American Politics Group

Site of the American Politics Group of the UK Political Studies Association

FT-APG A Level Essay Competition 

The 2025-26 version of this project has now concluded. This page is currently a work in progress for the 2026-27 version. Pleas bear us while we edit this page in advance of the launch of the project for 2026-27.

Welcome to the brief for the 2026-27 American Politics Group of the Political Studies Association A-Level essay competition. 

This essay competition falls within a broader project aimed at fostering engagement between the American Politics Group the Political Studies Association, the Schools Programme of the Financial Times, and A-Level students and tutors. This project is funded by competitive funding from the excellence and impact funding of the Political Studies Association and the Centre for Transformative and Global Justice of the University of Greenwich.

If you need inspiration, you can find out about the 2025-26 prize winners here.

2026-27 FT-APG Online A Level Conference:

  • To support this essay competition an online conference will be held on November 4th 2026 (the day of the US midterms!).
  • Full information, including a link for registration, can be found: here

Key facts: 

What: Essay competition for 16-19 years olds studying US politics as part of a Politics A Level. 

Deadline: Feb 1st, 2027 

Length: 1,500 words overall(+/- 10%)

This is broken into two parts:

  1. One of the four essay questions listed below (1,300 words +/- 10%)
  2. A reflective post explaining your research and writing process (200 words +/- 10%)

Submission: Students to submit via their tutor/teacher, with essays emailed to Lead Organiser Dr. Pete Finn: P.D.Finn@greenwich.ac.uk (see below and submission cover sheet for full details)

Listing on Political Studies Association website: TBC

Page with advice: here

Materials for getting started: here

Prize categories: 

The five following prizes will be awarded: 

  • Best overall essay  
  • Best argument  
  • Most original essay  
  • Best use of evidence
  • Best discussion of a social problem  

Eligibility:  An essay competition aimed at 16-19 year olds studying politics, or related disciplines such as history and sociology, during their A Levels (or similar qualifications, i.e., Scottish Highers and International Baccalaureate)

Those being considered for prizes will be invited, along with a member of school/college staff, to discuss their entries with members of the project team prior to final decisions being made about the awarding of prizes. These meetings will occur online via Microsoft Teams.

Further queries: Lead Organiser Dr. Pete Finn: P.D.Finn@greenwich.ac.uk (students should to submit queries via their tutor/teacher)

Prizes for each category:  

  • Best overall essay:
    • £100 book voucher
    • Paid return travel to, and ticket for, the 2027 APG Colloquium+
    • Essay posted on Political Studies Association site  (if a student wishes) 
  • All other categories:
    • £50 book voucher  

  • All categories:   
  • Announced in American Politics Group and Political Studies Association newsletters and the Financial Times ‘Schools Digest’  
  • Essay posted on American Politics Group site  (if a student wishes)
  • Bespoke competition prize certificate

  • All entrnants
  • Bespoke feedback*
  • Bespoke competition certificate of submission*

*If it is suspected that a submission has not abided by the spirit of the competition, then the project team may ask for information and qualification on certain points by offering a right to reply. In some cases, this process may mean that an essay is not accepted as an entry.

+Paid return travel here refers to up to £130 to pay for travel within the UK

You are able to withdraw your essay from the competition up to a week after the essay deadline should you wish. If you wish to withdraw your entry will need to explicitly ask for the essay to be withdrawn via your teacher via email. There will be penalty or negative consequences for withdrawal.

Essay submission and cover sheet: 

  • Please use the competition cover sheet as the first page of your competition submission (this sheet is not included in the word count) 
  • To submit and be considered for the essay competition, students must agree to the below statement on generative artificial intelligence tools. 
  • The essay cover-sheet is here:
26-27 Cover-SheetDownload

Generative artificial intelligence statement and approach: 

When signing and submitting the cover sheet, you will need to acknowledge you have acted in accordance with the below statement:

‘I confirm that this essay is my own work and that I did not use generative artificial intelligence tools to generate the content of this essay. Essay judges reserve the right to ask for information about how submissions are written.  

For clarity, this statement does not preclude the use of spell and grammar checking features of word processing tools such as Word and Google Docs.’ 

GenAI is a fast moving area, and like others in education and beyond, we need to develop our practice in line with changes. We will engage with concerns around GenAI in good faith and in line with best practices and our capacity at the time of the marking of essays as it stands in Spring 2027.

For those submitting to the competition, we ask that you likewise abide by the above statement in similarity good faith.

You can also find more on the reasoning behind our position on the use of AI: here. However, in short, we believe writing is awesome, and are keen for you to use this competition to develop your writing skills.

You can find a piece with further advice on critically engaging with AI: here

Reflective piece

Reflective writing is a an important and empowering skill, and adopted in many professional environments.

Essay questions: 

The essay questions are as follows: 

  1. “The office makes the President. The President does not make the office.” Analyse and evaluate this statement with relation to Donald Trump.
  2. To what degree do the results of the 2026 midterms provide evidence that voters generally turn against the President’s party at midterms elections?
  3. Evaluate the view that the United States is better described as a flawed democracy than as a model for others.
  4. “Elections in the United States are decided by votes against political parties rather than for them.” Critically analyse this statement.

Referencing: 

  • As academics and students of US politics, it is important for us to demonstrate the source of our knowledge. We do this by referencing. Beyond any single piece of writing, being able to reference is an important skill that is useful as a student and in many careers. A great source of material is the Schools Programme of the Financial Times.
  • As such, it is required that:
    • Essay submissions are referenced. Please use footnotes to reference your essay. 
    • You cite at least two sources from the Financial Times in your essay.
  • You can find starter materials, including many from the Financial Times, related to each question on this page.
  • You can find advice on referencing in books and website, but following the following general rules for your sources below should be fine for most sources: 

Online news article:  

Webpage:  

Book:  

  • Woodward, B. (2024) War. Simon & Schuster. p.22. 

Online primary document:  

Physical primary document: 

  • Baha Mousa Inquiry (2011) The Report of the Baha Mousa Inquiry. Vol. 1. p.78. 

FT-APG A Level Essay Competition Marking Criteria

Submissions will be judged against the following marking criteria.

Knowledge:

The degree to which an essay demonstrates knowledge of the material related to their chosen essay question. Taking into account the particular topic the essay focuses on.

Argument:

The degree to which an essay provides a clear and consistent argument and narrative.

Evidence:

The degree to which the argument and narrative of an essay is backed up with relevant data (i.e., quantitative material) and/or textual (i.e., qualitative) evidence.

This includes the degree to which the source of data and textual evidence is provided.

Writing:

The degree to which an essay is written with clarity and the argument and narrative are intelligible.

At the 2025-26 project conference, Caitlin Lewis of the University of Manchester explores how the above marking criteria differ from A Level marking criteria, and what it means for submission

You can find our feedback proforma, which you will receive feedback on your essay in below:

26-27 Marking RubricDownload

Argument and evidence:

  • As developing academics, we want you to start to shape your intellectual identity and, in so doing, base your writing on the factual material that you engage with and the debates related to your chosen essay question.
  • As such, rather than just give your opinion, you need to provide an evidenced argument. You can acknowledge other points of view, explain how they differ from your own, and why the evidence suggests that your argument is correct.
  • In short, you should look to evidence your argument and avoid unsubstantiated polemic (by which we mean shouty writing that is not based on a sound factual foundation).
At the 2025-26 project conference, Dr Ursula Hackett explores how to use evidence in an essay

You can find a blog post based on Ursula’s talk: here