art history essay competition

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Art History Essay Prize for 16-18 Years

February 12 2021.

Picture: The Arts Society

Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:

The Arts Society are advertising for a rather impressive art history essay prize for budding art historians aged between 16 - 18 years. The prize of the Trenchard Cox Art History Abroad Scholarship is a two week Art History Abroad (AHA) summer course in Venice, Florence and Rome worth over £4,000. Candidates must submit two 400 word essays on one artwork that they love, and one that they 'loathe'. Entries must be in by 5pm (GMT) today (12th February 2021)!

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Oxford Art Journal Essay Prize for Early Career Researchers

Submissions are now open for the 2023  Oxford Art Journal  Essay Prize. The submissions deadline is  December 1, 2023.  

The annual Oxford Art Journal  Essay Prize for Early Career Researchers launched in 2018, to coincide with the journal’s fortieth year of publication, and seeks to further enhance Oxford Art Journal ’s international reputation for publishing innovative scholarship. The Essay Prize for Early Career Researchers aims to encourage submissions from British and international doctoral students, as well as early career researchers who are within five years of gaining their PhD. The essay will be on any topic relevant to art history and should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words (normally including footnotes) in length. The editors will review all submissions to select the Prize winner and will work with the successful candidate to advise on revision of the manuscript for publication. The journal and Oxford University Press will advise the Prize winner on securing image permissions and may be able to make a contribution to image costs.

The winner will receive:

• Publication of the winning essay in Oxford Art Journal
• £500 worth of Oxford University Press books
• A year’s free subscription to Oxford Art Journal

Other entries of sufficient quality may be invited to publish their submission in Oxford Art Journal .

How to enter:

Entries should be submitted via our online submission system . New authors should create their own account when they first log on. Authors who already have an account should log in using their previous account ID and password in order to submit a new manuscript.

Click on the 'Author’ tab once you have logged on, then ‘Start New Submission’, and choose ‘Essay Prize’ from the list of manuscript types. If you need assistance regarding the online submission system, please click on the 'Online Submission Instructions' link or contact the Editorial Office.

Competition rules:

Essays will be 6,000-10,000 words (normally including footnotes) in length.

The closing date will be 1 December 2023 and papers can be submitted at any point before this date.

The winner of the Prize will be required to verify their status as a current doctoral student or as an early career researcher who gained their PhD no more than five years previously. The journal will make due allowance for entrants who have had career breaks.

Entries submitted to the Oxford Art Journal Early Career Essay Prize must not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.

The decision of the judges will be final, and no correspondence will be entered into by the editors.

In the unlikely event that, in the editors’ opinion, the material submitted is not of a suitable standard, no Prize will be awarded.

Previous recipients of the Early Career Essay Prize

2018: Alex Burchmore , ‘La maladie de porcelaine : Liu Jianhua’s Regular/Fragile (2007) at Oxburgh Hall and the History of Massed Porcelain Display in English Aristocratic Interiors’, Oxford Art Journal 42, no. 3 (December 2019), pp. 253–281, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxartj/kcz016

2019: Kenji Praepipatmongkol , ‘David Medalla: Dreams of Sculpture’, Oxford Art Journal 43, no. 3 (December 2020), pp. 339–359, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxartj/kcaa023

2020: Katherine Fein , ‘White Skin, Silvered Plate: Encountering Jonathan Walker’s Branded Hand in Daguerreotype’, Oxford Art Journal 44, no. 3 (December 2021), pp. 357–377, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxartj/kcab029

2021:  Sunghoon Lee , ‘Oro en el río: Placer Mining, Abundance, and Sustainability in Early Modern Art and Thought’, Oxford Art Journal 46, no. 1 (March 2023), pp. 23–43, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxartj/kcad002  

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How to write about art, and how to enter the Write on Art competition

Posted 12 Jun 2020, by Rose Aidin

Writing about anything is one of our most powerful tools. Writing about art is even more extraordinary, as you are writing about something that is not intended to be expressed in words. When you are writing about art you may reveal as much about yourself as about the work of art, which can make it frightening, but also very exciting.

A Girl Writing about 1530

Jan van Hemessen (c.1500–c.1575) (after)

Now by writing about art and entering the Write on Art competition you can win £500, the opportunity to be widely published, and to have your writing read and commented on by a distinguished panel of judges, which this year includes Sir Simon Schama.

You are asked to write a short text, between 400 and 600 words, inspired by a work to be found on Art UK's website, which might include a bit of research, but is primarily based on your personal response.

Woman Writing at a Desk

John Lessore (b.1939)

Write on Art is a competition for school-aged students. It has been going for three years now but it could have been designed for the pandemic and lockdown.

At a time when school and education are disrupted (and it's uncertain for how long) and your UCAS form might be looking a bit sketchy, entering the competition is clearly worth some trouble even if it only goes on your CV. And you might win! People do.

Last year, one of my students at James Allen's Girls' School, where I teach art history, won first prize – Viola Turrell with a piece on Peter Doig – while two Art History Link-Up students, from the charity I run which offers free a Art History A level to state-supported students, were shortlisted.

Blotter 1993

Peter Doig (b.1959)

Viola wrote about Peter Doig's Blotter , a portrait of his brother, from 1993. The Art UK website hosts more than 240,000 paintings by over 40,000 artists and is now adding sculpture, so there is a lot to choose from. I asked Viola how she chose her painting, and she replied, 'Take your time... while the endless choice may seem daunting at first, this is a great chance for you to discover new styles, artists and galleries from the comfort of your home! (And hopefully in person once lockdown measures loosen).'

Man behind Bars

unknown artist

What tips does Viola have on writing a prize-winning essay about art?

'Remember the judges aren't looking for you to recite facts you found from a quick Google search. Rather, it's the sense of curiosity, a touch of creativity and passion you communicate in your writing that will make you stand out. For instance, note your initial, visceral reaction – did it provoke feelings of awe, disgust, or confusion? How about after you've done some research? Do your opinions remain unchanged, or do you read the artwork a little differently? My advice would be to remain open-minded, inquisitive and honest. Enjoy it!'

A Face Covered with Spider Web* 1920–1960

Madge Gill (1882–1961)

This is clearly excellent advice, straight from the horse's mouth. Viola said how beneficial winning Write on Art has been to her in the intervening year: 'It boosted my confidence and inspired me to write more since. I genuinely have grown to enjoy and find fulfilment from recording and expressing my thoughts on artworks and exhibitions. I've tried to make the most of this by writing for the school magazine, applying for other essay competitions and starting my own blog.'

Viola now plans to become a journalist or art writer as a result of winning the prize, and hopes perhaps one day to edit an art magazine. So I asked the current Editor of Apollo magazine, Dr Thomas Marks, for his tips on writing.

We were thrilled when Dr Thomas Marks, Editor @Apollo_magazine , visited our online Art History classes early in lockdown for inspiring workshops on ‘How to Write on Art’ + to inspire students to enter @artukdotorg ’s Write on Art prize. Hear @Tomwmarks here: #arthistory4everyone pic.twitter.com/7brSn4XIMG — Art History Link-Up (@ArtHistLinkUp) June 4, 2020

One was a very good one indeed, that applies to any situation where writing is involved, whether an email, essay or scholarly article. Tom argues: 'Respect your reader. Assume they have some knowledge, but for different types or article and writing this will be different. Give the reader the information you think they might need – specialist terms that might need explaining, for example. Try to grab the reader's attention early on – you could say something surprising, or use a quotation, or ask an unfamiliar question.'

And Tom's top tip on how to write on art, in particular, may at first seem contradictory to young students with little experience of looking at and writing about art: 'Be confident – and LOOK! Have faith in your ability to look and form opinions. Start with the experience of your eyes. If you have confidence in your eyes, you're bound to find something to say about the work you are exploring.'

