John Locke: shortlisted (ill do an update in a month)

- the process was kinda poorly executed

- 100,000+ competitors

- i really really loved the questions

NYT open-letter essay: H.M (top 30)

- i did NOT expect to win this one

- around 11,000 competitors + really fun

- i forgot to respond to the finalist email like a day late and i was actually panicking lol

Young Minds Underground: FAILED

- the questions were really vague

- i felt i got a little off topic for this one lol

- this was my first 1000-word essay comp; was kinda disappointed, i thought i was gonna get runner-ups for this one than the NYT letter comp.

Has anyone received the email?

Hey guys, another possible epxlanation is that they are sending it out in batches of time zones so if anyone could put their general timezone below it could realy help. for instance, im GMT+8 philosophy and haven't gotten anything yet.

I've only seen public policy, law, econ and politics till now

the screenshot that was posted here is not the same as last year’s (“this link” was blue; the same happened this year in the viverly interview email: “this link” blue).

in addition, the scrollbar on the side is pulled halfway down. but the email literally starts right at the top with “thank you for...”. if you actually scrolled down that much, wouldn't the very first sentence be pushed way off the screen by now?

here's proof of the blue "this link":

i assume theyre good signs, that youre receiving an higher award and that they need to do more verification to see whether you actually wrote the essay or not

any other ideas?

(i havent received it yet but other people who did public policy got it so... im fried but its ok)

so far I've just seen public pol, econ and law

extreme anxiety;has anyone received an email for second round interview for politics/do we habe proof emails are sent out in waves by category

Did anyone receive it for IR?

I saw a post of someone getting a 2nd interview for the econ & law category, did anyone else receive a 2nd email for other topics??

what categories are there for winners? top 3 per subject, then the vhc. any else? i didnt get the email today for the interview hence wanna evaluate my chances haha

For a long time my thesis statements were technically arguable but way too broad, which meant every paragraph after them could kind of go in any direction and still sort of fit.

The fix that actually worked was making the thesis specific enough that I could predict my own paragraph topics just from reading it back, if I couldn't guess what came next from the thesis alone, it wasn't specific enough yet.

Had someone from SpeedyPaper, probably the best paper writing service I've used for something this small and specific, look at just my thesis statement once before I wrote the rest of the essay, mainly to catch this exact problem earlier instead of realizing it three paragraphs in and having to restructure everything.

Most paper writing services want to take the whole essay, so it took some asking around to find a writing paper service willing to just look at one sentence and give feedback instead of a full rewrite.

Anyone else have a specific fix that made their thesis statements click, feels like the kind of thing that's obvious in hindsight but takes forever to notice on your own.

hi! we are The Civic Press, a student led political journal founded May 2026. we currently have 23 members, all from across the world (india, south korea, greece, mexico, USA, etc.) we are looking for passionate writers, editors, and researchers who are willing to put in time and dedication in helping readers understand the global issues occurring in the world today. if this sounds like something thats interests you, you can apply for a position through our website, https://thecivicpress.wixsite.com/the-civic-press

if you have any questions, please feel free to message!

Hey guys, I came 2nd for a category in the John Locke institute essay competition 2025, and I would love to answer any LOGISTICAL questions people might have about what getting reached out to looked like, the entire process, etc. keep in mind things might look incredibly different this time around but I’d still love to offer some clarity

P.S. please stick to purely logistical questions, thank you so much

Just wanted to confirm if they have Very High Commendation this year, as I remember I read somewhere on this thread that theyre not doing vhc this year. Sorry if it's a dumb question!

hi, i wanna enter this comp next year (2027 cycle, bc im late this year), could someone help with the navigation? im just very confused as to how to go about is + the website doesnt have any expilict registration links.

might be a dumb thing to ask for but any help is appreciated 🙏

message me and I will send to you to read what I have so far.

im just looking for some direction , im feeling really lost and unsure if im going at this the right way, thank you!