4 . Global Essay Competition

The John Locke Institute encourages young people to develop the characteristics that turn good students into great writers. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the limits of the school curriculum (课程).

All of our essay prizes are judged by senior academics from the University of Oxford. The judges will choose their favourite essay from each subject category and an overall “best essay” across six subjects: Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology and Law.

Entry Requirements

Entry is open to students from any country. Candidates must be eighteen years old, or younger, on the date of the submission deadline, 30 June. Candidates for the Junior Prize must be fourteen years old, or younger, on the date of the submission deadline. Each essay should address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed (超过) 2, 000 words.

Key Dates

30 June: Submission deadline

14 July: Short-listed candidates informed

26 August: Awards Dinner for the Junior Prize

2. September: Awards Dinner for the Economics Prize and other prizes

Prizes

There is a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US $2,000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme, and the essays will be published on the Institute’s website. The prize-giving ceremony will take place in Oxford.

The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior, Fellowship, which comes with a US $10, 000 scholarship to attend one or more of our summer schools.

5 . National Music Theater Competition

The 2024 National Music Theater Competition (NMTC) will be held. It was launched in 2011 as the first national competition for the emerging professional music theater soloist (独唱者). NMTC has provided industry connections for past competitors and winners that have led to their success on Broadway and other venues.

Prizes (each prize only for a person)

The champion: $5,000 plus a concert at the next national conference of National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), a $1,000 Gift Certificate from Hal Leonard, a Career Management Services package from Stage Door Connections.

The runner-up: $2,500 plus a $500 Gift Certificate from Hal Leonard.

The third place: Louise Lerch Prize; $1,000 cash prize.

The fourth place: Bill Hayes Prize; $750 cash prize.

Qualification

Singers aged from 20 to 28 as of September 15, 2023.

Entrance Procedure

Application requires a fee of $900, but for these students of NATS members the fee is $75. Application fees due to cancellation by the applicant won’t be returned. All application materials must be submitted by September 15, 2023. If you are planning to submit your application for the online round, you must complete the submission by September 15, 2023, but you’ll have 30 days after the deadline to upload your audition (试唱) videos. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Where to Audition

The preliminary (预选的) round

Live auditions: November 1 to 10, 2023 in New York City.

Online auditions: Video submission deadline is October 15, 2023.

Semifinal and final rounds

Live auditions: The semifinal round: January 3 to 9, 2024; the final round: January 15 to 20, 2024.

The semifinal and final rounds will be held in New York City as part of the 2024 NATS Winter Workshop.

6 . When Vance Hinds learned of comedian Bert Kreischer’s no-wine October challenge last year, he felt inspired. Hinds decided to prove to himself that he could also achieve something _________ he tried his best. In early 2019, he _________ it.

The Georgia native began his weight loss journey weighing in at 475 pounds. To make sure he stayed on_________, he recorded the weekly weigh-ins and _________ his progress on Youtube. While his aim was admirable, one of the most special aspects came from his friends’ consistent _________.

From the very beginning of his decision to change his life, Hinds’ friends willingly _________ him for a walk around the park. As the weeks went by, not only did he _________ strength, his walking group grew as well. After a while, he was _________ to walk around the park once without stopping. It’s a milestone, and he _________ recorded it on video with his supporters __________ behind him.

Day after day, Hinds made his __________ a priority (优先考虑的事), completing some form of exercise six times a week. Not long after __________ to lose pounds, he received a tweet from a fitness instructor and motivational speaker, Diamond Dallas Page. He __________ to help him take his progress to the next level.

With Page’s help, Hinds __________ to lose weight every single week. The pounds __________ and as 2019 began approaching, he became closer and closer to __________ his goal.

When he weighed himself one year after beginning his challenge, he felt really __________. The number on the scale (秤) read 277 pounds. He had lost __________ 200 pounds in one year, gained significantly more __________, and kept his spirits high.

Hinds’ excitement and __________ attitude are obviously a heartwarming reminder that all you need to realize a goal is a healthy mentality and continuous efforts.

7 . Heroes Stamp Design Competition

Welcome to the Heroes Stamp Design Competition! Children aged 4-14years are invited to design a stamp. Eight designs will be chosen for this stamp series from the Royal Mail. One of the designs could be yours. There are 120 great prizes on offer for area winners and runners-up. Plus, cash prizes for the winning schools too.