From Tarzan to Rambo: English Born ‘Native’ Considers her Relationship to the Constructed/Self Image and her Roots in Reconstruction 1987

Sonia Boyce (b.1962)

However I know that the biggest advantage that teenagers have in writing about art, and in entering this competition, is their age and relative lack of visual experience. I straddle the two spheres of writing about art and teaching art history, having worked as an arts journalist in the 1990s and the 2000s, when art and the art world were rapidly changing. I wrote about mainly modern and contemporary art for national newspapers. Then for the last decade, I have been a part-time art history teacher, and for the last five years I have been running the charity I founded, Art History Link-Up (AHLU). AHLU offers accredited art history courses for state-supported students based in museums and galleries and now, for obvious reasons, it also operates online.

Looking at Titian's 'Bacchus and Ariadne'

As a result of my work with AHLU, I have stood in front of some of the nation's finest works of art with students from diverse backgrounds and wide ability ranges and I have rarely heard the same comment twice. Even more strikingly, almost every time, at least one student will make a comment that illuminates an aspect which that I had never seen before, or at least not in that way.

'Oh Muse be near me now and make a strange song' 2011

Zoe Murdoch (b.1976)

Teenage eyes are clear and astute, not cluttered up by received opinions and acquired 'canons of art history', fearless and original. So hone your writing-about-art skills now, in lockdown, so that when the museums and galleries open again you may be able to see things in our great communal treasures that you have never seen before.

For myself, I go back to Viola's prize-winning entry on Peter Doig and think it's significant that she ended with the word 'trance'. I think trance, flow, absorption, call it what you will, is essential for any creative exercise.

So my tip for you is that if you feel absorbed and entranced by the work of art as you are writing about it, it is likely that your reader will be too. For an instant, your reader can see the world through your eyes, which in these times may be one of the most powerful tools and skills to develop. For both writer and reader to pause from the present, and gain a sense of connection to the past and future, may be one of the greatest gifts that art, and writing about art, can offer.

Rose Aidin, Chief Executive of Art History Link-Up , a registered charity offering accredited Art History courses to state-supported students

The deadline for Write on Art 2020 is 31st July 2020

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Home » Latest News » ASSOCIATION FOR ART HISTORY | DISSERTATION PRIZE 2022

ASSOCIATION FOR ART HISTORY | DISSERTATION PRIZE 2022

UNDERGRADUATE & POSTGRADUATE PRIZES 

Call for Dissertation Prize nominations (2021 -22 academic year)

Have you written or marked a brilliant dissertation this year? If so why not consider nominating it for our Dissertation Prize.

This prize is for undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations in art history or visual culture.

The Association for Art History Dissertation Prize is awarded each year. There are two awards: one for undergraduate dissertations and one for postgraduate (Master’s-level) dissertations. The 2022 prize is for dissertations written during the 2021-22 academic year. The authors of the winning entry will receive: • £50 worth of book tokens • Association for Art History student membership for one year • Complimentary ticket to the 2023 Annual Conference • Publication of a 300-word abstract of the winning entry online and in newsletter • Your prize will be formally awarded at the Annual Conference

We support a broad and inclusive art history, and therefore particularly welcome submissions from Fine Art and Design students, as well as students undertaking degrees in Museums and Gallery Studies or Curating.

You can download the guidelines and entry forms below (if you have already submitted using the previous forms that’s fine, you do not need to resubmit).

Dissertation Prize 2022 entry form Dissertation Prize 2022 nomination form Dissertation Prize 2022 guidelines

Call for Undergraduate Dissertation Prize applications

If you would like to apply or nominate a student, the details for this year’s application periods please  email us  your completed forms by the deadlines shown below.

Undergraduate submission deadline: 1 September 2022 Postgraduate submission deadline: 1 January 2023

Dissertation Prizes are assessed and shortlisted by our  Doctoral and Early Career Research (DECR) committee . The shortlisted and winning essays will be announced in 2023.

Copyright 2024. All Rights Reserved

MAGDALENE COLLEGE

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Armstrong Arts and Humanities Essay Competition

2024 competition applications are closed.

The competition is open to students attending state-maintained schools in the UK, and who are in their penultimate year of education (Year 12 in England and Wales, S5 in Scotland, or Year 13 in Northern Ireland).

Essay Questions

The essay questions cover the breadth of arts and humanities subjects offered at undergraduate level at the University of Cambridge.

Questions are often multi-disciplinary, designed to encourage entries to consider the connections between various subjects, and to allow entries to approach the question from varying angles. Effective essays will present a clear argument supported by specific, relevant examples.

1. Are there some fundamental rights which legislation cannot remove?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Human, Social, and Political Sciences , and Law .

2. Is translation more like an art or more like a science?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic ; Asian and Middle Eastern Studies ; Classics ; Modern and Medieval Languages ; and Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion .

3. “It's all about feeling. If you can play 1,000 notes a minute, and it just goes straight across the board and there’s no feeling, it doesn't mean anything.” – B. B. King (blues guitarist), The Life of Riley (2012 documentary film). Discuss the role of feeling in music-making, and answer the question ‘could a robot be a good guitarist?’

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Music , and Philosophy .

4. ‘Crime does not exist. Only acts exist, acts are often given different meanings within various social frameworks.’ (Christie, 2004). Do you agree?

5. For studying literature, the selection of a canon should not only be based on quality of the texts but also on equal representation, in terms of age, gender and ethnicity, of its intended readers. Do you agree?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies ; Classics ; Education ; English ; and Modern and Medieval Languages .

6. If aliens existed, would they have a concept of God?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Philosophy , and Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion .

7. ‘As one reads history . . . one is absolutely sickened not by the crimes the wicked have committed, but by the punishments the good have inflicted’ (Oscar Wilde, 1891). How should punishments be determined?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Education ; History, and Human, Social, and Political Sciences .

8. Does the power of multi-national corporations now exceed that of the nation state?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in History; Human, Social, and Political Sciences ; and Law .

9. Why do languages change?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic ; Asian and Middle Eastern Studies ; Classics ; Linguistics ; Modern and Medieval Languages ; and Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion .

10. "We are bored when we don't know what we are waiting for. That we do know, or think we know, is nearly always the expression of our superficiality or inattention. Boredom is the threshold to great deeds." (Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project, 105). Write an essay in defence of boredom using this quotation as a starting point.

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in English ; Human, Social, and Political Sciences ; Philosophy ; and Theology, Religion, and Philosophy of Religion .

11. What can the study of sexuality in the ancient world teach us about the formation of the modern self?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Archaeology ; Classics ; English ; History ; and Human, Social, and Political Sciences .

12. "A picture is worth a thousand words". What is the place of studying texts in a world that is increasingly dependent on visual communication?

If you are interested in this question, you may wish to explore Cambridge undergraduate courses in Asian and Middle Eastern Studies ; Classics ; English ; History of Art ; Linguistics ; and Modern and Medieval Languages .

The essay questions are available to view in PDF format here:

Submissions should adhere to the word limit of 2,000 words, which does not include footnotes or bibliographies. The word count should be stated at the end of the essay.

All sources should be cited and listed in a bibliography. We understand that entrants may not have prior experience of referencing and would recommend  Harvard referencing system website  for an explanation of the Harvard referencing system. Entrants are welcome to use alternative reference styles if they prefer.

Entrants should submit one essay only. The submission must be entirely the entrant’s own work, and should not contain any work generated by ChatGPT or other forms of artificial intelligence. The competition judges are mindful of the advancements in generative AI and will disqualify any submissions which demonstrate similarities to responses produced by AI tools. Entries must not be submitted or have been submitted to an exam board as part of any coursework, extended essay, or Extended Project Qualification (EPQ), either in part or in full.

