School Essay Competition
The School Essay Competition, organised in partnership with the Financial Times, invites students to answer a topical geographical question.
The 2025 School Essay Competition, organised in partnership with the Financial Times, invites students to answer the following question:
What are the implications for different countries of international trade policies in the contemporary world?
You can submit your essay at any time before the deadline; it should focus on the relevant geopolitical situation at the time of writing.
Seach FT.com for the latest news to help with your essay. You can also use other sources. Examples at the time of the competition launch include the following, but you should use the latest articles you can find too.
To get free FT access, check if your school has signed up here and if so enter your school email and create an individual account. Ask your teacher about signing up if your school is not currently registered.
The judges are looking for:
- A clear essay or ArcGIS StoryMap that is well-evidenced and reaches a clear conclusion
- Submissions that do not exceed 1,000 words (excluding the title and references) – submissions over 1,000 words will not be considered. The word count must be provided in the document.
- Referenced sources of information and data, including the FT
- Submissions which are the entrant’s own work and relevant to the question and guidance
The Society runs this competition in partnership with the Financial Times as part of its education programme to support geography teachers and their pupils. The competition is open to schools in the UK and overseas. Submissions are judged without seeing the entrants’ details. Refer to the full terms and conditions for further details. Our email is competitions@rgs.org - please fully read the terms and conditions before emailing us with questions.
Entries must be received by Friday 31 October 2025 at 17:00 GMT.
No late entries will be accepted. We will not be able to help with submission upload questions or issues on the deadline date.
The results should be announced by Friday 9 January 2026. The winner and highly commended entrants will be informed before the results are shown on our website.
Please do not contact the Society asking when the results will be available.
There will be an awards celebration at the Society for the winner and highly commended entrants, with guests (provisional date and time: afternoon on Tuesday 3 March 2026).
We look forward to receiving your entries.
