The All Souls Challenge

Designed to make you think

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Designed to make you think ~

What is the All Souls Challenge?

Inspired by Oxford’s most prestigious fellowship examination, our All Souls Challenge introduces students to the rigorous thinking and eloquent expression expected at elite universities. Students tackle philosophical questions, analyse complex problems, and develop sophisticated arguments.

But don’t let that intimidate you — this isn’t about knowing all the answers, it’s about learning to think deeply and express your ideas with confidence. Anyone can join and we are excited to read all of your entries.

  • Any student in Year 12 across the UK is eligible to apply. There are no entry fees.

  • Choose one of our five questions to answer in your essay of 1000 words. All entries should be submitted to our email address Info@empoweredvoices.org.uk with the email subject title ‘All Souls Challenge Submission’. Only one submission per student will be accepted. Please see below for further details around submission.

  • The All Souls Challenge is now open and the deadline for submission is 23:59pm on Thursday 2nd April 2026. Late submissions will not be accepted.

  • We have a range of exciting prizes to give out!

    1st place - £500

    2nd place - £250

    3rd place - £100

    Seven additional entries will receive Notable Recognition certificates.

    The top 3 winners will become an Empowered Voices Fellow and receive tailored mentoring and access to opportunities such as visits to Oxbridge and Russell group universities.

  • All essays will be assessed against a formal criteria by the founders of Empowered Voices:

    • Jordan Unokesan - award-winning Cambridge graduate

    • Blerton Gerguri - Oxford graduate

    • Tia Da Silva-Hunt - Medical student, University of Birmingham

    All entries will be given a random number to keep participant details anonymous and to eliminate potential bias from judges.

  • Results will be released at 08:00am on Monday 13th August via our website and LinkedIn. We will also be notifying your Head of Sixth Forms if you have won a prize.

The Five Questions

  • Q1) If you could uninvent one thing, what would it be — and what would we lose by losing it?

  • Q2) Is boredom the most underrated human experience?

  • Q3) Do we discover who we are, or do we decide who we are?

  • Q4) If every human memory were perfectly preserved forever, would that be a gift or a curse?

  • Q5) Is sport or stories more important to understanding what it means to be human?

Submission Details

Word Count

Essays must be 1,000 with a 10% allowance.

Minimum: 900 words Maximum: 1,100

Please note, judges will stop reading essays at the 1,100th word.

Any content beyond this limit will not be considered in the essay.

Formatting Guidelines

Note: Referencing is encouraged but not mandatory. Here is a helpful guide for referencing if you are unfamiliar with it: https://library-guides.ucl.ac.uk/referencing-plagiarism/vancouver#s-lg-box-wrapper-18252586

Submission Guidance

Please email your essay as a word document to our email address Info@empoweredvoices.org.uk or submit through our website by 23:59pm on Thursday 2nd April 2026.

The document title should be ‘All-Souls-Challenge-FullName’ e.g. ‘All-Souls-Challenge-JohnDoe’.

In the email please include your full name and Sixth Form.

Once received we will send you a confirmation email to let you know your submission has gone through. Any submissions after this time will not be accepted.

Each student may submit one entry.

All work submitted must be your own, plagiarism of any kind will result in immediate disqualification. You may you AI tools to generate ideas and brainstorm but any work written by AI will be disqualified - all submissions will be processed through an AI detection tool.

Submission