The deadline for submissions is 3 May 2024 at 18:00.

Essays should be submitted by the form at the link below.

First prize: £300 Second prize: £200 Third Prize £100.

Honourable mentions may also be awarded. Prize winners will be invited to visit Magdalene College in Summer 2024.

The webinars below, recorded in 2023, may provide some advice and inspiration for researching, writing, and refining your essay.

If you have any questions regarding the competition, please contact Natalie Thompson, Schools Liaison Officer, by emailing [email protected] .

Essay-writing Webinars

Magdalene College Schools Liaison Officer is delivering a series of webinars to provide advice on the stages of the essay-writing process.

Planning and Researching

The Writing Process

Refining and Referencing

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Writing Essays in Art History

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Art History Analysis – Formal Analysis and Stylistic Analysis

Typically in an art history class the main essay students will need to write for a final paper or for an exam is a formal or stylistic analysis.

A formal analysis is just what it sounds like – you need to analyze the form of the artwork. This includes the individual design elements – composition, color, line, texture, scale, contrast, etc. Questions to consider in a formal analysis is how do all these elements come together to create this work of art? Think of formal analysis in relation to literature – authors give descriptions of characters or places through the written word. How does an artist convey this same information?

Organize your information and focus on each feature before moving onto the text – it is not ideal to discuss color and jump from line to then in the conclusion discuss color again. First summarize the overall appearance of the work of art – is this a painting? Does the artist use only dark colors? Why heavy brushstrokes? etc and then discuss details of the object – this specific animal is gray, the sky is missing a moon, etc. Again, it is best to be organized and focused in your writing – if you discuss the animals and then the individuals and go back to the animals you run the risk of making your writing unorganized and hard to read. It is also ideal to discuss the focal of the piece – what is in the center? What stands out the most in the piece or takes up most of the composition?

A stylistic approach can be described as an indicator of unique characteristics that analyzes and uses the formal elements (2-D: Line, color, value, shape and 3-D all of those and mass).The point of style is to see all the commonalities in a person’s works, such as the use of paint and brush strokes in Van Gogh’s work. Style can distinguish an artist’s work from others and within their own timeline, geographical regions, etc.

Methods & Theories To Consider:

Expressionism

Instructuralism

Postmodernism

Social Art History

Biographical Approach

Poststructuralism

Museum Studies

Visual Cultural Studies

Stylistic Analysis Example:

The following is a brief stylistic analysis of two Greek statues, an example of how style has changed because of the “essence of the age.” Over the years, sculptures of women started off as being plain and fully clothed with no distinct features, to the beautiful Venus/Aphrodite figures most people recognize today. In the mid-seventh century to the early fifth, life-sized standing marble statues of young women, often elaborately dress in gaily painted garments were created known as korai. The earliest korai is a Naxian women to Artemis. The statue wears a tight-fitted, belted peplos, giving the body a very plain look. The earliest korai wore the simpler Dorian peplos, which was a heavy woolen garment. From about 530, most wear a thinner, more elaborate, and brightly painted Ionic linen and himation. A largely contrasting Greek statue to the korai is the Venus de Milo. The Venus from head to toe is six feet seven inches tall. Her hips suggest that she has had several children. Though her body shows to be heavy, she still seems to almost be weightless. Viewing the Venus de Milo, she changes from side to side. From her right side she seems almost like a pillar and her leg bears most of the weight. She seems be firmly planted into the earth, and since she is looking at the left, her big features such as her waist define her. The Venus de Milo had a band around her right bicep. She had earrings that were brutally stolen, ripping her ears away. Venus was noted for loving necklaces, so it is very possibly she would have had one. It is also possible she had a tiara and bracelets. Venus was normally defined as “golden,” so her hair would have been painted. Two statues in the same region, have throughout history, changed in their style.

Compare and Contrast Essay

Most introductory art history classes will ask students to write a compare and contrast essay about two pieces – examples include comparing and contrasting a medieval to a renaissance painting. It is always best to start with smaller comparisons between the two works of art such as the medium of the piece. Then the comparison can include attention to detail so use of color, subject matter, or iconography. Do the same for contrasting the two pieces – start small. After the foundation is set move on to the analysis and what these comparisons or contrasting material mean – ‘what is the bigger picture here?’ Consider why one artist would wish to show the same subject matter in a different way, how, when, etc are all questions to ask in the compare and contrast essay. If during an exam it would be best to quickly outline the points to make before tackling writing the essay.

Compare and Contrast Example:

Stele of Hammurabi from Susa (modern Shush, Iran), ca. 1792 – 1750 BCE, Basalt, height of stele approx. 7’ height of relief 28’

Stele, relief sculpture, Art as propaganda – Hammurabi shows that his law code is approved by the gods, depiction of land in background, Hammurabi on the same place of importance as the god, etc.

Top of this stele shows the relief image of Hammurabi receiving the law code from Shamash, god of justice, Code of Babylonian social law, only two figures shown, different area and time period, etc.

Stele of Naram-sin , Sippar Found at Susa c. 2220 - 2184 bce. Limestone, height 6'6"

Stele, relief sculpture, Example of propaganda because the ruler (like the Stele of Hammurabi) shows his power through divine authority, Naramsin is the main character due to his large size, depiction of land in background, etc.

Akkadian art, made of limestone, the stele commemorates a victory of Naramsin, multiple figures are shown specifically soldiers, different area and time period, etc.

Iconography

Regardless of what essay approach you take in class it is absolutely necessary to understand how to analyze the iconography of a work of art and to incorporate into your paper. Iconography is defined as subject matter, what the image means. For example, why do things such as a small dog in a painting in early Northern Renaissance paintings represent sexuality? Additionally, how can an individual perhaps identify these motifs that keep coming up?

The following is a list of symbols and their meaning in Marriage a la Mode by William Hogarth (1743) that is a series of six paintings that show the story of marriage in Hogarth’s eyes.

• Man has pockets turned out symbolizing he has lost money and was recently in a fight by the state of his clothes.
• Lap dog shows loyalty but sniffs at woman’s hat in the husband’s pocket showing sexual exploits.
• Black dot on husband’s neck believed to be symbol of syphilis.
• Mantel full of ugly Chinese porcelain statues symbolizing that the couple has no class.
• Butler had to go pay bills, you can tell this by the distasteful look on his face and that his pockets are stuffed with bills and papers.
• Card game just finished up, women has directions to game under foot, shows her easily cheating nature.
• Paintings of saints line a wall of the background room, isolated from the living, shows the couple’s complete disregard to faith and religion.
• The dangers of sexual excess are underscored in the Hograth by placing Cupid among ruins, foreshadowing the inevitable ruin of the marriage.
• Eventually the series (other five paintings) shows that the woman has an affair, the men duel and die, the woman hangs herself and the father takes her ring off her finger symbolizing the one thing he could salvage from the marriage.

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Julia Wood History Essay Competition

Home → Study Here → Outreach → Essay Competitions → Julia Wood History Essay Competition

The Julia Wood prize is an annual History essay competition named in memory of a St Hugh’s College historian.

The Principal and Fellows of St Hugh’s College, Oxford offer a prize, worth up to £500, for the best historical essay submitted by a pupil who, at the closing date, has been in the Sixth Form of any school or college for a period of not more than two years.

The choice of historical subject is left to candidates. As the below examples suggest, essays which fare well in the competition tend to be specially researched and written for it.

Entries should be 2000 – 4000 words in length, including any material in the footnotes which is additional commentary or content related to your essay. References or citations in footnotes, and your bibliography, are not included in this word count. You are welcome to use whichever style of referencing you prefer. Essays must be submitted in PDF format.

