11 Ethics Essay Competitions for Middle School Students
- Stephen Turban
- 59 minutes ago
- 8 min read
When students enter middle school, notions of right and wrong start shaping how they think and understand the world around them. Writing your thoughts can help a great deal in clearing up the confusion. Participating in essay contests can help you in deepening your research and honing your ability to think critically on ethical and moral issues. In the process, students also develop their quality of writing, vocabulary, writing structure, argumentation, analytical abilities, and more!
Essay competitions also organise in-person networking meets, awards ceremonies, webinars, workshops and resource databases, thereby helping you form valuable networks with global experts and like-minded peers. From multi-prompt contests to competitions focused on the subject of ethics, you get to pick from a variety of prestigious contests.
Our list of the 11 best ethics essay contests for middle school students is as follows:
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: March 9–May 17
Application Deadline: April 26
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8
Lumiere Education's Junior Scholars Essay Contest is an international writing contest that calls upon middle school students to respond to any one of its annual essay prompts. With prompts delving into subjects like human rights violation and medical ethics to climate justice & more, you will be expected to engage with a range of moral dilemmas and come up with an independent analysis. Essays are judged based on originality of ideas, analytical rigour, appropriate use of evidence, writing structure, and presentation.
The contest’s advisory committee and a judging panel consisting of experts from leading universities like Cambridge, Oxford, Columbia, Brown, and Dartmouth. The top six winners (one Gold winner, two Silver winners, and three Bronze winners) and other honorable mentions share a prize pool worth $11,000 worth of cash prizes and scholarships!
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: January 15–July 31
Application Deadline: May 10 (submission deadline)
Eligibility: Students aged 11–13 (Junior Division)
The Cambridge Re-Think Essay Competition is a highly competitive essay contest held annually. In the Junior division, students aged between 11 and 13 are invited to respond to any one from a list of thought-provoking prompts. From debates around AI ethics and animal rights to fairness in education and mandatory vaccine policies, you are expected to engage deeply with existing perspectives and come up with your independent analysis. Your essay will be judged based on originality, quality of writing, argumentation and overall engagement with your chosen prompt.
With researchers from top universities like Cambridge, MIT, Harvard, Stanford and Oxford in the judging panel, the contest also provides students with an opportunity to present their talent before esteemed public figures. In 2025, 33 out of the 13,000 students who participated were selected as winners. Winners are also invited to attend an in-person awards and dinner ceremony, where they interact with talented peers and leading researchers & experts.
Cost/Stipend: Free (Extra fee for late submissions, as mentioned here.)
Dates: February 2–October 3
Application Deadline: March 31 (registration) | May 31 (submission)
Eligibility: Students under age 15 (Junior Category)
The John Locke Institute Global Essay Prize is a prestigious writing contest for students aged 19 years or below. With prompts ranging from subjects like law, politics, philosophy, theology, and more, the contest invites you to explore burning questions in the field of ethics. Submissions are judged on the basis of your understanding of your chosen subject, argumentation, persuasive force, writing structure, and writing style!
Your essays will be judged by experts from Ivy League universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Princeton, and Stanford. Three junior winners from each subject category win scholarships worth up to $5000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute Program. The Grand Prize winner is separately recognised with a similar scholarship $10,000, along with an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship.
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: February 25–July 1
Application Deadline: April 8
Eligibility: Students aged 13–19
New York Times’ Open Letters invites opinion pieces in the form of public-facing letters from middle school and high school students. Students pick a subject of their choice and are expected to address their letters to a specific audience. The letters, written in less than 500 words, can include a call to action or advocacy appeal regarding prevalent ethical, social, or political issues. Your submission will be judged based on your chosen theme, overall curation, original commentary, and language.
With a panel of experienced New York Times presiding over the judging panel, students get the chance to showcase their work to the best minds in the field. Winners get the opportunity of having their opinion pieces published on New York Times’ website, with a chance to be featured in the print edition as well.
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: Not available
Application Deadline: November 14 (Submission Deadline)
Eligibility: Students in grades 1–12
Pulitzer Centre’s Local Letters for Global Change is a writing contest which calls upon all K-12 students across the globe to write a letter to any of their local elected representatives about prevalent global concerns. In your letter, you are expected to make a case about why you think the issue must be prioritised by the representative, how it affects your local community, along with possible solutions to the problem. The list of focus issues cover a wide range of issues, from climate & global health to human rights & artificial intelligence.
Letters are judged based on understanding of the global issue, use of credible evidence, research on existing policies, among other factors. One first place winner and four finalists in each category are awarded cash prizes towards global community problems. The selected letters are also published on Pulitzer Center’s website.
