Hakluyt launches the Hakluyt Essay Prize in collaboration with the Times Literary Supplement

LONDON, July 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Hakluyt, the global strategic advisory firm for businesses and investors, is today launching the Hakluyt Essay Prize, a new international competition founded on the conviction that, even in a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, human insight and sound judgement matter more than ever.

Delivered in collaboration with the Times Literary Supplement, the Hakluyt Essay Prize celebrates independent thinking, intellectual enquiry, clarity of argument, and sound judgement.

The prize is open to adults aged 30 and under from around the world. Entrants will be invited to consider a question about the forces shaping public and commercial decision-making today, with essays judged on the strength of their argument, the quality of their writing, and the originality of their perspective.

The winner of the prize will receive £5,000, a year’s membership of The London Library, and subscriptions to the Times Literary Supplement, The Economist and Monocle.

Essays must be submitted by 30 September, and shortlisted candidates will be invited to a prizegiving event in the autumn, hosted by the Hakluyt Essay Prize’s partner, The London Library. Essays will be assessed by a judging panel including Lord William Hague, former UK Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the University of Oxford, and Chair of Hakluyt’s International Advisory Board; Lara Boro, CEO of the Economist Group, and Hakluyt board member; Professor Joseph Fuller, Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, and Hakluyt board member; and Lord Mark Sedwill, former UK Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser, and Hakluyt board member.

Launching the prize, Thomas Ellis, Hakluyt’s managing partner, said: “In our work at Hakluyt, we see every day that the hardest problems cannot be solved by machines alone. They require human insights and sound judgement – the ability to distinguish signal from noise, and to provide clear and compelling advice in uncertain contexts. As a firm, we have always prided ourselves on our curiosity about the world, and our ability to understand and appreciate different perspectives – and we also consider ourselves to be lovers of language. For all of these reasons, I am delighted that we are launching the Hakluyt Essay Prize, in collaboration with the Times Literary Supplement and in partnership with The London Library – and I look forward to meeting the shortlisted entrants in the autumn.”

The prize is open to submissions from today. For more information, please visit: https://hakluytandco.com/essay-prize/

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