Instructions for submitting your entry can be found on the right-hand side of this page. The closing date for entries is 5pm on Friday 26th July 2024. Prize winners will be announced online by the end of September.

Please direct any enquiries to [email protected]

2023 Julia Wood Prize Winners

This year the number of entries to the Julia Wood Prize was 321. The prizes were awarded as follows:

First Place

Clara Ahnert, Year 12, St George’s School, Edinburgh for an essay entitled: Redeeming the State: Political Crisis and the Emergence of German Ordoliberalism, 1919-1949

Fergus Walsh, Year 12, St Paul’s School, for an essay entitled: From Kazinczy to Kossuth: How Developments in Magyar Language and Literature Influenced the Hungarian Revolution of 1848

Daisy Rehin-Hollingworth, Year 12, Bilborough College, for an essay entitled: To What extent did Medieval Spain, from the Umayyad Caliphate to the Expulsion of the Jews in 1492, Provide a Golden Age for Jews?

Tilak Patel, Year 12, Merchant Taylors’ School, Northwood, for an essay entitled: The Tragic Era: The Supreme Court and the Undisturbed Memory of Reconstruction

The winners and a number of those who had done particularly well were invited to tea in College in September.

How to enter the essay competition:

The deadline for entries to the 2024 competition has now passed.

Entrants will be contacted in due course with the outcome of their entry.

St Hugh’s College

Founded in 1886, St Hugh’s is now one of the largest colleges in Oxford. The College was established to offer an Oxford education to women, and it retains a strong sense of its radical tradition and of the importance of opening Oxford up to all who would do well here. St Hugh’s now accepts men and women, and welcomes students from every country and any kind of background.

St Hugh’s has a beautiful setting just to the north of the city centre, with Edwardian buildings and some of the largest college grounds. The College is known as the ‘island site’ because of its tranquil gardens, and it is a restful place to live and work.

St Hugh’s College admits about 11 undergraduates a year to read single Honours History; and a further two or three (in varying combinations) for the Joint Honours Schools of Ancient and Modern History, History and English, History and Modern Languages, and History and Politics.

What we are looking for is the ability to think imaginatively, a willingness to argue, a real interest in ideas, and a commitment to the subject. We have no preference for particular subjects at A-level, International Baccalaureate or other post-16 qualifications. Most candidates will usually have been studying History, but even this is not essential. However, languages (both modern and classical), English Literature, and Economics have, in their different ways, proved useful preparations for the course. We welcome both pre- and post- qualification applications; and we generally admit a few people each year from Scotland, Ireland, and further afield.

St Hugh’s provides excellent facilities for studying History: the library has unusually large and up-to-date holdings in all periods, and there is an active, sometimes rumbustious History Society. We encourage our undergraduates to travel in vacations. In recent years many of our historians have gone on to undertake research in History and related fields; others have got jobs in journalism, television, law, teaching, the Foreign Office, the UN, the City, Brussels, management and management consultancy, publishing, etc. The world has proved to be their oyster, with historical training at St Hugh’s providing them with the essential bit of grit.

More information about studying History at St Hugh’s College is available on our course and admissions pages .

St Hugh’s provides excellent facilities for studying History: the library has unusually large and up-to-date Since the establishment of the essay competition in 1994, 50 school students have been given prizes; many of these people went on to study History at Oxford and St Hugh’s. The names of the winners and their essay titles can be seen below.

The winners in 2022 were:

Alexander Gong , in Year 12 at St Paul’s School, for an essay entitled: The paradox of the Model Operas: to what extent was there a ‘cultural’ revolution in China between 1966-1976? ; Anneli Matthews , in Year 12 at the College of Richard Collyer, for an essay entitled: ”Never Quite Roman” – The Rise, Fall, and Revival of Russian Imperial Thought and Roman Inheritance ; and runner-up was Ben Heyes , in Year 12 at Westminster School, for an essay entitled: To what extent did the United States precipitate the dissolution of British Empire after 1939?

Who was Julia Wood?

Julia Wood was an alumna of St Hugh’s College. She was born on 19th December 1938 and studied History and was an Exhibitioner at the College between 1957 and 1960. Tragically, she died in an accident whilst in Australia in 1970. The fund for the Julia Wood Prize was established by the parents and friends of Julia Wood in May 1971.

Privacy Overview

Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, the short list for the 2024 global essay prize was released on wednesday, 31 july..

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. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Entering an essay in our competition can build knowledge, and refine skills of argumentation. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. All of our essay prizes are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities including Oxford and Princeton, under the leadership of the Chairman of Examiners, former Cambridge philosopher, Dr Jamie Whyte.

The judges will choose their favourite essay from each of seven subject categories - Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law - and then select the winner of the Grand Prize for the best entry in any subject. There is also a separate prize awarded for the best essay in the junior category, for under 15s.

Q1. Do we have any good reasons to trust our moral intuition?

Q2. Do girls have a (moral) right to compete in sporting contests that exclude boys?

Q3. Should I be held responsible for what I believe?

Q1. Is there such a thing as too much democracy?

Q2. Is peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip possible?

Q3. When is compliance complicity?

Q1. What is the optimal global population?  

Q2. Accurate news reporting is a public good. Does it follow that news agencies should be funded from taxation?

Q3. Do successful business people benefit others when making their money, when spending it, both, or neither?

Q1. Why was sustained economic growth so rare before the later 18th century and why did this change?

Q2. Has music ever significantly changed the course of history?

Q3. Why do civilisations collapse? Is our civilisation in danger?

Q1. When, if ever, should a company be permitted to refuse to do business with a person because of that person’s public statements?

Q2. In the last five years British police have arrested several thousand people for things they posted on social media. Is the UK becoming a police state?

Q3. Your parents say that 11pm is your bedtime. But they don’t punish you if you don’t go to bed by 11pm. Is 11pm really your bedtime?

Q1. According to a study by researchers at four British universities, for each 15-point increase in IQ, the likelihood of getting married increases by around 35% for a man but decreases by around 58% for a woman. Why?

In the original version of this question we misstated a statistic. This was caused by reproducing an error that appeared in several media summaries of the study. We are grateful to one of our contestants, Xinyi Zhang, who helped us to see (with humility and courtesy) why we should take more care to check our sources. We corrected the text on 4 April. Happily, the correction does not in any way alter the thrust of the question.

Q2. There is an unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people. Can we fix this? How?

Q3. What is the difference between a psychiatric illness and a character flaw?

Q1. “I am not religious, but I am spiritual.” What could the speaker mean by “spiritual”?

Q2. Is it reasonable to thank God for protection from some natural harm if He is responsible for causing the harm?

Q3. Does God reward those who believe in him? If so, why?

JUNIOR prize

Q1. Does winning a free and fair election automatically confer a mandate for governing?

Q2. Has the anti-racism movement reduced racism?

Q3. Is there life after death?

Q4. How did it happen that governments came to own and run most high schools, while leaving food production to private enterprise? 

Q5. When will advancing technology make most of us unemployable? What should we do about this?

Q6. Should we trust fourteen-year-olds to make decisions about their own bodies? 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS & FURTHER DETAILS

Please read the following carefully.

Entry to the John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2024 is open to students from any country.

Registration  

Only candidates who registered before the registration deadline of Friday, 31 May 2024 may enter this year's competition.

All entries must be submitted by 11.59 pm BST on  the submission deadline: Sunday, 30 June 2024 .  Candidates must be eighteen years old, or younger, on that date. (Candidates for the Junior Prize must be fourteen years old, or younger, on that date.)

Entry is free.

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.

Submissions may be made as soon as registration opens in April. We recommend that you submit your essay well in advance of the deadline to avoid any last-minute complications.  To submit your essay, click here .  

