The Versus History Essay Prize (#VHEssayPrize) is an annual essay competition for Year 11-13 (or equivalent) students across the world. The #VHEssayPrize aims to promote history as an academic discipline and a popular pursuit amongst the future generation of historians, who will ultimately play a key role in preserving and interpreting our global past and heritage. Versus History is dedicated to democratizing access to, and inclusion in, the field of history, and offering essay prizes contributes to this goal. 2023 marks the exciting debut of the competition from Versus History.
Questions for the 2023 competition can be found here.
Guidelines:
Essays may be up to 2,000 words, including any footnotes, but excluding references and the bibliography.
Essays should feature references, which can be in any recognised format, and must include a bibliography.
The originality/authenticity of all submissions will be checked using a range of methods at the discretion of the panel.
Submissions must be made by 12:00 GMT on Sunday 1 October 2023. Please submit essays using the form here. Results of the competition will be announced as soon as they have been finalised by the panel.
The #VHEssayPrize carries a First Prize of £100, plus a range of other awards, including publication to the Versus History website and the option to appear on the Versus History Podcast to discuss your work. In addition, further outstanding essays will be highly commended and letters of recognition sent to these participants. Queries from students or teachers of students intending to submit an essay for the #VHEssayPrize may be directed to us via email or social media.
The Questions can be downloaded in PDF format below.