We were excited to hear this week that Nirupama in Year 13 has been shortlisted in the John Locke Institute Global 2024 Essay Prize for her Economics essay! The winners of this global competition will be announced at a dinner later on in September – we have our fingers crossed! The Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum and 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. Students chose to write an essay on one of seven categories: Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law

We asked Nirupama about the competition:

Why did you enter?

I entered the competition because I had heard a lot about it from friends outside of school. It is quite reputable and I really liked the question about whether news agencies should be funded by public taxation considering accurate news is a public good. It linked really well to topics in my A-Level course. 

Did you know immediately how to approach the challenge?

I didn’t really know how to approach it immediately so I started by defining the terms in my question to lay the context for my answer. This helped me brainstorm some ideas and draft my essay.

What was the hardest thing about doing it?

The hardest thing about doing it was probably trying not to repeat all my points. When trying to explain all my points I found that I was repeating myself quite a bit so it took me some time to reorder and edit my drafts.

What do you enjoy most about Economics at school? Do you do anything related to your subject outside of school too? 

My favourite part of Economics at school is discussing all our topics in relation to the real world. I really enjoy collaborating with my class and applying the subject to different concepts I hear about in the news.I have watched a couple of LSE lectures on different Economic subjects outside of school as well as a few MIT lectures. I am currently a current affairs correspondent for the Girl Economics newsletter which aims to promote the fields of Economics and Finance to young girls. I write in depth about the Chinese economy, which is a particular topic of interest to me since I also take Mandarin A-Level.

Are you planning  on continuing Economics at University?

I’m hoping to study Economics at university, since I’m really interested in Economic policy as well as Econometrics. I hope to broaden my knowledge of the subject, since it is incredibly diverse and fascinating.

Well done Nirupama on your shortlisting and good luck!