Competitions · Humanities & writing
Humanities, social-science and writing competitions — the full circuit.
Sixty-eight humanities, social-science and writing competitions from Hanlin's Chinese hub: the linguistics and philosophy olympiads, essay prizes from John Locke to the Harvard International Review, the New York Times contest series, history and debate circuits, and psychology, law and poetry awards.
Recommended
Six to know first.
The competitions Hanlin's Chinese hub recommends for middle- and high-school students.
In the classroom
The tutors and lessons behind the results.
Lesson stills and subject leads from Hanlin's Chinese hub.
Humanities tutorial
Essay and debate coaching in a Hanlin tutorial room.
Psychology & humanities — Lu
Penn education master's; psychology and philosophy at Mount Holyoke.
Writing — Yang
UBC English literature and philosophy; a Toronto master's in language education.
Reading space
Bookshelves and tiered seating at a Hanlin learning centre.
Board 01
Humanities, social sciences & writing82
Every humanities, social sciences & writing competition on Hanlin's Chinese hub — cards open the English detail page where it is live.
IOL (International Linguistics Olympiad)
The International Linguistics Olympiad — one of the thirteen international science olympiads.
Marshall Society Essay Competition
The Marshall Society Essay Competition — recognised by top UK and US universities.
IHBB (International History Bee and Bowl)
The International History Bee and Bowl — history quiz competition in English.
IEA (International Economics Essay Contest)
The IEA essay competition, from the UK free-market think tank.
Columbia Young Authors Writing Competition
The Columbia Young Authors Writing Competition.
IPO (International Philosophy Olympiad)
The International Philosophy Olympiad.
Bennington Young Writers Awards
The Bennington Young Writers Awards.
Young Economist Essay Competition
The Young Economist Essay Competition, from the Royal Economic Society and the FT.
Princeton Ten-Minute Play Contest
Princeton's ten-minute play contest for eleventh-graders.
Jane Austen Society Essay Contest
The Jane Austen Society essay contest.
Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition
The Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition.
DNA DAY
The DNA Day essay contest, marking the Human Genome Project and the double helix.
NMUN (National Model United Nations)
National Model United Nations.
ISSCY (International Social Sciences Essay Contest)
The International Social Sciences Essay Contest for Youth.
California High School Speech and Debate
California High School Speech and Debate, hosted at Berkeley.
Milberg High School Poetry Prize (Princeton)
The Leonard L. Milberg '53 High School Poetry Prize at Princeton.
Congressional Art Competition
The Congressional Art Competition.
World Scholars Cup
The World Scholar's Cup — six subjects, one interdisciplinary challenge.
IAC (International Academic Challenge)
The International Academic Challenge — the US selection for the geography olympiad.
Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards — America's oldest creative programme for teenagers.
LSE Economics Essay Competition
The LSE economics essay competition.
Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest
The Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest — science meets art.
ETHICS BOWL
The Ethics Bowl, recognised by UNC-Chapel Hill's Parr Center.
The New York Times STEM Writing Contest
The New York Times STEM Writing Contest.
NYT Personal Narrative Essay Contest
The New York Times Personal Narrative Essay Contest.
The New York Times Student Editorial Contest
The New York Times Student Editorial Contest.
The New York Times Student Review Contest
The New York Times Student Review Contest.
ROW International Youth Poetry and Art Award
River of Words — the international youth poetry and art award, on the environment.
ASOE (Australian Science Olympiad, Earth Science)
The Australian Science Olympiad in earth and environmental science.
NYT Summer Reading Contest
The New York Times Summer Reading Contest, running since 2010.
John Locke Essay Competition
The John Locke Essay Competition, with professors from Oxford, Princeton and Brown.
HIEEC (Harvard International Economics Essay Contest)
The Harvard International Economics Essay Contest.
HAWC (Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest)
The Harvard International Review academic writing contest for grades 9–12.
The Concord Review
The Concord Review — a 5% acceptance rate for high-school history research.
WSDA
WSDA speech and debate — academic debating across China.
NHSDLC (National High School Debate League of China)
The National High School Debate League of China, since 2012.
NHD (National History Day)
National History Day — historical research for grades 4–12.
Scholars of Tomorrow Psychology Essay Contest
The Scholars of Tomorrow psychology essay contest.
PBIC
The youth international public-welfare innovation challenge, with the UNFPA.
FYPC
The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award for ages 11–17.
Hi World
Hi World! World Culture Day, from the NHD tradition.
Young Writers
Young Writers — inspiring creative writing since 1991.
Gwyneth Bebb
The Gwyneth Bebb law essay prize.
Woolf Essay Competition
Newnham College's Woolf Essay Prize for year-12 women.
