Harvard political reviewGlobal Policy CaseCompetition 2026
For Middle and High School Students
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This competition is for you if you’re:
- Passionate about journalism, politics, or public policy
- Excited to investigate real-world issues
- Ready to write persuasive, evidence-based policy analysis for a general audience
About Harvard Political Review
The Harvard Political Review is a student-run journal of politics, policy, and culture. The HPR is written and published entirely by Harvard undergraduates and is housed at the Institute of Politics.
The HPR was founded in 1969 by a group of Harvard College undergraduates. The founders envisioned a publication that allowed students to research, write, and edit incisive reportage and commentary in a thoughtful, non-partisan forum. To this day, the HPR does not take publication-wide editorial positions. While individual articles have distinct viewpoints, the publication as a whole does not represent any ideology or party.
Over the past generation, the HPR has incubated some of the best political minds in America. Among the magazine’s alumni are Al Gore, Jr. (former United States Vice President and Nobel Laureate), E.J. Dionne, Jr. (Washington Post columnist), Jonathan Alter (former Newsweek Senior Editor and columnist), and Jeffrey Sachs (Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University).
Calling All Aspiring Young Leaders!
The Harvard Political Review Global Policy Case Competition challenges you to think like a policy analyst and communicate complex ideas through clear, evidence-based writing.
Choose to either evaluate an existing public policy or propose a new solution to a pressing issue affecting your community, country, or the world. Through rigorous research and critical analysis, you'll examine how policies shape society, assess their effectiveness, and argue for practical, well-supported recommendations that can be understood by a general audience.
More than just an essay competition, this is an opportunity to develop the skills of journalists, policy analysts, and civic leaders—combining research, critical thinking, and persuasive communication to address real-world challenges and contribute meaningful ideas for lasting change.
How Is This Different From the Essay Competition?
Unlike the Essay Competition — where the focus is on crafting an opinionated, narrative-driven piece that explores your perspective — the Policy Competition calls for a more analytical, data-driven approach.
Rather than persuading through storytelling, you'll be building a rigorous, evidence-based policy case: evaluating existing policies or proposing solutions backed by research and data.
Why Join The Harvard Political Review Global Policy Case Competition?
Distinguish yourself from your peers by participating in a renowned competition that showcases your analytical and writing skills—boosting your profile for university applications and future endeavors.
Dive into complex, data-driven issues that matter, sharpening your ability to evaluate evidence, think critically, and develop well-reasoned solutions to problems shaping the world today.
Join like-minded peers passionate about politics, society, and change, and position yourself as an emerging voice in important global conversations.
How Does the Competition Work?
Team size
1-5 students per team (all team members must be from the same school)
Can't find teammates at your school?
Email [email protected] to apply for an exception to create multi-school teams.
Age Categories
Grade: 6 - 8 (Year 7 - 9)
Grade 9 - 12 (Year 10 - 13)
What do participants need to do?
Word count: 800 - 1,200 words
Format: Times New Roman, 12-point font
Referencing Style: Associated Press
Top 8 teams from each of middle and high school categories will present and defend their essay in a live Zoom session, showcasing critical thinking and command of the topic, and will be evaluated by a panel of judges.
Time allowed: 3 minutes presentation + 5 minutes Q&A
Competition Format
Preliminary Round
The preliminary round is open to all registered teams worldwide.
Essay Submission
In addition to telling the stories of individuals and communities, journalists and political analysts serve an important role in helping readers identify, support, and create lasting solutions to the challenges they and their communities face. One way critical commentary can fulfill this role is through coverage and evaluation of policy issues. This global policy case competition challenges you to approach journalism and evaluative political commentary through the angle of policy analysis, developing expertise in a policy area and arguing the best policy approach to readers from the general public.
Write an article between 800 and 1200 words addressing one of the two prompts below:
Identify a policy that is currently in place and evaluate that policy for readers.
Describe which issue(s) the policy aims to solve, how the policy has succeeded or failed in practice, what unintended impacts it may have, and whether policymakers ought to implement an alternative approach instead.
You may choose any jurisdiction (any country/region and level of government) and any policy domain (i.e. healthcare, education, affordability, etc).
Identify a problem in your community, country, or the world and propose a policy that you believe would help solve that problem.
Describe the problem the policy seeks to address, what the policy would specifically change, why your proposed policy is better than alternative approaches, and what challenges or opposition might arise in implementing the policy.
You may choose any policy domain (i.e. healthcare, education, affordability, etc).
Final Round
The top 8 teams from the preliminary round in each of the Middle School and High School categories are invited to the global final round.
Live Defense on Zoom
Teams will present and defend their essay in a live Zoom session, demonstrating their critical thinking and command of the topic. Each presentation will include a 3-minute presentation followed by a 5-minute Q&A session.
Grade 6-8 (Year 7-9)
Grade 9-12 (Year 10-13)
Exclusive Training by The Harvard Political Review
Exclusive opportunity to enhance your writing skills and build connections with the Harvard Political Review through Zoom.
Date: To be announced
Format: Live on Zoom
Length per session: One Hour
Total sessions: 1
Competition Timeline
Registration Deadlines and Participation Fees
Deadline: August 1, 2026
Fees: US$75 per student
Deadline: October 1, 2026
Fees: US$85 per student
Deadline: November 1, 2026
Fees: US$95 per student
Recognition
All participants will be awarded a certificate of participation.
Awards for Individuals
Certificates
HonorTop 25%
MeritTop 50%
Global Awards
Certificates and Medals
Global Champion
Global 1st Runner Up
Global 2nd Runner Up
Join the Challenge
This competition is more than just a challenge — it's your pathway to developing real policy thinking on the social, economic, and political issues that matter most to you. Register now to embark on a journey of rigorous analysis, evidence-based reasoning, and meaningful problem-solving. Dive into the policy questions you care about, sharpen your research and analytical skills, and build a compelling, data-driven case for change. This is your chance to think like a policymaker and propose solutions that could shape the real world.
Fee Waiver Policy
Fee waiver is available for individual low-income students. Please ask your principal (or school counsellor - only eligible for US schools) to send an email titled 'Fee Waiver Request' to [email protected] from their official school email with your email address and confirm you need a waiver.
US public schools where 90%+ of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch may also apply for school-wide waivers for all competitions with a quiz-based first round.
All fee waivers must be requested before the regular deadline. For the exact eligibility rules on fee waivers please refer to this article.
AlgoEd is a platform that hosts curated competitions for K-12 students.
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