The International Student Competition is run by the Trust for Sustainable Living (TSL), a UK education charity, registered charity number 1085057, which also operates The Living Rainforest in Berkshire. Each year students aged 7 to 18 anywhere in the world respond to a sustainability theme in a medium of their choice: essay, story, poem, letter, artwork, music, video, podcast or news and opinion piece. The 2026 round, on the theme Sustainability Culture, drew a record 2,710 entries from schools worldwide, and students from more than 120 countries have taken part since 2012.
An international panel of sustainability experts and educationalists judges the entries, and each student’s age is taken into account so younger entrants are not at a disadvantage. The top finalists in each age category are invited to represent their country at the TSL International Student Debates, which are held online.
Benefits & funding
- Free to enter for students worldwide aged 7 to 18.
- Grand Prize Winner: £1,000 cash and a trophy, plus £500 for the winner’s school.
- Runner Up: £500 cash, plus £250 for the school.
- Cash prizes are paid in local currency; winners must claim within 7 days of the notification email.
- Personalised e-certificates for every participant, with Finalist and Honourable Mention certificates issued through the TSL certificates portal.
- The top two finalists per country in each age category are invited to the online International Student Debates and awards ceremony.
Eligibility
- Students aged 7 to 18, in two categories: 7-11 years and 12-18 years.
- Open to students worldwide; no nationality or residency requirement.
- One entry per student.
- Entries are submitted by a registered Teacher Champion; a home-schooled student’s parent or guardian can register as the Teacher Champion.
- Entries should be in English; entries in non-native English are welcomed.
- Written work: maximum 600 words, excluding the bibliography and an optional 150-word reflection. Audio and video: maximum 3 minutes. Non-written work needs a separate explanation of up to 200 words.
- Accepted files: DOC, DOCX, PDF, JPG, PNG, MP3, MP4, up to 400MB.
- Entrants under 19, and anyone below the age of majority where they live, need parent or guardian consent to take part and to receive a prize.
- Generative AI may support research, but AI-generated work may not be submitted as the student’s own, and any use must be recorded in the bibliography.
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Age requirement
7–18 yrs
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Application process
- 1Wait for the cycle to open: the 2027 competition opens in early September 2026.
- 2A teacher, or a parent or guardian for a home-schooled entrant, registers as a Teacher Champion on the TSL Competition Platform, hosted by Submittable.
- 3Read the competition brief and the judging criteria for that year’s theme.
- 4The student prepares one entry in any accepted medium, within the stated word or time limits.
- 5The Teacher Champion submits the entry through the platform before the March deadline.
- 6Finalists and Honourable Mentions are announced in May, and top finalists are then invited to the online debates in early July.
Program timeline
7 September 2025
2026 cycle opened and Teacher Champion registration began.
entry deadline, midnight UTC, extended by one week.
8 March 2026
Finalists and Honourable Mentions announced.
1 May 2026
certificates available and top 10 finalists notified.
22 May 2026
debate invitations emailed to Teacher Champions.
Late May 2026
1-2 July 2026
International Student Debates and awards, online, with primary on 1 July and secondary on 2 July.
Early September 2026
the 2027 competition opens.