STEM

Minds Underground

There are a great range of competitions from Engineering to Medicine here at Minds Underground. Read more here.

Deadline: March 2021

Newnham College: STEM

All female students currently in Year 12 at a UK school may enter the prizes, which are offered in Archaeology, Biological Sciences, Classics, Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, and Psychological and Behavioural Sciences.

Students may only submit an essay for one subject. Each school may only submit 5 entries per subject.

The deadline to submit entries is 12pm on Wednesday 10 March 2021.

Read more here.

UK Junior Water Prize

The UK Junior Water Prize is a competition aimed at solving environmental challenges with a link to water. Students identify an issue and find a practical and innovative solution through research and experiments.

Age: 15–20
Submissions close: February 2021

Read more here.

MathsWork Modelling

MathWorks Math Modelling Challenge is a contest for high school juniors and seniors in the U.S. and sixth form students in England and Wales. Through participation, students experience what it’s like to work as a team to tackle a real-world problem under time and resource constraints, akin to those faced by professional mathematicians working in industry.

Last year’s challenge was: for teams to create a model to predict what percentage of semi-trucks will be electric in the next few years and decades, determine the number and locations of charging stations along major U.S. trucking routes that are needed for an all-electric trucking industry, and to prioritise which routes should be developed with electric charging infrastructure first.

Read more on the 2021 challenge here.
Age: 16-19

School's Analyst (Chemistry)

The Schools' Analyst competition enables students competing in Year 12 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, S5 in Scotland or Year 5 in Republic of Ireland to demonstrate and expand on their existing chemistry knowledge, skills and aptitude for analytical science through practical analytical experiments based on relevant societal or industrial problems. Each competition aims to provide some tasks which are relatively familiar to the students such as titrations and others which are likely to be unfamiliar, such as chromatographic separations or atomic and molecular spectroscopy.

Read more here.

Peterhouse College Kelvin Science Essay competition

Alas this year’s essay competition was cancelled due to CV-19, but hopefully back next year! Plenty more to choose from!

Big Bang Young Scientists and Engineers competition

The Big Bang Competition recognises and rewards young people's achievements in all areas of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), whilst providing them with the opportunity to build their skills and confidence in project-based work.

The Competition is open to all UK residents in full-time education or training (year groups 7 to 13 and Scottish/NI equivalent), aged 11 to 19. They can enter any project work they have completed, be it at school or through a STEM club or at home!

Read more here.

Online entry closes: late March 2021

OxSci Schools Science Writing Competition

The OxSci Schools Science Writing Competition for Hilary Term 2021 is Now Open!

The title for this year is:

“How is creativity important in science?”.

For example, you could write about a scientific discovery that required creativity, a scientist who takes a creative approach to their work, or how creativity is important for science in general – we are really interested to hear your ideas and interpretation, but please make sure that they are relevant to the question.

The word limit for articles is 700 words and you must be a school, college or sixth form student in Year 13, 12, 11 or 10 (or equivalent*) in the UK. 

Read more here.

Royal College of Science Union Science Challenge

A great competition with a range of titles and submissions can be a mix of written entries (word limit of 1000) and video entries (limit of 4 minutes).

• “Can AI understand and curb the pandemic?”

• “You have one billion pounds to spend on research: how are you going to use them?”

• “Imagine you’ve come across the biggest science exclusive of your career, what is the story you’re about to tell the world?”

• “What has a year of covid, lockdowns, isolation and unexpected deaths taught us about the human trait of resilience?” (Think about how researchers might use 2020 to understand more about this behaviour and include a real life experience about yourself or someone else to help you tell your story).

• “How can we communicate more effectively to young people that although, as individuals, they are not at significant risk from Covid, they are a major route of potential infection, danger and death for their parents and grandparents?”

• “Climate change is humanity’s biggest challenge this century, yet it may not affect us as individuals for many years. How can we communicate the need for young people to change their own day to day behaviour now to safeguard the future of unborn generations?”

  For more information, click here.
  The submission deadline is 21st February 2021 at 9PM.

