2024-2025
High School International Economics Essay
Competition (HIEEC)
HIEEC provides students the opportunity to demonstrate an accomplished level of writing and understanding of economic theory. Through the contest, students hone their academic and professional skills and exhibit their knowledge.
The 2023-2024 Harvard International Economics Essay Contest is sponsored by the Harvard Undergraduate Economics Association (HUEA). This essay competition is open to high school students of any year and is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate an accomplished level of writing and understanding of economic theory.
Prizes
The top three winning essays will be published (with the author’s permission) on our website. A finalists list of the top submissions will be published online and adjudicated by a real-world economist.
A list of names that will receive the "Highly Commended" distinction will also be published online​. The judges' decisions are final.
Rules
Entrants must choose one of the four prompts and write a response to it with a strict limit of 1500 words. Submission must be via the HUEA website and entrants are limited to submitting one essay with only the first submission being considered.
Each essay submission will have a $20 reading fee which should be paid upon submission of the essay. If this fee will impose a significant financial burden on your family, please email us. The deadline for submitting the essay is 11:59pm EST January 5th, 2025. ​​
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The essays will be judged by the board of the HUEA, with the top 10 submissions being adjudicated by a Economics Professor at Harvard.
Terms & Conditions
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The word limit of 1500 must be strictly adhered to. Any words past the limit will be truncated. This limit excludes references, footnotes, titles, headers and footers.
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Essays must be written only by the entrant. Any outside assistance must be declared in the beginning or end of the essay.
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Only your first submission will be accepted. Any further submissions will not be read.
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References must be included, and any plagiarism will lead to disqualification.
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References must be in Chicago or APA format. The only accepted document formatting is PDF. Any other format will not be accepted, nor will refunds be given to those who do not follow this rule.
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No refunds are granted.
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Grades 9-12 are permitted.
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The essay must not be entered in any other competition nor be published elsewhere.
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No individual feedback of essays will be granted.
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The decisions made by HUEA by the final round of adjudication are final.
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All winners agree to their names being published on the HUEA website.
2024-2025
Key Dates
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November 1st – Essay Prompts released
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January 5th, 11:59 PM EST, 2025 – Essay submission deadline
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Late February 2024* – Highly Commended and Finalists notified
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Early March 2024* – Winners notified, results published on the website​
*We received a high volume of submissions, therefore we anticipate that it will take us a couple more weeks to release the results.
