CJPA Essay Competition

Congratulations to this year’s winners!

Best Overall (without order of merit):
Rona Ono-Sorhue 
Carter Herman 
John Carrell 

High Commendations (without order of merit):

Victor Ni 
Daniel William Reg McGuinness 
Jayden Hope 
Isabella Swan
Yubo Lin 
Samairah Khan
Jaylourd Patrick Divino Dedal

The top three entries (Best Overall Category) will be published on this website.

The CJPA Essay Competition, hosted by the Cambridge Journal of Political Affairs (CJPA), a student-led academic journal based at the University of Cambridge. Run by current Cambridge students, CJPA is proudly supported by the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS) at the University of Cambridge.

The competition is open to students in Years 11–13, or equivalent secondary school levels internationally. Through this competition, we aim to provide a platform for thoughtful and creative engagement with the political challenges shaping our world today. The five prompts span key sub-disciplines of political study and are designed to encourage students to think critically, independently, and ambitiously.

You can find more information about this year’s competition and read works by past winners below.

2025 Essay Competition Questions

  • Comparative Politics: Why are some democracies more resilient to democratic backsliding than others?
  • International Relations: Can international governance institutions effectively address global conflicts in an era of multipolarity?
  • Political History: “The 20th century proves that political extremes are closer to each other than they are to the centre.” Discuss.
  • Political Science: Can populism ever contribute positively to governance?
  • Political Thought: Does political thought today help us find solutions to global challenges, or does it mainly highlight problems?

Submission Guidelines

Eligibility: students Y11-13, or international equivalent, from anywhere in the world, may submit one English-language essay responding to any question.

What we’re looking for: A clear, compelling argument, responding to the question in your own words. See our rubric for more information.

Length and formatting:

The word count includes the main body of a submission. The word count does not include references, so all referencing footnotes and bibliography are not included. Appendixes are also not included in the word count. Reviewers will, however, include footnotes that are used to argue, and not reference.

There are no submission fees, and you will never be asked to pay a fee at any stage of submission, judging, publishing, or if you choose to withdraw your entry.

Past winners

2024:

Erica Yip Pei Yuan – How do voting systems affect the perception of democracy?