to demonstrate the wealth of knowledge that you have accumulated over the years, as well as your academic excellence, which you can demonstrate by excelling in the competition.

The IHBB motivates students to strive for excellence and to make the study of history more enjoyable and stimulates the study and research of history.

In the International History Team Competition, students work with their peers to develop competitive strategies and skills. In the International History Olympiad, students will have the opportunity to work with students from other countries.

Between 2019 and 2022, domestic students who have participated in the IHBB have been successful in gaining admission to top universities such as Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Penn, Northwestern, Cornell, Cambridge, Oxford, Georgetown, and New York University Business School.

You can find more competition resources here.

Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Essay Competition

The Ocean Awareness Competition provides a platform for young people to learn about environmental issues, explore their relationship to a changing world, and become advocates for positive change through art-making and creative exchange. Students aged 11 to 18 from around the world are invited to participate.

The 2024 theme is Tell Your Climate Story. 2024 Ocean Awareness Competition, “Tell Your Climate Story,” encourages students to become climate witnesses and share their unique climate stories. Participants are required to be witnesses to climate change, share their unique climate experiences and perspectives, and creatively express their insights into the climate crisis. Try to focus on climate change as much as possible and do not address other environmental issues unless their connection to climate change can be demonstrated.

There are six broad categories of submissions for the Ocean Awareness Competition,Learn more here.

If you are looking to build a research in your area of interest, please consider applying for the Embark Exploration Program.

Embark Research Education was co-founded by graduate students and PhDs from prestigious American universities. Through these studies, you have the opportunity to work one-on-one with mentors from Harvard, Stanford, MIT, and other universities to create unique personalized projects. Our mentors have coached nearly a thousand students through customized scientific research training and won nearly a thousand awards in major global scientific research competitions, helping students successfully enter world-renowned universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Oxford, and Cambridge. You can apply here !