The 2027 John Locke questions are out. At its October 2026 events the John Locke Institute put one question per category on framed cards that read "The 2027 questions are here." All ten are in the table below. Nine link to our guide to that question (what it is really asking, the trap, three core readings and the main arguments to weigh); the International Relations question links to its category page. Further down, this page tracks the 2027 dates and rules. Anything marked confirmed has been shown or published by the Institute; anything marked expected is our inference from the last two cycles. Last checked against johnlockeinstitute.com: October 28, 2026.
What are the 2027 John Locke essay questions?
| Category | 2027 question | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Philosophy | Sydney Sweeney is paid to be looked at. Is there anything wrong with her posing or us looking? | Read |
| Politics | Why are today's politicians so mediocre compared with those of the past? | Read |
| Economics | What are the consequences of economic illiteracy among the general population? | Read |
| History | Was American Independence worth the bloodshed? | Read |
| Psychology & Neuroscience | Do we choose what to believe? | Read |
| Theology | Whatever view you hold, the majority of people alive today appear to disagree with your particular beliefs about God. Do you know something they don't? | Read |
| Law | Can you wrong someone without harming him? | Read |
| International Relations | Starting from today, what policy ought the Israeli government to adopt with respect to Gaza? | Category page |
| Public Policy | What is the feminisation of politics doing to public policy? | Read |
| Science & Technology | Can a machine be a coward? | Read |
A note on sources. For seven of these (Philosophy, Politics, Economics, Psychology and Neuroscience, Law, International Relations, Science and Technology) we have seen clear photographs of the Institute's own cards from the events. The History, Theology and Public Policy wording has so far appeared only in a list compiled from attendees' social media posts, so treat it as reported until the Institute confirms it. On October 28 the competition page on the Institute's website still showed 2026. The 2026 cycle had three questions per category, which means the full 2027 list may be longer than the cards suggest. If more questions appear, we add them here the same day.
Four of those cards, as they stood on the tables at the Institute's October 2026 events:
Which 2027 question should you choose?
Pick the question you can argue best, which is often not the one you find most interesting. Several of this year's questions rest on a premise you are allowed to attack. Politics assumes today's politicians are mediocre. Economics assumes the public is economically illiterate. The History, Theology and Philosophy questions each take a framing for granted too, and the strongest essays test that framing on the first page before answering. Other questions turn on one word (coward, wrong, choose), which suits students who enjoy precise distinctions. Gaza and the feminisation of politics are different again: they need current evidence, a clear policy view and the discipline to stay even-handed. Under-15s answer the same questions and are judged separately.
Have the 2027 dates been announced?
Not yet. The questions are out, but as of October 28, 2026 the Institute has not published the 2027 registration window or submission deadline. Its competition page still shows the 2026 prize, whose awards were presented in London on October 3, 2026. Based on the last two cycles, registration is expected to open in early February 2027 and the deadline to fall in late May. Every 2027 date on this page is an expectation until the Institute publishes it. The 2026 prize-winners were published after the London ceremony, and our summary of the 2026 results covers them.
Expected 2027 timeline
The 2026 cycle moved roughly a month earlier than 2025, so the safest planning assumption is that 2027 follows the 2026 calendar. All 2027 dates below are expectations, not announcements.
| Milestone | 2026 (actual) | 2027 (expected) |
|---|---|---|
| Questions released | Late January | Shown at the Institute's October 2026 events |
| Registration opens | February 2 | Early February 2027 |
| Registration deadline | March 31 (late option to April 30, US$10) | Late March 2027 |
| Submission window | April 1 to May 31 | April to late May 2027 |
| Late submission | +7 days (£25) or +21 days (£75) | Similar paid extensions likely |
| Shortlist notified | July 7 | Early July 2027 |
| Academic conference & awards | London, October 2–4 | Autumn 2027 |
If your child plans to enter, work backwards from a late-May deadline: choose a question and start reading by January, have a full draft by mid-April, and revise through May. Our free essay planner maps this out week by week.
What changed in 2026 that will likely carry into 2027
The 2026 cycle brought the largest rule changes in years. Unless the Institute announces otherwise, expect all of these to apply in 2027:
Ten subject categories: International Relations, Public Policy, and Science & Technology joined Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology, and Law in 2026.
The Junior Prize was restructured: There are no separate junior questions anymore. Entrants under 15 (as of the submission deadline) answer any of the main questions and are judged separately from seniors.
The conference moved to London: The academic conference and awards dinner ran in London in 2026, no longer Oxford.
Prizes are scholarships, not cash: Category winners receive scholarships toward John Locke Institute programmes ($5,000 / $2,000 / $1,000 for first through third, junior and senior judged separately), and the Grand Prize carries a $10,000 scholarship with an honorary Junior Fellowship.
AI has an official policy: Large language models may be used "for research support and as a thought partner," but the Institute's FAQ adds that any use of AI "can only negatively affect our assessment of your work" and that "your safest course of action is simply not to use it at all." Integrity checks, including possible interviews, apply.
Is the John Locke Essay Competition free to enter?
Yes — entry and standard submission are free. Money only enters the picture for optional extras: late registration, paid deadline extensions, and attending the shortlist conference (which is optional and separately priced). No entrant has to pay anything to compete or win.
How competitive is the competition?
The Institute reports entries from tens of thousands of students across more than 150 countries. In 2026 it announced that 17.5% of contestants had been shortlisted. For context on what preparation changes: 38 of our students' 41 essays were shortlisted in 2026, a 93% rate.
How should students prepare now the questions are out?
With the questions known in October rather than January, students have about seven months before a late-May deadline. That is more time than any previous cycle, and the students who use November to January well will be hard to beat. Three things matter:
- Pick a question by December, and read for it. Winning essays engage real scholarship. Each of our analysis pages above names three core readings for its question. A student who has read them by January starts drafting with an evidence base most entrants never build.
- Build argumentation fundamentals. The judging criteria reward argument quality, handling of objections and structure, and those skills take months, not weeks. This is the core of our John Locke Essay Competition prep programmes, which run January, February and March 2027 cohorts.
- For the Economics category specifically: most entrants have never studied economics formally. Our Economics Scholar Foundations course covers the core of AP Micro and Macro as essay evidence and finishes in late January 2027.
New to the competition?
This page only tracks what is changing. For the whole picture (who can enter, the ten categories, the rules, how essays are judged and what each result is worth) read our complete guide to the John Locke Essay Competition.
Check announcements on the official site only
The official home of the competition is johnlockeinstitute.com. Several third-party prep companies operate lookalike domains and branding, and some of the dates and statistics circulating on those sites are stale or wrong. Verify any deadline against the Institute's own pages (we link and date-stamp our sources here for exactly that reason).
What happens next
We check the official site every week, and daily from late January, and update this page the day the Institute publishes the full question list, the dates or any rule change. Our category question pages and the analysis pages linked in the table above will carry any new questions within 48 hours.