Acceptance of your essay depends on your granting us permission to use your data for the purposes of receiving and processing your entry as well as communicating with you about the Awards Ceremony Dinner, the academic conference, and other events and programmes of the John Locke Institute and its associated entities.  

Late entries

If for any reason you miss the 30 June deadline you will have an opportunity to make a late entry, under two conditions:

a) A late entry fee of 20.00 USD must be paid by credit card within twenty-four hours of the original deadline; and

b) Your essay must be submitted  before 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 10 July 2024.

To pay for late entry, a registrant need only log into his or her account, select the relevant option and provide the requested payment information.

Our grading system is proprietary. Essayists may be asked to discuss their entry with a member of the John Locke Institute’s faculty. We use various means to identify plagiarism, contract cheating, the use of AI and other forms of fraud . Our determinations in all such matters are final.

Essays will be judged on knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the competent use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force. The very best essays are likely to be those which would be capable of changing somebody's mind. Essays which ignore or fail to address the strongest objections and counter-arguments are unlikely to be successful .

Candidates are advised to answer the question as precisely and directly as possible.

The writers of the best essays will receive a commendation and be shortlisted for a prize. Writers of shortlisted essays will be notified by 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 31 July. They will also be invited to London for an invitation-only academic conference and awards dinner in September, where the prize-winners will be announced. Unlike the competition itself, the academic conference and awards dinner are not free. Please be aware that n obody is required to attend either the academic conference or the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London.

All short-listed candidates, including prize-winners, will be able to download eCertificates that acknowledge their achievement. If you win First, Second or Third Prize, and you travel to London for the ceremony, you will receive a signed certificate. 

There is a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US$2000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme, and the essays will be published on the Institute's website. Prize-giving ceremonies will take place in London, at which winners and runners-up will be able to meet some of the judges and other faculty members of the John Locke Institute. Family, friends, and teachers are also welcome.

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. 

The judges' decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

R egistration opens: 1 April, 2024.

Registration deadline: 31 May, 2024. (Registration is required by this date for subsequent submission.)

Submission deadline: 30 June, 2024.

Late entry deadline: 10 July, 2024. (Late entries are subject to a 20.00 USD charge, payable by 1 July.)

Notification of short-listed essayists: 31 July, 2024.

Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024.

Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024.

Any queries regarding the essay competition should be sent to [email protected] . Please be aware that, due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, we cannot guarantee to answer every query. In particular, regrettably, we are unable to respond to questions whose answers can be found on our website.

If you would like to receive helpful tips  from our examiners about what makes for a winning essay or reminders of upcoming key dates for the 2024  essay competition, please provide your email here to be added to our contact list. .

Thanks for subscribing!

The John Locke Institute's Global Essay Prize is acknowledged as the world's most prestigious essay competition. 

We welcome tens of thousands of submissions from ambitious students in more than 150 countries, and our examiners - including distinguished philosophers, political scientists, economists, historians, psychologists, theologians, and legal scholars - read and carefully assess every entry. 

I encourage you to register for this competition, not only for the hope of winning a prize or commendation, and not only for the chance to join the very best contestants at our academic conference and gala ceremony in London, but equally for the opportunity to engage in the serious scholarly enterprise of researching, reflecting on, writing about, and editing an answer to one of the important and provocative questions in this year's Global Essay Prize. 

We believe that the skills you will acquire in the process will make you a better thinker and a more effective advocate for the ideas that matter most to you.

I hope to see you in September!

Best wishes,

Jamie Whyte, Ph.D. (C ANTAB ) 

Chairman of Examiners

Q. I missed the registration deadline. May I still register or submit an essay?

A. No. Only candidates who registered before 31 May will be able to submit an essay. 

Q. Are footnote s, endnotes, a bibliography or references counted towards the word limit?

A. No. Only the body of the essay is counted. 

Q. Are in-text citations counted towards the word limit? ​

A. If you are using an in-text based referencing format, such as APA, your in-text citations are included in the word limit.

Q. Is it necessary to include foo tnotes or endnotes in an essay? ​

A. You  may not  include footnotes, but you may include in-text citations or endnotes. You should give your sources of any factual claims you make, and you should ackn owledge any other authors on whom you rely.​

Q. I am interested in a question that seems ambiguous. How should I interpret it?

A. You may interpret a question as you deem appropriate, clarifying your interpretation if necessary. Having done so, you must answer the question as directly as possible.

Q. How strict are  the age eligibility criteria?

A. Only students whose nineteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. In the case of the Junior category, only students whose fifteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. 

Q. May I submit more than one essay?

A. Yes, you may submit as many essays as you please in any or all categories.

Q. If I am eligible to compete in the Junior category, may I also (or instead) compete in another category?

A. Yes, you may.

Q. May I team up with someone else to write an essay?  

A. No. Each submitted essay must be entirely the work of a single individual.

Q. May I use AI, such as ChatGPT or the like, in writing my essay?

A. All essays will be checked for the use of AI. If we find that any content is generated by AI, your essay will be disqualified. We will also ask you, upon submission of your essay, whether you used AI for  any  purpose related to the writing of your essay, and if so, you will be required to provide details. In that case, if, in our judgement, you have not provided full and accurate details of your use of AI, your essay will be disqualified. 

Since any use of AI (that does not result in disqualification) can only negatively affect our assessment of your work relative to that of work that is done without using AI, your safest course of action is simply not to use it at all. If, however, you choose to use it for any purpose, we reserve the right to make relevant judgements on a case-by-case basis and we will not enter into any correspondence. 

Q. May I have someone else edit, or otherwise help me with, my essay?

A. You may of course discuss your essay with others, and it is perfectly acceptable for them to offer general advice and point out errors or weaknesses in your writing or content, leaving you to address them.

However, no part of your essay may be written by anyone else. This means that you must edit your own work and that while a proofreader may point out errors, you as the essayist must be the one to correct them. 

Q. Do I have to attend the awards ceremony to win a prize? ​

A. Nobody is required to attend the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London. But if we invite you to London it is because your essay was good enough - in the opinion of the First Round judges - to be at least a contender for First, Second or Third Prize. Normally the Second Round judges will agree that the short-listed essays are worth at least a commendation.

Q. Is there an entry fee?

A. No. There is no charge to enter our global essay competition unless you submit your essay after the normal deadline, in which case there is a fee of 20.00 USD .

Q. Can I receive a certificate for my participation in your essay competition if I wasn't shortlisted? 

A. No. Certificates are awarded only for shortlisted essays. Short-listed contestants who attend the award ceremony in London will receive a paper certificate. If you cannot travel to London, you will be able to download your eCertificate.

Q. Can I receive feedba ck on my essay? 

A. We would love to be able to give individual feedback on essays but, unfortunately, we receive too many entries to be able to comment on particular essays.

Q. The deadline for publishing the names of short-listed essayists has passed but I did not receive an email to tell me whether I was short-listed.

A. Log into your account and check "Shortlist Status" for (each of) your essay(s).

Q. Why isn't the awards ceremony in Oxford this year?

A. Last year, many shortlisted finalists who applied to join our invitation-only academic conference missed the opportunity because of capacity constraints at Oxford's largest venues. This year, the conference will be held in central London and the gala awards dinner will take place in an iconic London ballroom. 

TECHNICAL FAQ s

Q. The system will not accept my essay. I have checked the filename and it has the correct format. What should I do?  

A. You have almost certainly added a space before or after one of your names in your profile. Edit it accordingly and try to submit again.

Q. The profile page shows my birth date to be wrong by a day, even after I edit it. What should I do?

A. Ignore it. The date that you typed has been correctly input to our database. ​ ​

Q. How can I be sure that my registration for the essay competition was successful? Will I receive a confirmation email?

A. You will not receive a confirmation email. Rather, you can at any time log in to the account that you created and see that your registration details are present and correct.