MORE STEM COMPETITION UPDATES COMING SOON! KEEP COMING BACK FOR MORE…!!!

Choose some competitions to enter to dig deep into a passion…

SOCIAL SCIENCES

HUMANTIES

Here’s an exciting team competition from @DiscoverEconomics :

Brain food: How can a government best ensure that all children have enough to eat?

Vaccine roll out: How would you decide who should get limited vaccine supplies?

Read more here.

John Locke Institute Essays

From Philosophy to Psychology, Law to Theology, a great range of essay titles here for budding social scientists at the JLI.

There are also essays for Juniors too so do check it out!

Read more details on how to enter here.

Law Essay: Legal Reasoning For Aspiring Lawyers

A great essay and a must-enter for those applying for Law.

Run by Corpus Christi, Oxford, the Peter Cane Legal Reasoning prize gets you to write logically and coherently assessing a legal case they have given you.

Open to Y12/Y13 anywhere in the world.

Deadline: 5pm on Monday 1 February 2021

Read more here.

Economics: FCDO

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) invites UK students in Year 10 to Year 13 or equivalent to write about big economic challenges by 25 April 2021.

To enter, you must submit your response to 1 of these 2 questions:

1. Which economic policies should governments introduce to tackle the impacts of climate change on your generation?

2. Which economic policies should governments introduce to tackle rising global inequality?

Your entry should take the form of a letter to the FCDO Chief Economist Rachel Glennerster and should be no longer than 800 words.

For more details see here.

Christ Church, Oxford Poetry Competition

The 21st Christopher Tower Poetry Competition is now open for entries on the theme of 'The Key'.

The Tower Poetry Competition offers the UK’s most valuable prize for young poets, and is open to students between 16-18 years of age who are educated in the UK.

Entries must be written in English, and be no more than 48 lines in length.

Deadline: noon, 1 March 2021.

Read more here.

Newnham College Essay Competition

All female students currently in Year 12 at a UK school may enter the prizes, which are offered in Archaeology, Classics, History, Modern and Medieval Languages, Music, Philosophy, as well as their annual ‘Woolf Essay Prize’ with questions inspired by Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own.

Students may only submit an essay for one subject. Each school may only submit 5 entries per subject.

The deadline to submit entries is 12pm on Wednesday 10 March 2021.

Read more here.

Minds Underground

There are a great range of competitions from Economics to Law here at Minds Underground. Read more here.

Deadline: March 2021

New College of Humanities Essay Competition

A great range of humanities-based essay competition titles here from the NCH. A superb way to kick off Y12!

Art History: Should the West return cultural artefacts to their former colonial territories?

Creative Writing: It is 2120. There is no longer any such thing as poetry, or poets. What happened?

Data Science: What is the importance of ethics in data science?

Economics: How relevant is economics during a pandemic and in what way might economists make things better?

English: Is literature always a force for good?

History: Will the Covid-19 pandemic change human history?

Law: When, if ever, should one be criminally liable for infecting another person with a disease?

Philosophy: Should robots have rights? Why or why not?

Politics and International Relations: Is democracy experiencing a setback worldwide?

Psychology: Discuss the sources of mental health issues in the modern world

Read more here.

Sheffield University Philosophy Competition

A great competition to encourage ambitious and talented secondary school students considering applying to university to study philosophy. Write an essay of around 1,000 words (but not more than 1,500 words) on one of the following topics:

1. Is Epicurus right that a wise person does not fear death?
2. Should we get rid of gender-specific pronouns?
3. What is the social significance of Black Lives Matter?
4. Can climate campaigners justifiably engage in acts of uncivil disobedience?
5. Can idleness be a good thing?
6. What is the fairest way to distribute the Covid-19 vaccines?

Entrants must be students in years 10, 11 or 12 in the UK.

Deadline: Thursday 1 April 2021

Read more here.

FT Schools’ Competition

School students around the world are invited to describe what they believe are the characteristics of the best leaders, in a competition run by Chatham House and the Financial Times.

