Master's students essay competitions
Publishing outstanding US related work by LSE Master's students
The LSE Phelan US Centre's Essay Competition seeks 1000-word articles from current LSE Master's students on a specific topic which relates to the United States.
What role can democratic citizenry play in shaping America’s role in the world as it enters its 250th year?
In January 2026 The Phelan US Centre essay competition issued a call for entries from current LSE masters students to write a 1000-word article on the United States' role in the world.
In February 2025 the Phelan US Centre issued a call for entries from LSE Master's students to write a 1000-word essay on climate change and the United States with the prompt: "Is AI a threat or an opportunity for the US?" Students were encouraged to interpret this prompt from a variety of perspectives, and with an interdisciplinary focus.
Submitted essays were judged by a panel of Phelan US Centre staff and LSE academics.
The winning entry and runners up were published on the US Centre's LSE United States Politics and Policy Blog (USAPP).
In April 2025, the winning student will present their essay to members of the British-American Parliamentary Group and other UK Members of Parliament (MPs) with an interest in AI.
The 2025 essay competition winners and runners up were:
- AI in the US: The Next Space Race or the Next Subprime Crisis?- Kayode Adeniyi - LSE Department of Management (winner)
- The AI race: will the US lead or fall behind?- Natasha Chávez - LSE Department of International Relations (runner-up)
- Trump’s hunger for AI domination is allowing Silicon Valley to seize the state but not its people- Francesca Nicolodi - LSE Department of Social Policy (runner-up)
In January 2024 the Phelan US Centre issued a call for entries from LSE Master's students to write a 1000-word essay on climate change and the United States with the prompt: "How should the United States work to shape the future of capitalism in this age of insecurity?" Students were encouraged to interpret this prompt from a variety of perspectives, and with an interdisciplinary focus.
Submitted essays were judged by a panel of Phelan US Centre staff and LSE academics.
The winning entry and runners up were published on the US Centre's LSE United States Politics and Policy Blog (USAPP).
In March 2024, the winning student presented their essay to members of the British-American Parliamentary Group and other UK Members of Parliament (MPs) with an interest in capitalism .
The 2024 essay competition winners and runners up were:
- To save global capitalism, the US needs to focus on the ‘places that don’t matter.’ - David Millman- LSE Department of Geography and the Environment (winner)
- Beyond basic: The transformative power of guaranteed income - Yazmin Baptiste- Department of Methodology (runner-up)
- Capitalism 2.0: Pre-distribution, not just redistribution - Manickam Valliappan- Department of Geography and Environment (runner-up)
In February 2023 the Phelan US Centre issued a call for entries from LSE Master's students to write a 1000-word essay on climate change and the United States with the prompt: What responsibility does the US have to the rest of the world on climate change? Students were encouraged to interpret this prompt from a variety of perspectives, and with an interdisciplinary focus.
Submitted essays were judged by a panel of Phelan US Centre staff and LSE academics.
The winning entry and runners up were published on the US Centre's LSE United States Politics and Policy Blog (USAPP).
In April 2023, the winning student presented their essay to members of the British-American Parliamentary Group and other UK Members of Parliament (MPs) with an interest in climate change policy.
The 2023 essay competition winners and runners up were:
- The US must do more to combat carbon inequality in the global economy. - Oscar Parry- LSE Anthropology (winner)
- The Decarbonisation Dilemma: the US must tread the fine line between domestic net zero and international development objectives.- Alia Yusuf - LSE School of Public Policy (runner-up)
- The United States bears the greatest responsibility in the fight against climate change – but policy ought to be securitised and coloured in the language of self-interest.- Jibran Raja - LSE International Relations (runner-up)
In 2018 the LSE US Centre held its first Student Essay Competition with the topic covering what the year held for the United States.
2016 and 2017 were turbulent years for the United States; 2018 promised to be no different.The LSE US Centre held its inaugural Undergraduate Student Essay Competition in early 2018 on the topic, "What does 2018 mean for X in America?".
The winning entry and two runners up were published on the US Centre's United States Politics and Policy Blog (USAPP).
The 2018 essay competition winners and runners up were:
- ‘The existential crisis at the heart of white evangelicalism’ (Winning Entry) - Rafae Qazi – LSE PPE
- ‘What does 2018 mean for John Golomb in America?’ (Runner up) - Christopher Dann - LSE Government
- 'Looking at Trump’s Twitter Diplomacy to see past trends and the outlook for American foreign policy in East Asia' (Runner up) - Kyi Yeung Goh – LSE International Relations
Master's students essay competition further details
All submitted essay competition entries must be the original work of a current LSE Masters student, following the same standards of academic integrity as set out by LSE. Any submissions found to be based in whole or in part on existing coursework or essays, copied from other resources, or AI generated, will be disqualified from the competition and the student’s home Department informed.
Entries are scored based on the following criteria:
- Title
- Topic
- Readability
- Use of evidence
The judging panel will be made up of a combination of the US Centre team and LSE faculty.
Submissions should be no more than 1000 words. Strong submissions will have followed the style guidelines(PDF) as set out in the US Centre’s USAPP blog style guide. Students are advised to consult articles posted on the USAPP blogfor inspiration.
The Phelan US Centre essay competition is only open to LSE students at Master's level. Unfortunately, former, or future LSE Master's students are unable to apply. Entries from Undergraduate or PhD students will not be accepted.
All entries must be the original work of a current LSE Master's student, following the same standards of academic integrity as set out by the LSE.
Please send any inquiries via email to the Phelan US Centre team at uscentre@lse.ac.uk.