The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) coordinates the UK’s diplomatic relationships, promotes UK interests abroad, and manages the UK’s overseas development budget.

The Next Generation Economics competition is managed by the FCDO in collaboration with the Hub for Equal Representation (HER) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).

Economics is important to our work, whether it is evaluating the sustainability of the UK’s international climate change commitments or analysing the contribution of the UK in reducing global poverty through aid programmes. Economics helps the FCDO make the most of each pound of taxpayer money.

The FCDO invites UK school students to write about the biggest economic challenges facing their generation. The competition is open until 11 May 2025.

We want:

To enter, submit your letter responding to 1 out of these 4 questions: 

Writing tips and links to helpful sources can be found in the ‘Useful information’ section.

To enter, you must be: 

You do not need to be studying or have studied economics. 

Entering the competition is free.

We will announce the competition results in the third quarter of 2025. There are several prizes on offer: 

The winner will present their essay to Adnan Khan, FCDO Chief Economist. 

The top 8 entrants will be offered a fully-funded visit to the FCDO and the London School of Economics in London. They will also meet with one of the co-directors of the Hub for Equal Representation at the LSE. Fully-funded visits are only available to UK-based entrants. 

We will publish the letters of the winner and runners up on the GOV.UK website and share them across the Government Economic Service.  

The top 25 entrants will each receive an economics book, chosen from a shortlist selected by the FCDO Chief Economist.

Do not include any personal information in the main part of your letter. This allows us to mark entries anonymously and as fairly as possible. You should include this in the covering email instead. 

Your entry should: 

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is permitted. However, please be mindful that AI is likely to generate similar responses for other entrants and is known to frequently fabricate references. Submissions will be rewarded for their novelty and creativity, and we will check references.

Entries can include graphs and graphics, but these are not essential. 

You can ask an economics teacher for advice on the themes they plan to cover, economic concepts, recommended sources and writing styles.  

Find more information about writing like an economist and where to find useful sources.

The FCDO Next Generation Economics Entry Template (ODT, 6.7 KB) includes a table at the top with information including your name, age and school. Fill this in, remove it from the template and include it in your email to us.  

How to do this: 

If you do not have access to email, you can post your letter. Send it this address, and include the information from the table at the top of the template on a separate sheet of paper:  

A panel of FCDO economic advisors will read and mark your entry and agree a final shortlist of letters. The FCDO Chief Economist and co-directors of the Hub for Equal Representation at the LSE will review the shortlist and choose the winner and runners up.

The panel will consider these points when marking your entry:

All the competition questions address big economic challenges and have many possible answers. You should think about these questions with an open mind, and present, using evidence, your own ideas.

A great entry will use economic concepts to support the arguments it makes.

Judges will be looking for effective use of evidence. Make sure you present your evidence clearly and explain the source.

You should structure your argument carefully to make every word count. Write clearly, concisely, and persuasively.

To get inspiration, you can read the winning letters from last year’s competition

These features will make your essay stand out, and are what we will look for when marking essays:

Question 1: Responding to Protectionism

Question 2: Inclusive Institutions

Question 3: Barriers to Participation

Question 4: Debt Distress

Find out more about the competition:

• writing like an economist
• diversity in the economics profession
• to provide you with inspiration, read the winning letters from last year’s competition

If you have any questions about the competition, email [email protected]

Good luck! We look forward to reading your entries.

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office is a data controller. This means that we are responsible for any of your personal data that we collect or use. We will treat all personal information in accordance with data protection legislation, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018. Visit our website to learn more about how we handle personal information.

Published 19 January 2021
Last updated 11 February 2025 + show all updates