How does a young student win an international prize? The John Locke path
In 2026, the John Locke Institute Global Essay Prize received 100,237 entries worldwide; 17.5% were shortlisted. Our 8 secondary students were shortlisted, all of them. Let us say one thing clearly first: they did not start as prodigies.
The starting point: eight students nowhere near university level
When these eight began training, their writing was far from university standard. Months later, they submitted essays of university quality. What happened in between was not a miracle. It was a path that can be repeated.
Path one: intensive, real writing
Not copying model essays, not memorising templates, but genuine argument: taking a position, answering objections, revising and rewriting. Five drafts of one essay is normal. For the first time, a child discovers that writing is not finishing homework. It is polishing an idea until it stands.
Path two: deep reading, screens off
The prize does not test prose; it tests the weight of thought. We ask students to switch off their screens and read full books and long essays, because fragments cannot feed an essay of substance. Only deep reading produces deep writing.
Path three: standing on the shoulders of masters
Students learn the style of reasoning made famous by Professor Michael Sandel's Justice course at Harvard. Our founder studied at Harvard College under Professor Sandel, and under Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and Eric Maskin. Much of the material used in class exists nowhere else.
More than a prize
The same abilities carried our students onto the TED-Ed Student Talks showcase stage, alongside peers from more than thirty schools. Writing that holds, speaking that lands and thinking that goes deep feed one another. From the six-step recording method to structured speaking, every step of the path can begin today.