Applicants, who should be aged 16-18 and in full time secondary education to submit responses of up to 500 words to the question:

• ‘What does it take to be a good leader?’

  They may draw on examples of individual political leaders or identify the characteristics needed for roles such as directing an international organisation, driving a social justice movement or managing a global business in a world facing environmental, health and economic challenges.

• Deadline: 12 March 2021

Read more here.

Mary Renault Prize: St Hugh’s College, Oxford, essay competition

The Mary Renault Prize is a Classical Reception essay prize for school or college sixth form pupils, awarded by the Principal and Fellows of St Hugh’s College, Oxford.

A great essay competition for those original thinkers who have a specific passion of their own:

Essays can be from any discipline and should be on a topic relating to the reception of classical antiquity – including Greek and Roman literature, history, political thought, philosophy, and material remains – in any period to the present; essays on reception within classical antiquity (for instance, receptions of literary or artistic works or of mythical or historical figures) are permitted.

Essays should be between 2000-4000 words.

The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Friday 30th July 2021.

Read more information and previous winners here. 

Julia Wood Oxford History Competition

A great open-ended annual History essay competition open to Sixth Form pupils, run by St Hugh’s College, Oxford University.

The choice of historical subject is left to candidates. Essays should be between 2000-4000 words.

Essays should be submitted by 5pm on Friday 30th July 2021.

Read more here.

Girton College Humanities Writing Competition

Girton’s Humanities Writing Competition is for students in Year 12 (or equivalent) who have an interest in the Humanities. Students will submit an essay based on one or more objects selected from the College’s small antiquities museum, the Lawrence Room.

This competition is an opportunity for research and writing beyond the curriculum using one or more of the six objects as your focus. Essays or creative responses (such as dramatic monologues or short stories) are equally welcome. We are looking for the ability to connect different areas of knowledge, to think about details and to communicate clearly.

The word limit is 1800 words.

There is a limit of 3 entries per school.

Deadline: 5pm on Thursday, 1st April 2021

Read more here.

Dukes Education Essay Prize

The 2021 is yet to be launched but keep an eye out here.

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Classics

Classics St John’s College, Oxford

Girton College, Cambridge

Humanities (particularly Arch & Anth/HSPS)

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge

Classics and Ancient History, Land Economy (highly suitable for geographers and economists)

Peterhouse, Cambridge

History (including Ancient History), Science, English

Faculty of Modern Languages, Oxford

French Film Essay

Oriel College, Oxford

Philosophy (announced April)

Further details here.

Trinity College, Cambridge

Theology, Philosophy, History, Politics, Law, Geography, English (titles published February)

Deadline: Variable
Further details here.

[New College] Equality and Diversity Essay Competition - March (Closed)
[ISA] Sixth Form Essay Prize - March (Closed)

Libra Essay Prize - June 26th (Open)
John Locke Institute Essay Competition - July 15th (Open)
Robinson College Essay Prize – August 14th (Open)

Fitzwilliam College Archaeology Essay Competition - April (Closed)

[Newham College] The Classics Essay Prize - March (Closed)
Fitzwilliam College Ancient World and Classics Essay Competition - April (Closed)
St John’s Classic and Ancient History Essay Competition - April (Closed)

[Newcastle University] Young People’s Poetry Prize]
Queens’ College Estelle Prize for English (Not offered this year)
Gonville & Caius English Challenge (Not offered this year)
The Betty Haigh Shakespeare Prize - September (Closed)
Jane Martin Poetry Prize - February (Closed)
Wicked Young Writers Awards - March (Closed)
Peterhouse Thomas Campion English Prize - April (Closed)
[Christ Church] About Tower Poetry - April 22nd (Closed)
The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition - June 30th (Open)
[Victoria University of Wllington] Schools Poetry Award - July 6th (Open)
[Trinity College] Gould Prize for Essay in English Literature - August 1st (Open)
[Manchester Metropolitan University] Manchester Writing Competition - September 18th (Open)

