IF Schools Essay Competition: Has Britain Robbed its Children?

The Intergenerational Foundation, in conjunction with the New Statesman, has just launched its Schools Essay Competition. Antony Mason gives a brief lowdown…Essay Competition Logo

“Has Britain robbed it children?” In many ways, that’s how it seems to the Intergenerational Foundation when we look at issues such as the colossal national debt, mounting pensions liabilities, a housing market closed off to all but the very wealthy, unwise government borrowing on public finance initiatives (PFIs), young people indebted for most of their careers by university tuitions fees etc.

But how does it look to young people coming into adulthood? Maybe the picture is not as grim as that; maybe there is room for optimism – solutions to get us out of our economic mess.

At IF we want young people to get thinking and writing about these issues. That is why we have launched an essay competition for A-Level students, in conjunction with the New Statesman.

Prizes

What are the prizes? The author of the winning essay will receive £25 worth of book tokens and have their work published online by IF and the New Statesman, in addition to their school getting £250 worth of book tokens to help them buy school library books.

There will also be four runners-up, who will each be given £25 worth of book tokens and have their essay published online by IF, while their school libraries will each receive £150 worth of book tokens. In addition to the winner and runners-up there will also be twelve essays which receive Highly Commended status, whose authors will each be given £25 worth of book tokens as well.

All the other details about the IF Essay Competition – plus fact sheets about key issues to help you on your way – can be found here: http://www.if.org.uk/essaycompetition

But hurry! The closing date is 1 October 2013