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR SUBMISSION

If you are unable to submit your essay to the John Locke Institute’s global essay competition, your problem is almost certainly one of the following.

If so, please proceed as indicated.

1) PROBLEM: I receive the ‘registrations are now closed’ message when I enter my email and verification code. SOLUTION. You did not register for the essay competition and create your account. If you think you did, you probably only provided us with your email to receive updates from us about the competition or otherwise. You may not enter the competition this year.

2) PROBLEM I do not receive a login code after I enter my email to enter my account. SOLUTION. Enter your email address again, checking that you do so correctly. If this fails, restart your browser using an incognito window; clear your cache, and try again. Wait for a few minutes for the code. If this still fails, restart your machine and try one more time. If this still fails, send an email to [email protected] with “No verification code – [your name]” in the subject line.

SUBMITTING AN ESSAY

3) PROBLEM: The filename of my essay is in the correct format but it is rejected. SOLUTION: Use “Edit Profile” to check that you did not add a space before or after either of your names. If you did, delete it. Whether you did or did not, try again to submit your essay. If submission fails again, email [email protected] with “Filename format – [your name]” in the subject line.

4) PROBLEM: When trying to view my submitted essay, a .txt file is downloaded – not the .pdf file that I submitted. SOLUTION: Delete the essay. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “File extension problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

5) PROBLEM: When I try to submit, the submission form just reloads without giving me an error message. SOLUTION. Log out of your account. Open a new browser; clear the cache; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Submission form problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

6) PROBLEM: I receive an “Unexpected Error” when trying to submit. SOLUTION. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If this resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Unexpected error – [your name]” in thesubject line. Your email must tell us e xactly where in the submission process you received this error.

7) PROBLEM: I have a problem with submitting and it is not addressed above on this list. SOLUTION: Restart your machine. Clear your browser’s cache. Try to submit again. If this fails, email [email protected] with “Unlisted problem – [your name]” in the subject line. Your email must tell us exactly the nature of your problem with relevant screen caps.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU EMAIL US.

Do not email us before you have tried the specified solutions to your problem.

Do not email us more than once about a single problem. We will respond to your email within 72 hours. Only if you have not heard from us in that time may you contact us again to ask for an update.

If you email us regarding a problem, you must include relevant screen-shots and information on both your operating system and your browser. You must also declare that you have tried the solutions presented above and had a good connection to the internet when you did so.

If you have tried the relevant solution to your problem outlined above, have emailed us, and are still unable to submit before the 30 June deadline on account of any fault of the John Locke Institute or our systems, please do not worry: we will have a way to accept your essay in that case. However, if there is no fault on our side, we will not accept your essay if it is not submitted on time – whatever your reason: we will not make exceptions for IT issues for which we are not responsible.

We reserve the right to disqualify the entries of essayists who do not follow all provided instructions, including those concerning technical matters.

Classics Essay Competition 2024

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This competition is open to all students currently studying at a UK School or College in Year 12 (Lower Sixth) or equivalent, whether or not they are currently studying a Classical or Ancient subject. Each student may submit one essay (only) of up to 2,000 words on any of the following four questions:

1 Classical Literature : 'You wander to and fro...but all you achieve is to make the problem worse' (Seneca Letter 28). Is travel in ancient literature always a bad idea?'

2 Ancient History : ‘How far did ancient Greek and Roman travellers go, and why did they not get any further?’

3 Ancient Philosophy : ‘Early Greek philosophers treat motion as identical to change. Are they right?’

4 Archaeology : ‘How and why did similar images or artistic motifs move in the ancient world? (Please focus in your answer on transmission between media/material/type of object, or across time, or between different places.)’

Prizes Awarded

A £100 book token will be awarded to the best essay in each category and an additional £75 book token to the overall winner. A further £75 book token will be awarded to the best essay submitted by a pupil who has not previously studied a Classical or Ancient subject. All applicants will receive a certificate of entry.

Visit St John's - Subject Exploration Day

Students who submit an entry to the Classics Essay Competition are invited to our Classics and Ancient History Subject Exploration Day on the 1st May . This is a chance to visit St John's College and sample lectures delivered by our resident tutors.

How Do I Apply?

You can submit your essay to [email protected] . Please have the subject line: "Classics Essay Competition: [First Name] [Surname] Question [Number]". Please attach this as a PDF, and ensure that your name is not included in the actual document.

The deadline for submission of the essay is Friday 8th March .

For the Subject Exploration Day, please submit an application to this form:

https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/oxford/2024-subject-exploration-classics

Advice and Guidance

The competition gives students currently studying any subjects at a UK School or College, in Year 12 or equivalent, an opportunity to write an essay on the classical world. The organizers are interested in providing an occasion for independent research, to encourage curiosity and reflection in those who have studied the ancient world before and those who have not.

The essay titles have been chosen to take account of research interests of our tutors and to encourage the widest possible approach to investigation of the ancient world.

All primary texts can be considered in translation or in the original language. Where either primary or secondary sources have been used they should be acknowledged with full references given.

All essays should:

• Be word-processed with double-spaced lines, and saved in a PDF format.
• Include ONLY your initials and date of birth in your header or footer (to allow anonymous marking).
• Be no more than 2000 words in length.

Need help getting started?

If you would like some suggestions on where to get started with your research, these resources may be a good place to start:

• https://classicalassociation.org/resources/
• https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/home.html
• https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/collection%3Fcollection%3DPerseus:collection:Greco-Roman
• https://classicsforall.org.uk/reading-room

2023 Essay Competition Report

For information regarding last year's report, which highlights the strengths of the winning essays, please click here.

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Art History

• 2015 Art History Round 1 Questions
• Visual Questions

2018 Champions

Varsity: Hari Parameswaran, India Junior Varsity: Eshaan Vakil, Nevada Middle School: Marina Avilova, Slovenia

2016 Champions Varsity: Devin Shang, Massachusetts Junior Varsity: Jaya Alagar, Pennsylvania Middle School: Eshaan Vakil, Nevada

2015 Champions Varsity: Bruce Lou, California Junior Varsity: Jaya Alagar, Pennsylvania Middle School: Abeer Dahiya, Singapore

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Learning from Art History: Art Competitions

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Art competitions have taken many shapes and forms over the centuries. As  Chelsea International Fine Art Competition opened for entries, we’re taking a look back at four notable art competitions from art history. After all,  you have to search yesterday to understand today.

The Florence Baptistery: The Gateway to Fame

Built sometime between 1059 and 1150, the Florence Baptistery was already ingrained into the social identity of Florence by the time the wool merchants’ guild, the Arte del Calimala , was given the responsibility to maintain and embellish it. This project began in the twelfth century, so when, over two hundred years later, the Calimala opened an art competition for a new set of doors, it was an incredibly lucrative commission for the potential selected artists.

The art competition called for competitors to enter panels representing the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. The competitors were limited in many ways: they were each allotted only a certain amount of bronze, how many figures could be included, and that the panel must be contained within a quatrefoil (the Gothic pointed shape).  The jurors outnumbered the competitors 34 to 7, and in the end, all of the artists except for Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi were eliminated. Some accounts say that the actual art competition resulted in a tie and joint commission, but that Brunelleschi refused to work with Ghiberti, leaving instead to study architecture in Rome. Other accounts (including Ghiberti’s autobiography) say that Ghiberti won flat-out.

When Ghiberti won the art competition, he was only 23 years old. Although, back in the 1400s, 23 was basically middle-aged. It took him over twenty years (from 1425-1452) to complete the commission, and the final panels were hung in the northern entrance.

