Every year the strongest entries share one trait: the writer picked a question they could argue, not just summarize. Your prompt choice sets the ceiling for everything that follows, so it is worth slowing down for.
Start with what you can argue
An international-affairs essay is an argument, not a report. Before you fall in love with a topic, ask whether it lets you take a position a reasonable person could disagree with. If everyone would nod along, you have a summary, not a thesis.
Senior writers choose among three themes – global culture in the digital era, multipolar security, and the politics of technology. Youth writers work from a single prompt on inventions that changed how we live. In every case, the theme is just a doorway; your job is to find one arguable question inside it.
Narrow the theme to a question
Broad themes hide good essays. “Global culture in the digital era” is a textbook chapter. “Has streaming homogenized national film cultures, or revived them?” is an essay. Keep narrowing until you reach a question you could answer in 1,000 words with two or three well-chosen examples.
- Write the theme at the top of a page.
- List five questions it raises.
- Cross out the ones you cannot answer with evidence you can find.
- Pick the one you have an opinion about.
Pressure-test it before you commit
Once you have a candidate question, try to argue the opposite side for five minutes. If you cannot, your question may be too one-sided to be interesting. If you can – and it makes you slightly uncomfortable – you have found a real argument. That discomfort is the sign of a defensible thesis, the kind that survives Defense Day.
A quick checklist
Before you start drafting, confirm: your question is specific, a reasonable person could disagree with your answer, you can name your two or three strongest pieces of evidence, and you genuinely care about being right. If all four are true, you are ready to write.
Ready to enter? →
Turn this into an actual entry — the next steps:
- How to enter the HIR contest — deadlines, word limits and the step-by-step submission
- The contest at a glance — divisions, format and the 55-point rubric in one place
- Read past winning entries — see what a scoring paper actually looks like