Deadline: June 5, 2025
Applications are open for the Fraser Institute’s Student Essay Contest 2025. The Fraser Institute hosts an annual Student Essay Contest to promote student participation in economic discourse on current events and public policy. This contest affords winning students the opportunity to have their work peer-reviewed and published early on in their academic career. In addition, they offer exciting cash prizes for the top five winning submissions.
2025 Student Essay Contest – “What would the Essential Scholars say about Canadian economic prosperity today?”
With previous years of inflation and economic uncertainty, the topic of Canadian economic prosperity continues to be a daily conversation. Issues of Canada’s economic standing compared to other OECD countries, looming trade disputes, monetary policy and continuous reports of the economy being stuck reveal the obstacles faced in pursuing economic prosperity.
Consider what insights the Essential Scholars series offer on fostering policies that support Canadian economic prosperity? Relying on the ideas of one of their Essential Scholars, construct an essay that describes a scholar’s response, explanation or rebuttal to a policy on Canadian economic prosperity. You can use a scholar’s economic theory to examine a current economic policy, propose potential policies that a scholar would have put forward, or suggest how certain existing policies would have been adapted by a particular Essential Scholar.
Prizes
The following prizes will be given across the categories: High School, Undergraduate, and Graduate students.
- 1st Prize: $1,500
- 2nd prize: $1,000
- 3rd prize: $750
- 4th prize: $500
- 5th prize: $250
Eligibility
- This contest is open to all High School, Undergraduate, and Graduate students in Canada and to Canadian students studying abroad. A student is defined as someone who attends school in the 2024/2025 school year or is enrolled to attend in 2025/2026.
- If you are an international student studying in Canada, you are eligible to participate in the 2025 Student Essay Contest.
Essay Requirements
- Essays must be between 1,000-1,500 words (not including references).
- Introductory cover page that includes name of the author(s), mailing address, phone number, and e-mail address.
- High School students should include school and grade.
- Post-Secondary students should include school, major and year of graduation.
- Entries must include references cited from academic sources. Any academically acceptable referencing style may be used.
- Entry must be a single document, the header of each page of the essay must include the author’s full name and page number.
- Entries will be judged on originality, clear expression of ideas, the ability to empirically support their argument and understanding competitive markets and/or the impact of government intervention.
- Submitted in PDF format.
Application
Submit your essay by June 5, 2025 at 11:59pm PST. Winners will be announced in the fall of 2025.
For more information, visit Fraser Institute’s Student Essay Contest.