For the work, Ghiberti was paid 200 florins per panel (for a total of 4,000). Based on the gold content of one florin, that would be about the worth of $560,000 in today’s USD. At the time unknown artists like Donatello and Paola Uccello were Ghiberti’s pupils and may have helped collaborate on the door panels. After his hugely successful commission, he was asked to do yet another doorway: the east entrance of the same Baptistery.

What can we learn from the Florence Baptistery art competition? 

For one thing, we learned that hard work can pay off. Ghiberti’s door panels are still celebrated today, as are his and Brunelleschi’s original art competition entries.

We can learn a great deal from the actual works that were produced for this art competition. The renditions of the Sacrifice of Isaac employ great mastery of skill in composition, form, and narrative in artwork. They are both closely studied today in art history. Some say that this art competition and the works that resulted marked the beginning of the Renaissance artistic style.

The fact that these works are so highly regarded serves as a testament to the inspiration that can arise from art competitions. Though Brunelleschi was not selected in the commission, his panel entered to the art competition is indisputably an accomplished piece of artwork – one that never would have existed if it weren’t for the art competition of the Florence Baptistery.

Prix de Rome: The Oldest Art Scholarship

Ever wondered about how the practice of awarding scholarships and bursaries to artists began? The tradition is rooted in patronage offered by monarchs and rulers to artisans, painters, architects, scientists, and musicians. The Prix de Rome , often regarded as one of the first official scholarships, was instituted by the French king, Louis XIV for art students and painters. the bursary was later extended to architects, musicians, and engravers.

The art competition, organized by the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture), Paris, consisted of a very difficult and complex elimination contest. The selected artists were awarded an all expenses paid stay of three to five years at the Palazzo Mancini in Rome. A number of candidates from the art competition were also selected to join the French Academy in Rome.

Artists like Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre and Charles Dupaty have been the recipients of the selected title of the Prix de Rome . The art competition cum artist residency program continued until its abolishment in 1968 by André Malraux, the Minister of Culture at the time.

What can we learn from the Prix de Rome ?

The Prix de Rome provided young artists with opportunities of a lifetime like studying at a respected institution and residing at a palace full of history and beautiful architecture. Some of these artists went on to become pioneering figures in traditional and academic painting.

Art competitions, especially today, are truly an exceptional way to get access to opportunities that can help you build a sustainable career in the creative field. However, it is important to first consider the requirements of any art competition that you are entering in. Prix de Rome  was instituted on the basis of promoting academic art education to young students, which is why liberal artists like Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet did not gain any recognition even after attempting the art competition more than once.

The Paris Salon: The Most Famous “Losers”

Have you ever heard of a Salon-style gallery? The term gets its roots from the Paris Salon, which famously wasted no wall space by hanging artwork floor-to-ceiling, in a very economical layout.

The French government and Académie des Beaux-Arts began the Salon in the late 1600s, but it wasn’t until the mid-18th century that a jury was introduced, turning it into a true art competition. The exhibition by that point had gained such notoriety that selected artists were essentially guaranteed a successful art career after earning their medals.

However, this great reputation also meant that the art competition was vastly popular. As such, in 1863, the Salon jury refused two-thirds of the presented paintings, including works by Manet, Courbet, and several other notable Impressionists. With support from the public, their indignation and protests led to a new, separate exhibition of the refused artworks, the Salon des Refusés (“The Exhibition of Rejected Art”).

The 1863 Salon des Refusés included artists Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, James Whistler, Édouard Manet, Johan Jongkind, and Gustave Courbet.

The Salon des Refusés was not just a one-shot: three more were held afterward, making way for the  Salon des Independants and the  Salon d’Automne to rise.

What can we learn from the Paris  Salon ?  

It can be a reassurance to learn that artists like Cézanne, Whistler, Manet, and Courbet were once rejected from a juried exhibition. And did these artists give up their art career after they were rejected? No: they rallied together and created something altogether new and brilliant. In fact, the  Salon des Refusés  went on to become a pivotal moment in art history and Impressionism.

Large-scale art events like the Paris Salon can bring together great artists from all over the world – even if they aren’t chosen for exhibition. And, as we all know, when you assemble a group of great minds and artists, amazing things can happen.

It is in this spirit that art exhibitions, art competitions, residencies, and art fairs are so important. In these collective affairs, we can truly see progress and greatness.

The Olympics: Aesthetic Meets Athletic

Did you know that the Olympics once had a medal for fine art? That’s right, every Olympics between 1912 and 1952 held competitions for architecture, fine art, literature, and music, where gold, silver, and bronze medals were awarded. Like the competition at the Florence Baptistery, there was a specific theme to be maintained. For this, the theme was “a definite relationship to the Olympic concept.”

-->Similar to the sporting events at the time, professional artists were forbidden from entering. This means that the entrants for the Olympics were less well-known. As a result, many of the original selected artworks can no longer be found. This stipulation is what ultimately led to the end of the art competition in the Olympics. Finding it incredibly difficult to determine whether or not artists were “amateurs” both made it complicated to orchestrate the events and led to a lowered quality of the ultimate entries. In addition to that, the juries were allowed to withhold prizes when works failed to meet their standards. Sometimes, there would be no medals at all awarded for a category.

Ultimately, the lack of interest, coherence, and organization led to this fascinating Olympic event being lost to history. Like a scorned lover, the Olympics not only ended the decade-old art competition but actually  struck all medals from the record . All 151 medals no longer “count,” and it is as if the whole thing never happened.

The relationship between the Olympics and art is not totally gone, though. The IOC (International Olympic Committee) has more recently been holding a Sport and Art Contest, separate from the Olympics. The first prize for the art competition in 2012 was $30,000 and a diploma. Sadly, there have been no releases about another contest to follow the 2012 contest.

What can we learn from the Olympic Art Competition? 

One of the biggest mistakes that the Olympic organizers made was trying to define a “professional” artist. With too strict limitations on who would be allowed to enter, the quality of their entries greatly suffered. Many great artists today, self-taught or professionally trained, might not have been allowed entrance into the Olympic Art Competition.

It is important to view artwork on its own merit. There are countless artists who may never have received formal training in their crafts as opposed to those who hold too much stock in the training they have received. Many hold the opinion that this perpetuates the “elitism” of the art world: legitimizing only the artists who can afford expensive art education.

There are several art competitions today that judge the entries blindly. These art competitions will have few to no restrictions as to who may enter their entries, and the artwork is rated without any defining information on the artist, their background, or their training.

These four art competitions were vastly different in scope, influence, and notoriety. Today, with the larger-than-ever global “community” of artists, there are countless art competitions to enter, and they all hold great benefits. From small, local shows, to international art competitions , these opportunities provide artists of all backgrounds great exposure to a larger audience.

 Book an online career development consultation meeting today. [/perfectpullquote]-->

Chelsea International Fine Art Competition is accepting entries.

For more information about Ghiberti and the Gates of Paradise, check out this article at Britannica.com .

Read more about the Salon des Refusés in the article  “May 15: 1863, Paris’s Salon des Refusés Opens”  on Academia

To know more about the Olympics art competition, read the Smithsonian’s article, “When the Olympics Gave Out Medals for Art”

Read more about the Prix de Rome on Wikipedia

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3 responses to “Learning from Art History: Art Competitions”

Never allow negative response stop your positive vision. Keep your focus and you must surely get there.

Really loved this historical perspective! Rejection can be viewed as negative or you can take another path and move forward.. cleary these great artists found another path to follow.! Always can learn from criticism

Es bueno saber de Historia y aprender de ello… De las oportunidades que se tiene de sobresalir y dedicarse al arte que uno ama. Y que no todo rechazo es el final de algo sino el comienzo de una nueva manera de hacer arte, de romper esquemas no importando la edad, época ni estilos.

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Student opportunities, david mccullough essay prizes.

David McCullough at Trinity School in Manhattan, October 15, 2019

The 2024 David McCullough Essay Prize Contest is now closed for submissions.

