Harvard International Review Writing Contest Preparation

The Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest is an international affairs writing competition run by the Harvard International Review, open to students in grades 7–12 (Years 7–13). Entrants write an 800–1,200 word article in AP style on one of the annual themes. Finalists present and defend their work at a virtual oral round called Defense Day.

Gold medals go to roughly the global top 3% of entrants, Silver to the top 10%, and Bronze to the top 20%, based on written scores and Defense Day performance. Non-finalists with strong scores receive High Commendation, Commendation, and writing prizes. 80% of our students have earned Silver or Gold.

Defense Day is the oral round where finalists present their article and answer questions from a panel — similar to a viva. It is the part most entrants are least prepared for, so our curriculum ends with mock defenses, and Package 2 includes individual Defense Day coaching.

No. The HIR strictly prohibits AI writing tools and uses multiple detection tools on every entry. Our course develops genuine research and writing skill, and we teach students how to document their process so their work stands up to scrutiny.

The course runs from the week of September 7 through December and targets the Fall/Winter cycle deadline of January 2, 2027, with Defense Day on February 5, 2027. The contest also runs spring and summer cycles each year.

The Harvard International Review requires contestants to register and pay before they are eligible to submit, but it does not publish the fee on the public contest page — it is shown during registration on the official form (hawc-register.paperform.co). Admissions are rolling and capacity is limited, so register early in the cycle. The registration fee is separate from our course tuition and paid directly to the HIR.

Medals are awarded on a global curve — Gold to the top 3%, Silver to the top 10%, Bronze to the top 20% — so roughly four in five entrants do not medal. In the Fall/Winter 2025 cycle the HIR listed 30 Gold, 60 Silver, and 90 Bronze medallists, which implies on the order of 900–1,000 scored entries in that cycle alone, with most medallists coming from China, Korea, Singapore, and the United States. Our students’ 80% Silver-or-above rate is measured against that field.

It is one of the few writing competitions with a named Harvard affiliation, a published rubric, and an oral defense — so a Gold or Silver medal is a credible, verifiable signal of analytical writing ability. It is not a Harvard admissions programme and carries no admissions advantage by itself. Its value is the portfolio piece (a publishable 1,200-word article), the medal listing on the HIR site, and the research and presentation skills that transfer to the John Locke Essay Prize, the Concord Review, and eventually university coursework.

Introduced in Spring 2026, the Junior Division is for students in grades 7–8 (Years 8–9) and is judged separately from the Senior Division (grades 9–12). For 2026 the Junior theme is “Inventions that Changed How We Live”, while Senior entrants choose from three international affairs themes. Our Years 7–9 class covers both, since some Year 9 students fall in the Senior Division by US grade.

Our John Locke track is hyper-focused on one competition essay. This course is geared toward general academic writing — research, structure, style, and oral defense — using the HIR contest as its goal. Many students take this course in the autumn and progress to John Locke preparation in January.