Frequently Asked
QUESTIONS

Registration PHASE

    • APAC (including East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, NZ & AU): Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Brunei, Cambodia, China (including special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau), Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru, Nepal, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, North Korea, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Vietnam.

    • North America: Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Canada, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, United States of America.

    • Europe + Central Asia: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, United Kingdom, Uzbekistan.

    • Latin America: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, México, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela.

    • MENA + Africa + Russia: Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Rwanda, Somalia, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

  • The Harvard Crimson Global Essay Competition (HCGEC) 2026 will run across February through March, and is split into the regional and global rounds.

    In the regional rounds, individuals will compete against others within their own region for a spot in the global rounds.

    In the global rounds, the top participants from each region will compete against each other to win HCGEC 2026!

  • Regional Stage 1: Registration Period

    • Webinars to answer any questions, clear doubts and discuss important topics (TBD).

    • Release of the FIFTEEN essay topics. Five for Creative, Argumentative, and Journalistic, each.

    • Submission links will be open as and when participants submit their essay.

    • Participants will receive the submission forms as they register.

    Regional Stage 2: Submission

    • Registration for the Essay Comp closes on Friday, February 10th 2026, 23:59 pm (GMT+0) time.

    • Participants are required to submit their essays by February 23rd 2026, 23:59 pm (GMT+0) time.

    Global Stage 1

    • The top 15 regional round submissions from each of the 5 global regions, will be announced on March 10th 2026, 23:59 pm (GMT+0) time. These individuals will be invited to participate in the global final round.

    Global Stage 2

    • The global finalists will be submitting their cumulative final essay of 1250-1500 words by March 23rd 2026, 23:59 pm (GMT+0) time.

    Global Stage 3

    • The winners will be announced on March 31st, 2026.

  • October 1st: Early Bird Registrations open

    December 15th: Early Bird Registrations close

    Decemeber 16th: Regular Registrations open

    January 31st: Prompts Announced

    February 10th: Registrations close

    February 23rd: Regional Essay submission deadline

    March 10th: Global Finalists announced

    March 19th: Global Essay submission deadline

    March 31st: Global Winners announced

  • To apply, you must be aged 10 -18 and currently enrolled at a -middle /secondary education institution.

    If you have recently completed secondary or high school, and have not yet enrolled into university at the time of the global competition in February 2026, you are eligible to apply.

  • You may be classified as ELL if you meet all of the following requirements:

    • Do not come from a First Language English speaking family

    • Have not spent more than one period of primary or secondary schooling in an education system where English is the language of command

  • The registration fee is US$20 per student.

  • By credit card through Stripe on the HCGEC website.

  • Every participant will receive a confirmation email post registration. Please check your junk email. If you still have not received, please email info@essaycomp.org.

    Please send your query on time. As the deadline grows closer, it might take longer for us to respond.

  • In the regional round, submissions will be evaluated with the other submissions in each region that have chosen a prompt within the same category: creative, argumentative, or journalistic. The top five (5) creative submissions, top five (5) argumentative submissions, and top five (5) journalistic submissions per region will be identified and invited to elaborate on their essays for the global final round.

    The top 15 submissions from each region will be announced and their authors invited to the global round.

    In the global round, the top 25 argumentative, 25 creative, and 25 journalistic submissions will be evaluated within each category. The top three (3) winners from each category will receive incredible prizes!

  • Item No, teams will not be able to participate.

  • English Language Learner (ELL) participants are eligible for the ELL award AND they are also considered for global prizes.

    Their essays will be evaluated alongside all other submissions, so they have the opportunity to win beyond just the ELL category.

  • Bootcamps are exclusive to registered participants and information will be sent via the email address you registered with.

  • While it is strongly encouraged for all participants to attend each of the bootcamps, they will be available in an on demand basis to view at your convenience. You may therefore view all or only those that appeal to you the most.

  • Bootcamps will be available recorded and on-demand for those who have registered for the competition.

  • All HCGEC live webinars are exclusive to HCGEC participants.

    All participants shall receive the invite to all the live webinars on their registered email Id.

Learning RESOURCES

  • Essays must be submitted via the Typeform link which will be provided to you in the same email communication as the prompts release.

    In case you don't receive an email, reach us at info@essaycomp.org.

    For more submission information, make sure to read the submission guidelines.

  • No, the competition will only accept one essay entry per person. Each participant is restrained to submitting only one essay on one topic.

  • Yes, all submissions will be run through Turnitin to check for plagiarism. Your submission should be your original work. Any plagiarised work will be disqualified from the competition.

  • No, participants will not be notified if their essay has been marked as plagiarized and disqualified.

  • The top 15 regional finalists will receive feedback on the rubric grading. Global finalists in addition to their rubric will receive points of qualitative feedback.

    Unfortunately we will not be providing scores, marked judging rubrics, or written comments for first round submissions as we do not have the capacity to provide this to everyone due to the immense amount of submissions.

  • Upon your submission, we will be sending you a confirmation email within 2 days. If you don’t receive it, email us on info@essaycomp.org.

  • No, to ensure the competition is fair to all students, there will be no extensions. Any submission made after the regional submission deadline and the global submission deadline will not be considered.

  • Regional Round: 500 words

    Global Round: 1000-1500 words (cumulative essay)

  • No, titles are not included in the word count.

  • Participants are strongly encouraged to use original work, especially considering each submission is a maximum of 500 words for the regional qualifying round. If you must use facts, be sure to cite your sources.

Essay SUBMISSION

  • At the end of your essay you should include a list of references in any style of your choice. All types of citation formats are accepted.

  • No, citations will not be counted towards the word limit.

  • No, each participant will only be able to submit one essay.

  • Your essay in a word document .doc

  • You will receive a confirmation email that your submission has been received.

  • Aside from the title and citations (if required and encouraged to keep very brief), anything over 500 words will not be accepted.

  • If you submit more than one entry, your first entry will be the only one considered. Please do NOT submit multiple entries.

  • Yes, as long as it was personally written by YOU. Turnitin checks submissions against content from students and from universities around the world.

  • All registered participants will receive the link to submit their essay after registrations close on February 10th, 2026.

  • Make sure to check your spam if you have used the correct email address. Registrations are not accepted from school emails and competition emails will be blocked. The competition is not responsible for changing your registration email address.