Stamp Designing

The stamp design will be based on your hero or heroes of the coronavirus pandemic. The past year has been very difficult for so many people. There are countless frontline workers and volunteers who have continued to work tirelessly to keep the country moving.

Being a stamp designer is a very skilled job. One of the jobs of a stamp designer is to reduce the size of a picture to fit the stamp. When designing your stamp, have a think about what kind of image of your hero or heroes would make a good miniature (微型的) design for a stamp. The final stamps produced will be about 3.7cm wide×3.5cm high.

Things to consider

 Your stamp design must be drawn on the official competition entry form (报名表) which your teacher will give you.

 Your design must be your own original work.

 Drawings must be flat, so please don’t stick any materials or textures (纹理) to your design.

 Please use lots of colour (no black and white images) in your design.

 Please avoid using highlighter pens (荧光笔).

Good Luck

The closing date for the competition is 28th May. Please ask your teacher, or parent, for one of the official entry forms. You’re then ready to start designing! We can’t wait to see all of the amazing designs from gifted children across the country.

Good Luck!

8 . Club sports provide both a competitive and social sporting experience to any Purdue student. Whether you are looking to continue to be part of a sport you love or looking for new experiences, there is a club for you at every skill level.

The Purdue University Baseball Club

The Purdue University Baseball Club is a student-run organization that participates in intercollegiate(大学间的)athletic competition. We provide students an opportunity to continue their baseball career at a collegiate level.

President: Jack Fitzhugh

Email: jfitzhu@purdue.edu

The Purdue Gymnastics Club

The Purdue Gymnastics Club is a group of normal everyday students who, like yourself, want to stay active while at school. We practice during evening hours four times a week during the fall and spring semesters. We own and operate equipment for four women’s and six men’s events.

President: Maya MeDonald

Email: medon127@purdue.edu

The Purdue Triathlon Club

The Purdue Triathlon Club’s mission is to get together multi—sport athletes who want to train in a social environment and promote interest and participation in triathlons(铁人三项), duathlons(铁人两项), running, swimming and cycling events on the Purdue University campus. We encourage and support members while training together. We travel to races in the spring and summer together and host two races during the school year. We end our year at the Collegiate Nationals in April.

President: Katalin Kovach

Email: kovach 10@ purdue.edu

The Purdue Men’s Club

The Purdue Men’s Club Volleyball allows Purdue undergraduate and graduate students to play volleyball at a competitive, intercollegiate level. Tryouts are held at the beginning of each semester and teams are divided based on skill level. Players come from all over the country, not just the Midwest. The first and second teams travel to tournaments across the Midwest and to the NCVF National tournament each spring. The club is an NCVF and MIVA recognized program and consistently finishes in the top competitive divisions of the region and nation.

President: Ben Bednarczyk

Email: bbednarc@ purdue.edu

When I was a kid, my parents were busy working so they enrolled (登记) me in the Spartak Tennis Club in Moscow. Every day after school my parents would take me to Spartak and I would be there until maybe nine o'clock. All we did was play tennis, eat, do homework, have fun and hang out. It was basically my second family.

In that second family was a woman who was like a mother to me, my first coach, Larissa. I still refer to her as my second mother. She taught me everything I know about how to play tennis, but she’s also a wonderful person. She’s kind and patient, which is not what you expect from one of the top tennis coaches in Russia.

Her program when I was little was based on tricking us into doing our exercises. She would put a candy under the cones (锥形物), and we would try to hit the targets with balls, you got to have an ice cream.

Of course we worked hard and I didn’t let her down.

My second-ever tournament was the Moscow Championships, and I won. Afterwards Larissa came up to me and said, “Congratulations, Enjoy today because tomorrow it’s back to work.” She was always telling us to celebrate and have fun with any particular achievement but to always remember there is something more you can do, something more you can achieve.

Now every time I go back to Russia I go to Spartak to see Larissa. We look at all the pictures from all the birthday parties and tournament and celebrations. It is really cool to have someone like her in my life. Larissa is still coaching, but we don’t talk much about tennis any more. We just talk.