Kavita Singh PPE
St Hugh's College, Oxford's Kavita Singh PPE essay prize.
NCH
The New College of the Humanities essay competition.
TOPSS
The APA's TOPSS competition for high-school psychology students.
NJCL
The National Junior Classical League's competitions.
BSPEE
The Baltic Sea Philosophy Essay Event.
The Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction and Essay Contest
The Tom Howard/John H. Reid Fiction and Essay Contest, from Winning Writers.
The Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest
The Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest, from Winning Writers.
Social Justice Awards
The Social Justice Awards — writing, speaking and art on social inequality.
The Royal Commonwealth Society BC Essay and Speaking Competition
The Royal Commonwealth Society BC essay and speaking competition.
Patricia Grodd
The Patricia Grodd Poetry Prize for Young Writers.
Write the World
Write the World — monthly competitions for writers aged 13–18.
Yale Series of Younger Poets Prize
The Yale Series of Younger Poets, since 1919.
The Harvard Crimson Global Essay Competition
The Harvard Crimson Global Essay Competition for ages 13–18.
The Harvard Crimson Business Challenge
The Harvard Crimson Business Challenge.
The Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition
The Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition, set by professors from Harvard, MIT, Cambridge and Oxford.
Fitzwilliam
Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge's essay competition.
CULR
The Columbia Undergraduate Law Review high-school essay competition.
IPsyO
The International Psychology Olympiad for high-school students.
NHC
Australia's National History Challenge — research-based and free.
BPO (British Psychology Olympiad)
The British Psychology Olympiad, from Minds Underground.
HKLO (Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad)
The Hong Kong Linguistics Olympiad.
CWA
The Cosmopolitan Writing Award, founded 2020.
MU
Minds Underground's subject essay challenges.
American Protege Concerto
The one in the series that judges by instrument as well as by age - winners are chosen separately in piano, strings, voi.
Songbird Art Contest
Hand-drawn only - digital work and anything AI-generated is ineligible by rule.
American Protege Music Talent
The only one of the seven where you can play jazz, sing Broadway, improvise, or perform something you wrote yourself.
American Protege Piano and Strings
A video audition judged by four people, and the winners play Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.
We Sing Pop!
The only place in this family where pop is allowed - the six classical competitions refuse it outright and send you here.
Quill and Scroll
Fifty-one topics across writing, photography, design and multimedia - and you may enter four of them.
American Protege Romantic Music
A ninety-five year window - late Beethoven to Rachmaninoff, 1815 to 1910 - and nothing outside it.
Seattle International Film Festival
Not a student competition - a professional festival that anyone may submit to.
She Is More
Ages ten to eighteen, any gender, any flat medium from oil paint to collage to digital art.
SAVE THE FROGS! Art Contest
Free, open to any age, open all year, three entries each.
Sony World Photography Awards
One of the few genuinely international competitions a school-age photographer can enter, free, with three images.
American Protege Vocal
Four minutes if you are at school - the tightest limit anywhere in this series.
American Protege Woodwinds and Brass
The only competition in this series with its own age boundaries - every band sits a year younger than its siblings.
IPsyO
A large international psychology competition - students from seventy-five countries in its most recent edition.
The New York Times student contests
Seven contests across the year, all free, and the shortest asks for under a hundred words.
Results
Where this track leads.
Selected results from the honours boards — the full rolls sit on the honours pages.
108 — John Locke shortlists, 2023
95 shortlisted with 45 global awards at 47% in 2024.
14 — HIR global awards, 2022
4 Gold, 4 Silver, 6 Bronze at a 100% defence award rate.
50% — of IOL Team China, 2021
four individual Golds at the China round; a Canada national-team selection in 2023.
FAQ
This track, briefly answered.
What families ask when choosing where to start.
Which essay prize should a student start with?
John Locke for a first serious essay, HIR for international affairs, the NYT series for shorter forms; TCR is the ceiling for history research papers.
Are there olympiads for the humanities?
Yes — IOL for linguistics, IPO for philosophy, IPsyO and BPO for psychology, plus the History Bee and Bowl.
How does Hanlin coach writing competitions?
Argument-first coaching with humanities tutors from Columbia, Penn and UVA — topic selection, research, drafting and rounds of feedback to the deadline.
Where are the results?
On the honours pages: 108 John Locke shortlists, 14 HIR global awards and half of the 2021 IOL Team China.
Do these help university applications?
Essay prizes and humanities olympiads are among the clearest signals for humanities and social-science applications to the UK and US.
Competition enquiries
Map the competition route.
Tell us the subject, grade and current level, and an advisor will sequence the contests from first entry to the invitational tiers.