What is the Laws of Life Essay Contest

The Laws of Life Essay Essay Contest is a well-known essay contest open to students of all ages. It is an opportunity to "reflect and write about a core value that means the most to [you] and why."

The contest is unique. It's an essay prize that does not require as much external research, and instead serves as an opportunity for you to engage in personal reflection. It is also a shorter contest, given that essays max out at around 500 words. It tends to require much less preparation than something like the Concord Review.

We tend to recommend it to students for a few reasons:

1. It prepares you: The Laws of Life Essay gives you an opportunity to engage in a kind of personal reflection that is quite rare apart from the summer program applications and your eventual college essays. Don’t underestimate the value of practice.
2. It helps you grow: The Laws of Life Essay is an opportunity to share or stand behind a value that is important to you. In a climate where students are more and more often afraid to speak up, you do yourself a great service by thinking about what matters to you and why.
3. It makes you stand out: Colleges have begun to care more and more about filtering for students who have strong opinions and yet, at the same time, can argue for them respectfully. The Laws of Life essay contest is a chance for you to demonstrate your ability to make a solid and respectful argument, while writing about something that truly matters to you.

‍Choosing the Right Topic

Because of how short the Laws of Life essay contest is, it's important to be thoughtful about which core value you choose. The prompt is to choose a core value that means the most to you and why. We recommend you start by making a list. What are some core values that come immediately to mind?

If you need help brainstorming, consider the following questions:

1. What are the qualities of a person that make you want to be friends with them? Or: what makes your role models your role models?
2. What are your ‘dealbreaker’ personality traits - things that, if someone has it, you’ll want to go the other direction?
3. If you could improve one part of yourself based on something, what would it be?

These questions don’t always give you ‘core values.’ Maybe you want to be friends with someone because they’re fun to be around, or someone is a good role model because they’re wise – but these are opportunities to think about what matters to you in your interactions with other people.

The next step is to think about why you care about these things, or what makes them good. Why are certain people fun to be around? Is it because they make you feel like you can be yourself? Maybe you trust them - and where does that come from? Perhaps because you feel safe around them. Perhaps you want your role models to push you. Why? Is being ambitious important?

Push yourself, ask questions, and dig deep. You’ll reach your core values eventually - trust, responsibility, care, love - there are so many options.

‍Thinking About An Example

A good Laws of Life essay will do three things. First, it will identify a particular core value - that’s why you asked all those questions. Second, it will do more than say what the core value is. Finally, it will say why. Your goal should be to show what the core value looks like.

How do you do that? Simple: give an example or tell a story.

Think back to the questions you asked. Where did the core value you chose come from? Was it from a friend, a trusted mentor, a role model, a superhero? Take things out of the abstract. What’s a specific time, or a specific story, where that part of the person came out, where the core value was on display?

In this section, you’ll tell that story.

‍Saying Why

The third thing a successful Laws of Life essay will do is ask why. So far, you’ve identified the core value and shown the reader what it looks like. But there were two parts of the prompt: to identify the core value that means the most to you, and say why. So: it’s time to think about why it matters to you.

This question will seem hard at first. Why does it matter that a person is trustworthy, honest, or caring? Why does it matter that they have a sense of responsibility, or of what it is to be good. Why does it matter that they care for all forms of life, or want to make the world a better place?

The challenge here is not as much saying why these things matter, but doing more than just repeating yourself. This is hard, because it can seem obvious. What reason, we might wonder, could we possibly give for wanting to make the world a better place?

So let’s start somewhere simple. Remember: we asked about friends, role models, and mentors. What is it about the people who possess these qualities that draw you to them? Why do you want to be friends with someone who is honest - what does that honesty do for you? Does it make you feel safe? Does it make it easier to be yourself? These are the kinds of reasons you want. And, hopefully, they are the kind of reasons that your example will draw out.

‍Putting It All Together

You have the three pieces. You’ve identified a core value, thought of an example, and come up with a reason as to why it is important. All that’s left now is to write. Put them together.

You don’t need to follow a pre-determined structure here. Some winning essays identified a value, gave an example or two, and then concluded with an explanation of why the value is important. Others mixed examples with self-reflection.

To put yourself in the best position, read some of the year’s previous winning essays. Then, all that’s left to do is write!

Once you’ve written your essay, you might ask a trusted adult, teacher, or friend to review it. Maybe you can even ask the person you wrote the essay about!

Submitting your Essay

Once your essay is complete, submit it via the form on the website. The essays are typically due in the Spring, so be sure that you give yourself enough time.

‍How AtomicMind Can Help

Thinking about these big questions can be challenging, especially if much of your writing experience is based around analytical or argumentative essays. In our experience, personal reflection essays of this kind can be a challenging new format for many middle and high schoolers.

At AtomicMind our Writing and Philosophy specialists will work with you to help you:

• Think and identify a core value that is important to you
• Describe it clearly
• Format according to the contest’s requirements
• Come up with an example, most likely from a person in your life
• Refine and revise your writing for maximal clarity and authenticity

‍About the Author: As a Head Advisor, Lucas helps students ask the questions that matter: Who am I? What do I care about? Where am I going? An award-winning Harvard philosophy researcher who studied at both Harvard and Oxford, he's spent years teaching students of all ages how to think clearly about themselves, their interests, and their futures. Beyond his work with students, Lucas can often be found lost in a fantasy novel or a philosophy book.