Master's students essay competitions

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 will present 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)

More details about the 2024 essay competition.

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)

More details about the 2023 essay competition.

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