Want to win up to £1000 in prize money in the NCH essay competition? In 2022 alone, South Hampstead High School reported that 6000+ entrants participated in the competition. Essay contests are a fun way to turn your creativity and writing command into cash prizes. But how do you make your essay the best among all so that the judges pick it from among all the other entries?
In this article, we will provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to write a compelling NCH essay that may impress the judges and improve your chances of winning the competition.
As NCH invites a large of competition essay entries that range across a lot of subjects, it becomes overwhelming for students to prepare for all the subjects. The essay questions are to be answered in the contexts of art history, law, creative writing, economics and philosophical backgrounds.
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Before moving on to the essay writing tips, let’s briefly define what this essay contest is all about.
What Do You Mean by the NCH Essay Competition?
NCH stands for the New College of the Humanities, and this essay competition is open for year 12 students across the world. The subjects for this competition mostly range across social sciences and the humanities. The prize details announced by Northeastern University London are as follows:
● The overall winner across all essay subjects gets a prize of £1000
● The winner in a subject category is to receive £500
● Runner up in a subject category gets £250 as his reward
What Are the Rules for the NCH Essay Competition?
The rules for the NCH essay competition, as mentioned by Northeastern University London, are the following:
● The submission cannot be accepted if the students do not register first.
● The essay should be around 1500 words.
● The essay should be typed and written in double-line spacing.
● The full name of the student should be mentioned at the top and the bottom of each page.
● The NCH competition essay should be submitted in PDF format or Word document.
● The essays should be submitted online via the registration confirmation email.
How Do You Write NCH Essay Competition?
An essay competition offers a great way for students to build their writer’s resume. Here are some tips to prepare your essay for the NCH competition in 2024:
1. Write a Strong Opening Statement
The first lines of your essay are always crucial. You can easily grab the attention of your judges by crafting a compelling and vivid sentence. Use a hook in the introduction of your essay and it can be anything from an interesting quote to an appealing piece of information. Make it attractive and unique for your readers.
2. Use Active Voice
Unlike passive voice, active voice is more engaging and helps you convey your message more effectively to the readers. When you use active voice in your NCH essay competition document, it keeps the readers engaged directly and does not let their thoughts go astray. Be as direct and precise as you can in such essays.
3. Tell Your Personal Story
In your contest essay, focus on the moment of growth or your personal experience while being vulnerable, authentic, and honest about it. Pick a story that demonstrates a lesson that you learned in life. Readers are naturally more drawn to people who recognise their mistakes and do not get caught in unnecessary self-importance.
4. Maintain Your Essay Voice
Write your essay in your own style and voice. You can check any NCH essay competition example to review how a winner maintains his/her voice in the essay they craft. It is okay to review other’s work, but be as authentic as you can in your personal essays. Remember that judges can often tell when an essay feels insincere or forced.
5. Edit and Proofread Your Essay
You should carefully revise your essay for the punctuation, grammar, spelling and overall logical coherence. Do you think your essay will make perfect sense to any stranger? Can the contents of your essay confuse the readers? You can ask for your friends and fellows' feedback on your essay and refine your work per their suggestions.
6. Re-read the Submission Guidelines
When submitting your essay, re-read the submission guidelines and follow the word count limits. Check if your name is supposed to be on the papers or not. It may happen that you find the competition rules exceedingly annoying, but they must be followed. If you fail to follow the submission guidelines, your essay will be rejected.
7. Research the Judge
It is always important to know who will be considering or reading your NCH essay competition papers. Get to know the judge and the publication. If possible, read some work of the judges and get an idea of what they like and what they do not like to see in the contest papers. It helps you understand the aptitude of your essay judges better.
NCH Essay Competition Tips and Tricks
Studying the essay of the NCH essay competition winner in 2023 (Wenyue Zhu) and other successful entrants (Avi Shah, Noor Lababidi, Nao Fukui), we have collected some tips and tricks for preparing for a contest in 2024. Such tips are mentioned below:
● Review the whole prompt and study the essay question in detail.
● Craft an outline for your essay first.
● Start writing the first draft of your essay confidently.
● Express yourself freely and be as natural as you can.
● Proofread your entire essay at least two times before the submission.
NCH Essay Competition Topics for 2024
The topics for NCH Essay contests range across a broad number of subjects, such as social sciences, humanities, and technology. Some NCH essay competition ideas to study and prepare thoroughly for the 2024 competition are the following:
● What are the societal rewards and risks associated with generative AI tools? Prove your point.
● Highlight a modern application of data science which is based on data analytics, generative AI, machine learning etc. Discuss it in the context of societal implications, domain, and the topic.
● Explain if the expanding economy contributes positively to sustainable economic progression or not.
● Can we treat the past as a good guide to the future? Explain your answer in the philosophical context.
● Discuss if environmental degradation can be treated as a greater danger to the domestic and international community. Can it be termed more dangerous than a war?
Conclusion
Winning an NCH essay competition is a crowning achievement, and needs students to explore a wide range of interesting and challenging topics beyond the confines and limits of the academic syllabus and curriculum. Students must use sound information in the contest essays to distinguish themselves as the best entrant when the papers are being evaluated.
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