竞赛简介 Introduction
约翰洛克写作竞赛(John Locke Essay Competition)由位于英国牛津的独立教育组织John Locke Institute主办，该组织与牛津、普林斯顿、布朗、白金汉大学等名校教授都有合作。正如约翰·洛克精神一样，竞赛从极富趣味性和挑战力的写作题目出发，旨在培养参赛者的议论文写作能力，考察参赛者对于不同学科领域独立深刻的见解、广博的认知、清晰的说理能力、批判性的分析思维能力和说服力。此前参赛者被牛津、剑桥、普林斯顿、哈佛、耶鲁、斯坦福、芝加哥、加州伯克利等名校录取。
The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis, and persuasive style. The Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum. Past students have gone on to study at Oxford, Cambridge, Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Chicago, and Berkeley.
竞赛时间 Timeline
- 报名注册开放：2026年2月2日
- 报名注册截止：2026年3月31日
- 作文递交开放：2026年4月1日
- 作文递交截止：2026年5月31日
- 作文延迟递交截止：2026年6月7日或21日（需支付不同延迟递交金额）
- 决赛名单公布：2026年7月7日
- 学术会议：2026年10月2-4日
- 获奖晚宴：2026年10月3日
参赛资格 Eligibility
全球学生均有资格参赛，其中分为高年级组和低年级组。
高年级组：15-18岁
低年级组：14岁及以下
无论年龄，所有话题均可投稿参赛。参赛组别仅由截止日期时的年龄决定。截至5月31日年龄未满15岁的学生将归入少年组进行评审，其余符合条件的学生将归入青年组。参赛者无需单独申请组别。
You must be under 19 years old as of the regular submission deadline (31 May, 2026). If you turn 19 on 1 June 2026 or later, you are eligible to compete. There are no minimum age requirements—students of any age under 19 may participate.
Your category is determined solely by your age on the submission deadline. Students who are under the age of 15 as of 31 May will be judged in the Junior Category. All other eligible students will be judged in the Senior Category. You do not need to apply separately for a category.
适合学生 Recommended to Students
➡专业兴趣方向为科学、经济、心理、法律、新闻、国际关系、哲学、历史、公共政策、哲学等学科的学生。
➡欲提升并证明自己议论文写作能力的学生。
➡Students who want to apply for majors including science & technology, economics, psychology, law, media, international relations, philosophy, history, public policy, and other related fields.
➡Students who want to develop their persuasive writing skills.
竞赛话题 Topics
Economics 经济
Q1. Should we fear a cashless society?
Q2. Technology now allows personalised pricing. If this came to be widely used, what effects should we expect?
Q3. Did Jeff Bezos get rich at the expense of his customers, his employees, neither or both?
Q1. 我们是否应该担心无现金社会？
Q2. 现今技术已能实现个性化定价。如果这种方式被广泛使用，我们可能会面临哪些影响？
Q3. 杰夫·贝佐斯变得富有，是牺牲了他的客户利益，还是他的员工利益，抑或是两者皆非，或两者皆有？
History 历史
Q1. 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.' Is it? Does it?
Q2. What might the world look like if the Library of Alexandria hadn’t burned down?
Q3. Does Che deserve his iconic T-shirt?
Q1. "道德宇宙的弧线很长，但它终将弯向正义。" 是这样吗？真的如此吗？
Q2. 如果亚历山大图书馆不曾被焚毁，世界可能会是怎样一番景象？
Q3. 切·格瓦拉配得上他那标志性的T恤形象吗？
International Relations 国际关系
Q1. Does foreign aid help or hurt poor people?
Q2. Is the US economy harmed by cheap imports from China?
Q3. Should a coalition of countries (or of billionaires) run an experiment with a libertarian microstate?
Q1. 外国援助对贫困人群而言是利大于弊，还是弊大于利？
Q2. 来自中国的廉价进口商品是否损害了美国经济？
Q3. 是否应由一些国家（或亿万富翁们）联盟合作，在一个小型自由主义国家（“微国家”）进行社会实验？
Law 法律
Q1. If legislators and judges all accepted the philosophical theory of determinism, what would be the effect on criminal sentencing?
Q2. To what extent should criminal sentencing take into account the effect on the perpetrator’s family?
