The Governor-General's Undergraduate Essay Competition is Australia's most prestigious essay competition. It is open to Australian citizens and permanent residents who are enrolled in an undergraduate degree at an Australian university. Each year a series of questions are provided across a number of topics that are related to law, politics, history and social justice for consideration, research and response by students who wish to enter the competition.

Over the last eight years there have been a number of outstanding entries which can be reviewed by clicking the links to past winners below. A significant cash prize pool is available for distribution annually and the amount and levels of prizes are determined by the judges according to the number of entries and quality of the essays that reached the finalists’ stage.

In the past up to $30,000 has been distributed to the winners of prizes whose essays have been determined to be of a sufficiently high standard. We encourage students to submit well researched essays of the highest quality because in recent years the judges have determined to only award a single cash prize.Certificates are awarded to prize winners and those deemed to be highly commended.

Every year the competition is judged by a panel of distinguished individuals including a High Court Justice and prominent academics. This prestigious competition provides students with the opportunity to be further recognised for their academic skill, talent and research.CEFA encourages students to visit this website regularly to review the latest updates regarding the competition. It can be accessed via www.essaycompetition.com.au

The contact person for the competition is CEFA Project Administrator, Mr Phuong Van. Mr Van can be contacted at pvan@cefa.org.au The 2010 Competition was judged by a distinguished panel, which was chaired by The Hon Justice Virginia Bell of the High Court of Australia. For more details about the 2010 final judging, click here.

The winners of the 2009 and 2010 Competitions received their awards and prizes from the Governor of New South Wales, Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO, in Sydney on Tuesday 29th November 2011.

To read testimonials of the Competition, click here.

CEFA takes no responsibility for the individual views of the entrants’ essays.