Ten Years From Now Essay Competition

There are three questions, one for each track, and you answer one of them in each round you enter, either the same question twice or a different one in Round 2. Each is broad on purpose, and Ten Years From Now wants you to narrow it to one problem, one development or one group rather than the whole world.

• Enterprise & Innovation

  What problem will matter much more ten years from now, and what would you create to address it?

• Science & Technology

  What scientific or technological development could most improve life by 2037, and what needs to happen to make it possible?

• Society & Humanity

  What should society change today to create a better world ten years from now?

The tracks also ask for slightly different work, which can help you choose. Enterprise & Innovation wants you to propose a product, service, business or system. Science & Technology asks you to find what's really holding a development back, whether that's the science, cost, regulation, infrastructure or public trust. Society & Humanity asks what should change today through policy, institutions, communities or everyday choices. The example topics Ten Years From Now gives for each track, such as care and ageing, energy storage or cities and commuting, are suggestions, not set topics.

You write one essay on your own, up to 1,000 words not counting the title and references, and either type it straight into the online entry form or paste it in from a document. It's text only, so if a chart matters to your argument you describe what it shows and link to the source. References go in a separate box, in any consistent style. There's no minimum length, although Ten Years From Now says most strong entries use most of the limit.

All three challenges follow the same pattern: identify a problem, development or change, say what should happen, then test your thinking against the evidence and against what would need to be true for it to work. Ten Years From Now also says a strong entry briefly connects the issue to you or your community, or to the career you hope to have.

The writing is short, but the research isn't. For classes, Ten Years From Now suggests two to four weeks to choose a question, research it and write a draft, which is a fair guide if you're working on your own too. You can build on schoolwork, as long as it answers one of the questions, the final text is yours and it hasn't been published or won another competition.

Every eligible essay is scored from 1 to 5 on six equally weighted criteria, where 5 means outstanding for the age group. Judging runs in three stages each round. At least two trained assessors read your essay without your name, school or country, and from that reading the top 10% get a Distinction and 50 are shortlisted, split across the tracks in proportion to entries. At least two specialist judges from your track then read each shortlisted essay and choose 20 finalists, with at least five per track. Finally, a panel led by the Chair of Judges picks the Challenge Winners and, after Round 2, the Grand Prize.

• Insight

  Identifies what matters most about the question, including what is often overlooked.

• Evidence

  Supports claims with relevant sources and data, cited accurately.

• Originality

  Reaches a position of the writer's own rather than restating common views.

• Reasoning

  Each step of the argument follows from the last, and objections are addressed.

• Feasibility (where relevant)

  Where a proposal is made, considers cost, practicality and who would need to act.

• Clarity

  Written precisely enough to be followed by a non-specialist.

In practice the rubric rewards a narrow claim defended well over a broad survey. Insight asks whether you've narrowed the question to something you can argue in 1,000 words, and Reasoning asks whether you state and answer the strongest objection. Feasibility only counts when you propose something, and an essay that doesn't is scored on the other five. The Enterprise & Innovation and Society & Humanity tasks both ask you to propose something, so in those tracks expect to be judged on cost, practicality and who would need to act.

The most useful resource is Ten Years From Now's How to build an argument guide, because its seven steps follow the six judging criteria. Work through it as a plan rather than a read-through: write your position in one sentence before anything else, compare your own main claim with its weak and strong examples, and run the checklist at the end before you submit.

Two of its shorter guides go deeper on particular criteria. How to choose and narrow an essay question helps with Insight, and How to write a counterargument and rebuttal helps with Reasoning.

If you'd like to see the method in action, Open Question is a free 35-minute live session on Tuesday 24 November 2026 at 10:00 UK time, asking whether AI will make it harder to find your first job in 2036. The recording stays online afterward, and its two-page Ten-Year Case workbook turns into a plan for an entry once you've filled it in. Taking part has no effect on judging.

• How to build an argument
• How to choose and narrow an essay question
• How to write a counterargument and rebuttal
• Open Question
• Ten-Year Case workbook

Most recognition here is a certificate or publication, and the money reaches only a handful of students. Each round has three Challenge Winners at US$650 each, and on 20 August 2027 one Grand Prize and one Students' Choice Award are given from both rounds' finalists. From Finalist upward, each expert-judged award also includes everything in the one below it.

The US$6,000 Grand Prize isn't cash. It's an Education Award for an educational experience, research project or learning opportunity that the winner chooses and Ten Years From Now agrees to. It's paid to the provider or reimbursed against receipts, and it must be used within 24 months of the announcement. The US$300 Students' Choice Award is decided by a vote of verified students, and because voting needs the entries to be published, only finalists who agree to publication appear on the ballot. Cash prizes for under-18s are paid to a parent or guardian, and winners handle any tax due where they live.

Finalists' Day is held at an Oxford college, and you can join online with no travel. If you go in person, Ten Years From Now pays up to US$400 toward travel against receipts, so anything above that is yours to pay, and under-18s attend with a parent, guardian or another adult the parent or guardian nominates.

A few rules are easy to miss and can cost you your entry or your place in a round.

• No edits after submitting

  Once you submit, your entry is final and can't be changed or replaced, and a Round 2 entry has to be new work, not a revised version of your Round 1 essay.

• Parent confirmation comes first

  If you're under 18, a parent or legal guardian gets an emailed link to confirm your entry, and it isn't judged until they do, so make sure they know to expect it.

• AI is allowed only for small jobs

  You may use it to brainstorm, find sources, explain a concept or check spelling and grammar, if you declare it. Using it to write, rewrite or structure your essay, or failing to declare it, can lead to disqualification even after results are published.

• Keep yourself out of the essay

  Your name, school and other identifying details mustn't appear in the title or text, because the first round is anonymous.

• Age is checked on the closing date

  You must be 14 to 18 on the closing date of the round you enter, so a student who turns 14 after 28 February 2027 can still enter Round 2 if they're 14 by 15 June 2027. You also need to be in secondary school or homeschooled, or to have been at some point during the 2026–27 school year.

• The deadline is in UTC

  Both rounds close at 23:59 UTC, late entries aren't accepted, and anything submitted after 28 February 2027 counts as a Round 2 entry.