Q3. Is trial by jury obsolete?
Q1. 倘若立法者和法官都接受哲学理论中的决定论，刑事判决将会受到怎样的影响？
Q2. 刑事判决应在多大程度上考虑对罪犯家庭的影响？
Q3. 陪审团审判制度是否已过时？
Philosophy 哲学
Q1. Is it ever wrong to do the right thing for the wrong reasons?
Q2. What consolations does philosophy offer?
Q3. Why is incest wrong?
Q1. 出于错误的理由去做正确的事，是否也存在过错？
Q2. 哲学会给予我们哪些慰藉？
Q3. 为什么近亲相恋（乱伦）是错误的？
Politics 政治
Q1. Is the right to self-determination absolute?
Q2. Did the pandemic normalise authoritarianism?
Q3. Is democracy in crisis?
Q1. 自决权是绝对的吗？
Q2. 新冠疫情是否让威权主义变得常态化了？
Q3. 民主制度正陷入危机吗？
Psychology 心理
Q1. Why do we care what happens to our body after death?
Q2. Is mental illness over-diagnosed now, or just better recognised?
Q3. Surveys show a widening gender ideological gap in recent years. Why?
Q1. 我们为何在乎自己死后躯体的归宿？
Q2. 当今心理疾病是过度诊断了，还是得到了更准确的识别？
Q3. 调查显示近年来性别意识形态分歧日益扩大，原因何在？
Public Policy 公共政策
Q1. What discount rate should be applied to long-run environmental policies? Why?
Q2. Which unintended consequence was most devastating and why did we fail to predict it?
Q3. Should vaccination be mandatory in a public health emergency?
Q1. 长期环境政策应采用怎样的折现率？原因何在？
Q2. 哪个非预期后果造成的破坏最为严重？我们为何未能预见到它？
Q3. 在突发公共卫生事件中，是否应强制推行疫苗接种？
Science & Technology 科技
Q1. Is free speech the enemy of science?
Q2. Is space exploration a necessity or an indulgence?
Q3. Should we be polite to ChatGPT?
Q1. 言论自由是科学的敌人吗？
Q2. 太空探索是必要之举还是奢侈行为？
Q3. 我们应当对ChatGPT保持礼貌吗？
Theology 神学
Q1. Is religious experience better explained by neuroscience or by theology?
Q2. Research shows a strong inverse correlation between religiosity and per-capita spending on education. Does one cause the other?
Q3. If you achieve enlightenment, how will you know?
Q1. 宗教体验更适合用神经科学还是神学来解释？
Q2. 研究显示，宗教信仰程度与人均教育支出呈显著的负相关关系。这两者是否存在因果关系？
Q3. 如果你开悟了，你将如何得知？
写作要求 Entry Requirements
➡字数要求不超过2000字（不包括图表、援引等）。
➡需以PDF形式提交文章。PDF命名方式：名-姓-论文话题组别-论文题号。
➡不允许加脚注。
➡原文中不得出现 参赛者姓名。
➡参赛者需提供一名导师邮件地址，以证明论文原创性。
Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration).
The filename of your pdf must be in this format: FirstName-LastName-Category-QuestionNumber.pdf; so, for instance, Alexander Popham would submit his answer to question 2 in the Psychology category with the following file name:
Alexander-Popham-Psychology-2.pdf
Essays with filenames which are not in this format will be rejected.
The candidate's name should NOT appear within the document itself.
Candidates should NOT add footnotes. They may, however, add endnotes and/or a Bibliography that is clearly titled as such.
Each candidate will be required to provide the email address of an academic referee who is familiar with the candidate's written academic work. This should be a school teacher, if possible, or another responsible adult who is not a relation of the candidate. The John Locke Institute will email referees to verify that the essays submitted are indeed the original work of the candidates.
奖项设置 Prizes
➡每个参赛话题组别的第一名将获得5000美金奖学金，用于参加约翰洛克提供课程。第二名和第三名将分别获得2000美金和1000美金。特等大奖将获得10000美金。
There are prizes for the best essays in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US$5000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme. The second place winner will receive a scholarship worth US$2000 and the third place winner will receive a scholarship worth US$1000.
The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, which comes with a US$10,000 scholarship to attend one or more of our summer schools and/or visiting scholars programmes.
