Student Essay Competitions

One of the draw backs of studying in the UK as an international student can be the high cost of the university fees. However, there are various ways in which you can combat this by getting a grant to help cover the cost of fees and living expenses during your studies. The most common way of gaining this is by applying for scholarships which are then awarded either on academic merit or on financial need (you can search for scholarships on our scholarship directory page).

However, an alternative to applying for a scholarship, is to enter one of the many competitions that offer prizes to help you study. Most of these are essay competitions run by educational organisations, and not only can you win cash prizes, but it also looks great on your CV. Below you can find a list of competitions currently running. 

Student Competition Directory

• Centre for Bioscience Student Award: The annual Student Award gives bioscience students the chance to win £300 by describing their experiences and telling us about their opinions of teaching and learning. The competition is run by many of the Subject Centres, so students from most disciplines can enter the competition through their Subject Centre. Students registered on an undergraduate or postgraduate pure or applied biological science course at a UK institution are eligible to enter the UK Centre for Bioscience Student Award.

• Coubertin Olympic Awards Student Essay Competition: Student teams of 2 to 4 people are encouraged to enter from any UK based university or business school. The competition will finish before the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The prizes are £2,000 for the winners and £1,000 for the runners-up.

• Culture of Enterprise Student Essay Contest: The Culture of Enterprise Project annually sponsors an international student essay contest on the topic "Can Character and Communities Survive in an Age of Globalization?" The contest is designed to encourage students to reflect on the relationship between free enterprise and the institutions and mores that define a particular culture. Honorable mentions receive a small library of classic texts. Winning essays are published as an ISI monograph and finalists are honored at the ISI Indianapolis Leadership Conference each Spring. Applicants must be undergraduates, enrolled full-time at university.

• Foreign Affairs Student Essay Contest: A panel from the Foreign Affairs editorial staff will select one undergraduate's essay to be published on the Foreign Affairs Web site. The winner will also receive a prize of $1,000, and five honorable mentions will receive a free year-long subscription to Foreign Affairs. Open to all undergraduate students of accredited colleges and universities graduating no earlier than May.

• The Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Art, Design and Media Student Competition: ADM-HEA invites students on UK-based art, design or media higher education courses to enter this year's competition. Students must submit an image (visual / audio / film / etc) accompanied by a short statement that reflects their perceptions and experiences of higher education. Submissions will not be formally assessed; all suitable work will be displayed in an online gallery on the ADM-HEA website. The winner and runner up will be selected via an online voting system. The overall winning submission will receive £300 and be invited to the Higher Education Academy annual conference to be held at East Midlands Conference Centre. There will also be a runner up prize of £100.

• The Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies Student Essay Competition: An annual essay competition for higher education students of languages, linguistics and area studies who are studying in the UK. In addition to the prize money winners have their essay/recording published on the Subject Centre website, and are invited to attend the HE Academy Conference. Runners-up also receive a prize and have their entries published on the website.

• The Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Philosophical and Religious Studies: An annual undergraduate student essay competition to discuss questions relevant to philosophical, theological or religious studies. The winner will receive a cash prize of £250, £100 worth of books from the Continuum list, and an invitation to the Higher Education Academy Annual Conference.

• Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, University of Oxford: This contest seeks to promote research in early stages of higher education research through Latin America, and to identify promising young scholars in the humanities and science willing to advance research in Science and Religion. Every student in a Latin American university, taking post-graduate studies (at master or doctoral level), plus every student in their last year of undergraduate studies, working in the humanities (philosophy, theology, history of science) and the sciences (biology, physics, etc.), can participate.

• International Student Playscript Competition: The free-to-enter ISPC is unique in several respects, being genuinely worldwide, having no restrictions on form, content, length, number of characters or locations and - above all - giving every entry a helpful, encouraging but honest appraisal. There is no limit to how many scripts any student can enter. The annual closing date for entries is 30 November. The winner receives a cash prize - currently £1,000 - and a highly rated, rehearsed reading at the next National Student Drama Festival. Open to all students, both undergraduates and postgraduates, studying full- or part-time anywhere in the world.

• Pain Relief Foundation Medical Student Essay Competition: The winner will receive a prize of £750 for an essay on an aspect of chronic pain, of not more than 3000 words.