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: To be updated
Application Deadline: April 30 (Submission Deadline)
Eligibility: Students aged 13 and above
Ayn Rand Institute’s yearly global essay contests invite students to thoughtfully engage with Ayn Rand’s novels and respond with an analytical essay. The list of works include Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged. Students are expected to address the philosophical riddles from the novels, and offer an original and independent analysis. Clarity of thought and a solid understanding of the works in your responses will go a long way!
To make things easier, the contest also provides copies of the novel at no cost, and study resources with character analyses, contextual information and theme explorations. Depending on the chosen novel, winners share a prize pool ranging from $3,500 to $4,000!
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: To be updated
Application Deadline: June 8 (Submission Deadline)
Eligibility: Students aged 11–14 (Junior Division)
In the Junior Division of Bow Seat Ocean Awareness Contest, middle school students are invited to write about the importance of oceans in ensuring a balanced environment. By delving into the ocean’s various roles, from regulating the climate to enabling food production, students engage with a host of moral and ethical concerns prevalent in the world today. Your engagement with the annual prompt can be in the form of a creative essay, cinema, poetry, and more!
WInners of the contest share a prize pool of cash awards worth $2,600. In the past, participants have also been awarded with internship offers with Bow Seat, presided over as a judge in future contests and even become a part of the Future Blue Youth Council!
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: March 3–September 29
Application Deadline: May 29 (Registration Deadline), June 3 (Submission Deadline)
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8 (Middle School Grade Level)
The John Estey Student Writing Competition is an annual writing contest for middle school students. In response to the contest’s annual writing prompt, students submit essays, fiction or non-fiction stories, poems, songs, short monologues, among other creative forms. You are free to use the prompt as an opening or closing line, or simply use it as an inspiration for your submission. This allows a broad interpretation of the theme, allowing you to touch upon important moral or ethical concerns.
Participation is capped for students from the same school. The judging panel selects four winners, who share a prize pool of $4,000, while also getting a chance to be featured on the American Writers Museum Website.
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: April (Regional Competitions), July (State Competitions), November (National Competition)
Application Deadline: February 17
Eligibility: Students in grades 6–8 residing in Virginia
The National Civics Bee that invites middle school students residing in Virginia to respond to their 4-question essay prompt and detail their plans to improve their local communities. Intended to develop civil knowledge, the prompt urges students to imagine an ideal society and propose innovative steps towards it. Students are expected to go through the contest’s essay guide before submitting their essays.
The contest features three rounds of competition, at the regional, state and national level. Selected finalists compete in the regional competition. The top three winners from each regional competition qualify to the state competitions. One finalist from each state then competes on the national stage. Finalists compete for trophies, prizes, and recognition at each level.
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: – July 31
Application Deadline: May 31 (Submission Deadline)
Eligibility: Students in grades 5–12
EthicsWise AI’s Global Youth AI Ethics Competition invites students in grades 5 to 12 across the globe to share their view on artificial intelligence (AI) ethics through an essay, video or any other art form. Essays must be written more than 500 words, but cannot exceed 800 words. You are expected to explore AI topics, case studies and come up with solutions for challenges faced by AI today. The list of topic ideas range from AI in education to its use in algorithm recommendation and bias reduction.
The winning pieces are featured on EthicsWise AI’s website. Participants also earn recommendation letters, certification for volunteer hours and are recognised as an AI Ethics Youth Thought Leader.
Cost/Stipend: Free
Dates: Varies by contest
Application Deadline: Varies by contest
Eligibility: Students aged 13–19
Write The World’s international writing contests invite students from all age categories to participate in monthly writing contests centred on different themes. Various contests like the Screenwriting competition to the Personal Essay competition allow room for personal reflection and engagement with moral and philosophical concerns. The judging rubric varies, depending on the selected contest.
Students also gain from participating in workshops and interacting with volunteers within the writing community. The contests also allow you to showcase your talent before accomplished writers serving in the judging panel. Winners of the contest share from a cash prize pool of $200, along with other prizes in kind!
One more option—The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program
The Lumiere Junior Explorer Program is a program for middle school students to work one-on-one with a mentor to explore their academic interests and build a project they are passionate about. Our mentors are scholars from top research universities such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Yale, Duke, and LSE.
The program was founded by a Harvard & Oxford PhD who met as undergraduates at Harvard. The program is rigorous and fully virtual. We offer need-based financial aid for students who qualify. You can find the application in the brochure! To learn more, you can reach out to our Director, Dhruva, at dhruva.bhat@lumiere.education, or go to our website.
Multiple rolling deadlines for JEP cohorts across the year, you can apply using this application link! If you'd like to take a look at the upcoming cohorts + deadlines, you can refer to this page!
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
Image Source - Lumiere Education logo