Economics essay competitions 2026: how WYE differs from John Locke, LSESU, RES and Marshall
When you choose an economics essay competition, what matters is not the organiser’s name or the number of prizes, but whether the experience can show that you think like an economist, handle evidence, carry out research and work independently. This page compares what eight major international economics essay competitions are good at proving, and where the WYE Essay Prize (World Young Economist) sits among them.
John Locke tests how well you can argue. WYE asks how well you can investigate.
One asks whether you can build a persuasive case. The other asks whether you can look into a real problem the way a young economic researcher would.
What an essay competition actually proves in an economics application
Admissions offices rarely award formal credit for a competition name. What carries weight is whether the essay and what follows it demonstrate five things:
“I entered five competitions” is not necessarily more persuasive than “I turned one essay into a complete research project” — least of all for UK economics applications, which read for academic potential.
The more coherent academic story is reading → essay → competition → research → independent economic enquiry, not competition A plus competition B plus a stack of certificates.
Major international economics essay competitions: five dimensions of emphasis
Hover over any row (or tap it) to see that competition’s core task and the caveats. More blocks mean the dimension is more strongly emphasised. The composite score is the sum of the five (out of 25) and is only a quick way to compare emphasis — it is not a measure of quality.
The scores are WYE’s own reading of each competition’s publicly stated positioning on its official site, used to illustrate differences in emphasis. They are not official ratings and not a quality ranking; “current entry volume” places each competition in one of five bands based on publicly disclosed or verifiable annual submission scale, and is only intended to show relative size. Eligibility, format and dates change every year — always check the competition’s own rules for the current cycle. Full scoring methodology (in Chinese) →
Six things that define the WYE Essay Prize
WYE was not designed to copy an established competition. It was designed to make an essay competition the entry point into economic research: from argument, onward to evidence, a research project, academic feedback and a published or presented result.
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Not simply “I think the government should intervene”, but: which market failure or institutional constraint is at work, who is affected, which data or studies support the judgement, whether there are counterexamples or policy side effects, and under what conditions the conclusion holds.
Entering WYE does not cost you other opportunities
What students actually worry about when choosing a competition is exclusivity: if I enter here, am I locked out elsewhere, and does the organiser end up owning my work? WYE’s position, stated plainly:
Entering WYE does not prevent you from entering John Locke, LSESU, Marshall, RES, HIEEC or anything else. WYE does not require exclusive entry, does not forbid submitting on the same topic elsewhere, and judging is unaffected by other competitions you enter. Do check the other competition’s own rules on first publication and simultaneous submission.
Copyright always stays with the author. If a piece enters the publication pathway, what the author grants WYE is a non-exclusive licence to publish, display and archive — you can still use the same work in applications, on a personal site, in another publication or as the basis of later research.
WYE is an independent organisation focused on young economic writing and research. It is not affiliated with any university and does not design questions around one institution’s preferences. What you leave with travels across UK, US and other systems: a research question, a chain of evidence, and a verifiable record of process.
When AI can produce fluent prose in seconds, the final text alone no longer proves much. WYE extends the judgement of authenticity to the process: a structured declaration of AI and outside help, verification of citations and data sources, sampled process materials, and optional research logs and short oral defences. The point is not to suspect students — it is to make the ones who did the work visible.
The competition is not a paywall around the learning. The supporting material is free to everyone with no registration: a paragraph-by-paragraph economics writing walkthrough, ten modules of open resources (research questions, public data, methods, integrity and AI, tools and templates), and eight interactive open readers.
WYE exists to get students genuinely thinking about an economic problem they care about, and to turn that into work they can show, discuss and continue. No competition is an admissions guarantee. What you take away is a question, evidence, a revision history and a next step.
WYE and John Locke: not substitutes, but different emphases
You can do both, in either order — they teach different things.
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WYE does not describe itself as a better-known alternative to established competitions. The accurate description is narrower: a route from economic argument into economic research. Don’t just write about the economy. Investigate it.
Frequently asked questions
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Next steps
Official pages of the other competitions
WYE is not affiliated with, partnered with or endorsed by any of the organisations above, and does not handle registration for them. No competition should be marketed as an admissions guarantee.