This contest is named in memory of David McCullough (1933–2022)—a Pulitzer Prize–winning historian and Gilder Lehrman Life Trustee—and honors his career telling America’s stories and examining its histories. Learn more about his life and legacy here .

High school students attending schools in our Affiliate School Program are eligible and encouraged to participate. They are invited to submit an original essay, written independently or for a 2023–2024 class, that has been revised, expanded, and adapted to conform with the new McCullough Prize specifications. The two essay categories are as follows:

Research Essay: Students are invited to submit a research essay incorporating primary and secondary sources on a topic in American history from 1491 to 2001.

Interpretive Essay: Students are invited to submit an interpretive essay focusing on close reading and analysis of one primary source from American history, 1491 to 2001, in the Gilder Lehrman Collection of more than 86,000 historical documents.

More requirements for both essay categories can be found in these updated 2024 rubrics .

All participants will receive a certificate of participation suitable for framing. Prize winners in each of our two categories—research essays and a new interpretive essay category—will receive cash awards as follows:

• 1st Prize: $5,000 (plus a $500 prize awarded to the school)
• 2nd Prize: $1,500 (plus a $500 prize awarded to the school)
• Five 3rd Prizes: $500 each

 A panel of Gilder Lehrman master teachers will choose the pool of finalists, from which a jury of eminent historians will choose the winners. Essays will be evaluated for their historical rigor, the clarity and correctness of their style, their use of evidence, and their qualities of empathy and imagination. 

Winners will be notified and announced no later than Friday, September 13, 2024.

General Requirements

Font and Page Style: Papers should be submitted in 12-point, Times New Roman font with one-inch margins at the top, bottom, and sides. Essays should be free of teacher commentary or other notes.

Organization: Top essays have an introduction, body, and conclusion and a clearly stated, well-developed thesis statement with supportive historical evidence.

Essay Topics: Essays can be on any topic related to American history from 1491 to 2001. Essays in the interpretative category must feature a primary source (letter, broadside, art, political cartoon, speech, etc.) from the Gilder Lehrman Collection .

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MLK Art & Writing Contest

2024 mlk art and writing contest.

To commemorate the life, work and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., University of Idaho undergraduates, graduates and professional students enrolled for the 2024 spring semester at any U of I location are invited to create a written work or piece of art in ANY medium of their choice in response to the prompt below about equality and social, racial and ethnic justice. This year, all submissions will be digital. Works of art that are made outside of digital media can be photographed.

This year's theme is inspired by the following quote:

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” (Letter from Birmingham Jail)

11th Annual MLK Art and Writing Contest 

Entries Due:  Friday, Feb. 16, 2024 by 5 p.m.

Art & Essay Digital Submissions:

• Email with subject line "2024 MLK Art & Essay Contest Entry"
• Include in the email message if you are an undergraduate or a graduate student.
• Send to Caitlin Cieslik-Miskimen,  [email protected]

Eligibility

All University of Idaho degree-seeking undergraduate, graduate and professional students enrolled for the 2024 spring semester at any U of I location are invited to enter. No more than one written work and one art entry per student.

Judging Criteria

Written work (up to 700 words) will be judged on understanding of the topic, original thinking, effectiveness in presenting a personal point of view, literary style, grammar and spelling. Undergraduate and graduate/professional entries will be judged separately.

Art entries will be judged on how they evoke understanding on the part of the observer as to what civil rights issue or event or related message is being presented. Art entries can be submitted in ANY medium and may include an introduction up to 250 words to explain the entry. Artworks in non-digital media can be photographed for digital submission. Undergraduate and graduate/professional entries will be judged separately.

A scholarship will be given to the following:

• Best undergraduate student written work
• Best graduate/professional student written work
• Best undergraduate student art piece
• Best graduate/professional student art piece

Honorable Mention scholarships will be given as funding allows.

2024 MLK Art and Writing Contest Winners

Undergraduate essay.

• Shashwot Niraula
• Munira Tabassum

Undergraduate Art

• Subah Rashmi
• Melanie Velazco Curiel

Graduate Essay

• Pabitra Joshi

Graduate Art

Past art and essay contest winners, 2023 winners, graduate writing.

• Winner: Eureka Joshi

Undergraduate Writing

Winner:  Aiden Veselits

• Winner: Anna Young

2022 Winners

• Winner: Nevena Tulilov
• Winner: Joseph Sedillo

2021 Winners

• Winner:  Akorede Seriki
• Winner:  Jose Maciel
• Winner:  Carlie Houn
• Winner:  Anna Young

2020 Winners

• Winner:  Naomie Pierre-Toussaint – Dear Diary
• Winner:  Emily Wesseling – Lessons
• Winner:  Kelsey Grafton – In Light of Our Past
• Winner: Anna Young – King Leading the People

2019 Winners

• Winner:  Caitlin Palmer for the essay  "The Issue of Fifty Dollars"
• Honorable Mention:  Staniela Nikolova for the poem  "Do you see us?"
• Winner:  Emily Pearce for the poem  "Oh Doctor Hear our Voices"
• Honorable Mention:  Nichole Etchemendy for the poem  "Reaching"
• Winner:  Candace Sorenson for “The Restraints of Poverty”
• Honorable Mention:  Lexy Jones for “Fight Against Poverty”

2018 Winners

• 1st prize:   Izaiah Dolezal for his essay "Building a Resilient Community: from 'Me' to 'We'"
• Honorable Mention: Emily Wesseling for her poem "Somewhere"
• Honorable Mention: Ayomipo Kayode-Popoola for her poem "Color of My Soul"
• 1st Prize:  Courtney Cooper for her essay "The Value of Relationship in Resilient Water Futures"
• Honorable Mention:   Alex Sosa for his essay "Together We are Bound, Together We Are Resilient"
• 1st Prize:  Megan Cosdon for her piece "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"
• Honorable Mention: Alayne Chipman for "Fires of Opposition"
• Honorable Mention:   Riley Hilel for "Slain by Sniper" 

2017 Winners

• Winner: Cruz Rodriguez
• Honorable Mention: Danny Bugingo
• Co-winner: Alexander Sosa
• Co-winner: Ashley McDermott
• Winner: Stacy Miller
• Co-winner: Geoffrey Dasher
• Co-winner: Keegan Lawler
• Honorable Mention: Kelli Fry

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Foundation for the History of Totalitarianism

Essay competition: Jung Chang and the Cultural Revolution

The subject of the 2024-25 sixth form essay prize is “Jung Chang and the Cultural Revolution”.

We are delighted to announced that Jung Chang herself will present the prizes at the awards ceremony next year.

Jung Chang’s book, Wild Swans , was an international sensation when it was published and has sold over 13 million copies around the world.  The book tells much of the story of modern China through the lives of her grandmother, her mother and herself. She herself became a Red Guard but became sickened by what she was expected to do. Her mother was paraded in the streets and made to walk on her knees on broken grass.

The competition is to write an essay in which the experiences of her family and the overall story of the Cultural Revolution are both told.

Click on this button for more information.

Learning about Holodomor

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Ten books about totalitarianism

Ten books on totalitarianism: masterpieces, best-sellers or both.

What Nazism and communism have in common

Daniel Finkelstein

Essay competition: repression in pre-war nazi Germany

The deadline for the 2023-2024 sixth form history essay prize has now passed. We received 125 entries from students at over 60 schools. The results have now been announced.

The Nazi ‘Pacification’ of Poland  

From The Devils’ Alliance by Roger Moorhouse

Warsaw Ghetto handstamp

The Warsaw Ghetto was established by the German occupying forces in November 1940.

Witold  Pilecki

A T55 tank purchased for exhibition

The kind of tank used to suppress the Prague Spring in 1968