[Historical Association] The Great Debate*
[Newham College] The History Essay Prize - March (Closed)
Peterhouse Vellacott History Prize - March for essay title (Closed); April for the essay (Closed)
[The University of Sheffield] The Department of History Y12/L6 History Essay Prize - April (Closed)
The Minds Underground History Essay Competition - April (Closed)
[Trinity College] Robson History Prize - May (Closed)
Gonville & Caius History Essay Challenge - June 5th (Open)
[Historical Association] Young Historian Awards - July 20th (Open)
[St Hugh’s College] The Julia Wood Prize - July 24th (Open)

Gonville & Caius Linguistics Challenge - June 5th (Open)
[Trinity College] Linguistics Essay Prize - August 3rd (Open)

[Newham College] The Music Essay Prize - March (Closed)

[OGN] Oxford German Olympiad - March (Closed)
[Newham College] The Modern and Medieval Languages Essay Prize - March (Closed)
[University of Oxford] French Flash Fiction Competition - March (Closed)
[University of Oxford] Spanish Flash Fiction Competition - March (Closed)
[OGN] Oxford German Olympiad Round 2 - April (Closed)
Gonville & Caius Modern Languages Challenge - June 5th (Open)
OGN German Classic Essay Prize (Not yet Open)

[Newham College] The Philosophy Essay Prize - May 11th (Open)
[Trinity College] Philosophy Essay Prize - May 31st (Open)
Oriel College] Lloyd Davies Philosophy Prize - June 22nd (Open)
[St Peter’s College] Edgar Jones Philosophy Essay Competition - September (Not yet Open)

[Royal Society of Chemistry] Schools’ Analyst Competition*
Crest Awards Gold
[Reach Cambridge] Scholarship Essay Competition - November (Closed)
The Land Rover 4x4 in Schools Technology Challenge - January/ February (Closed)*
[Royal College of Science Union] Science Challenge - February (Closed)
[New College] Equality and Diversity Essay Competition - March (Closed)
[ISA] Sixth Form Essay Prize - March (Closed)
[Newham College] The Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Essay Prize - March (Closed)
Peterhouse Kelvin Science Prize - April (Closed)
[Hertford College] Unsung Heroes of Science Video Competition - April (Closed)
The Minds Underground Sustainability & Economics Essay Competition - April (Closed)
The Minds Underground Sciences Essay Competition - April (Closed)
[The Oxford Scientist] Schools’ Writing Competition - May (Closed)
Rolls-Royce Schools Prize for Science & technology - May 29th (Open)*
The Dukes Education Essay Prize - June 1st (Open)
Libra Essay Prize - June 26th (Open)
The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition - June 30th (Open)
F1 in Schools* (Registration Open)
Robinson College Essay Prize - August 14th (Open)
First Lego League (Not yet Open)
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists & Engineers Competition (Not yet Open)

[Royal Society of Biology] British Biology Olympiad - February (Closed)*
[Newham College] The Biological Sciences Essay Prize - March (Closed)
Biochemical Society Science Communication Prize - May 28th (Open)
[Royal Society of Biology] Young Photographer of the Year - July 24th (Open)

[Newham College] [HM Government] Cyber Discovery (Closed)
The Computer Science Essay Prize - March (Closed)
Teen Tech Awards - April (Closed)

Newham College] The Engineering Essay Prize - March (Closed)
[Lucy Cavendish College] Keith Maddocks Engineering & Design Prize - April (Closed)
[The Minds Underground] Engineering Innovation Challenge - April (Closed)
Gonville & Caius Engineering Challenge - June 5th (Open)

[Integral Maths] Ritangle - Autumn (Closed)
[UK Mathematics Trust] Intermediate Mathematical Challenge - January (Closed)
[University of Manchester] The Alan Turing Cryptography Competition - January (Closed)
[St Edmund Hall] Teddy Rocks Maths Essay Competition - March (Closed)
[Newham College] The Philippa Fawcett Mathematics Essay Prize - March (Closed)

