Run by the Royal Commonwealth Society since 1883, the Commonwealth Essay Competition is an international schools’ writing contest.  It is the oldest writing competition in the world and was renamed The Queen's Commonwealth Essay Competition since 2015, in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth, to recognise her dedication to the Commonwealth.  Find out more about the competition here

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Open to all Commonwealth citizens aged under 18, the essay competition offers young people from diverse backgrounds the opportunity to make their voices heard on a global platform, to engage with issues important to them and to express their aspirations for the future. Each year, participants demonstrate their ability to stimulate and provoke discussions about important Commonwealth and global issues from a young person’s perspective and to showcase their critical and creative skills.

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Singapore regularly does very well in this competition and has the most entries from a single Commonwealth country each year.  Here are some of the winning essays from Singapore in the past years.  

 

2025: Lakshmi Manognya Achanta, 14 (Junior Runner-up)​

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2024: Cristabelle Yeo, 16 (Senior Runner-up)

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2020: Aditya Choudhury, 14 (Senior Winner)

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​2019: Veronica Shen (Junior Winner)

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2018: Janine Shum, 13 (Junior Winner)

          Ng Woon Neng, 13 (Senior Runner-up)​

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2016: Gauri Kumar, 13 (Junior Winner)

          Tan Wan Gee, 14 (Junior Runner-up)

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2014: Selina Xu Xin Yue, 16 (Senior Runner-up)

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2010: Lim Jia Ying (Senior Runner-up)

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