The Library of Competitions
Tian2 Editions
Volume I · MMXXVIWriting & Humanities
The Library of Competitions
Tian2 Editions
The largest shelf in the library — and the most-published. From John Locke's seven Oxford-flavoured prompts to the New York Times's sixteen-contest annual cycle, the humanities department is where the editorial standards of Tian2 feel most at home.
Seven subjects — Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology, Law — and one Junior Prize. ~2,000 words. The flagship publication of this library.
The only quarterly of secondary-school history.
Student and Advisor v1 editions on file. 12-month coaching calendar; five coaching moves; 12-row risk register.
Senior 9 + Junior 8 prompts across humanities.
Editions v1 published. 12 sections + 2 appendices. Source-confidence boundary opens the manuscript.
800–1,200 words · ~10 reliable sources · AP-style hyperlinks.
Spring / Summer / Fall-Winter cycles. AI strictly prohibited; multi-checker screening + Defense Day oral.
Editorial · Narrative · Review · Podcast.
Editions v1 (Student + Advisor) published. Deadlines, eligibility, rubrics marked GATED — verify on the live rules page.
1,000 words on a problem in economics.
2020–2024 cycles first-party verified via Wayback. 13 captures recovered; live domain currently NXDOMAIN.
Paper · Documentary · Exhibit · Performance · Website.
2026 theme: Revolution, Reaction, Reform. 8 official sources fetched including the 40-page Rule Book.
Five of the seven entries here have shipped Student and Advisor editions — more than any other department. Part of the reason is that essay competitions are easier to document: a prompt is a prompt, a word count is a word count, and the rubric (when it exists) tends to be public.
If you have never written for a competition before, start with the NYT Editorial contest. The word limit is generous, the rubric is public, and a 450-word draft can land in a single afternoon. From there, the John Locke Junior Prize is the natural escalation.
The page itself doesn't shout.— Tian2 House Style
All seven competitions in this department address AI explicitly. HIR and John Locke prohibit it outright; NYT and Cambridge Re:think permit it with disclosure; NHD has a January 2024 policy; the Concord Review reviews each submission individually.
— The Editors