Gonville & Caius Natural Sciences Challenge - June 5th (Open)

The Unofficial Guide to Medicine Essay Competition
[Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences] University of Oxford Sixth-form Prize in Medicine - January (Closed)
[Lucy Cavendish College] Cottrell Essay Prize for Medicine and Veterinary Medicine -April (Closed)
The Minds Underground Medicine Essay Competition - April (Closed)
[Medic Mentor] National Essay Competition - August 15th (Open)

[Lucy Cavendish College] Cottrell Essay Prize for Medicine and Veterinary Medicine - April (Closed)

[Reach Cambridge] Scholarship Essay Competition - November (Closed)
Yr 12 NCH Essay Competition - January (Closed)
[New College] Equality and Diversity Essay Competition - March (Closed)
[Newham College] The Woolf Essay Prize - March (Closed)
[Newham College] The Psychological and Behavioural Sciences Essay Prize - March (Closed)
Lucy Cavendish Essay Prize on contemporary issues - April (Closed)
The Dukes Education Essay Prize - June 1st (Open)
Libra Essay Prize - June 26th (Open)
The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition - June 30th (Open)
John Locke Institute Essay Competition - July 15th (Open)
Robinson College Essay Prize - August 14th (Open)
Bank of England and Financial Times School Blog Competition - January (Closed)
[Adam Smith Institute] Young Writer on Liberty Competition (Closed)
The Minds Underground Sustainability & Economics Essay Competition - April (Closed)
The Royal Economic Society’s Young Economist of the Year Essay Competition - July 27th (Open)
[IEA] The Dorian Fisher Memorial Prize - July 24th (Open)
The Economist Open Future Prize - July (Not yet Open)
Marshall Society Essay Competition - August (Not yet Open)
The LSESU Economics Society Essay Competition- August (Not yet Open)
The Richard Kock Breakthrough Prize - September for Registration (Not yet Open); June for Submission (Not yet Open)

Fitzwilliam College Land Economy Essay Competition - April (Closed)

[The Supreme Court] The Student Writing Competition - October (Closed)
[Corpus Christi College] Peter Cane Legal Reasoning Prize - February (Closed)
[Trinity College] Robert Walker Prize for Essays in Law - April (Closed)
[Jesus College] The Lord Toulson Essay Prize in Law - April (Closed)
The Minds Underground Law Essay Competition - April (Closed)
[Merton College] Law Essay Competition (Not yet Open)

[Trinity College] R.A. Bulter Politics Prize - August 3rd (Open)
[LSE Undergraduate Political Review] Essay Competition - September (Not yet Open)

LSE

Marshall Soc

Young Econmist of the year competition

Richard Koch Breakthrough Prize
Wicked Young Writers Awards
NCH Essay Competition
IEA Dorian Fisher Memorial Prize
LSESU essay prize
Cambridge Marshall Society Prize
The Economist Open Future prize
Adam Smith Institute Young Writer on Liberty competition
Bank of England blog competition

Spanish Flash Fiction Oxford

Young Geographer of the Year - June 30th
OGN German Classic Essay Prize - September 1st
[Newham College] [HM Government] Cyber Discovery - September 30th

Google Hack

Hackathon’s

[University of Law] Real World Questions - 13th September

[Royal Geographical Society] David W. Smith Memorial Prize (Not offered in 2020)
[Royal Geographical Society] Young Geographer of the Year (Not yet Open)

St Peter’s College, Oxford

Philosophy

Deadline: September
Further details here.

Oxford—Princeton John Locke Institute

Politics, Philosophy, Economics, History

Further details here.

Newnham College, Cambridge (Girls)

Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering

Further details here.

Peterhouse College, Cambridge

Peterhouse’s Vellacott History Prize, Kelvin Science Prize and Thomas Campion English Prize.

Deadline:  April 2020
Further details here.

Robinson College, Cambridge

Various questions which can be discussed with reference to any academic discipline

Further details here.

St Peter’s College, Oxford

Philosophy (announced April)

Further details here.