In her first year at IGS, Principal Shauna Colnan introduced the Global Scholar’s Prize giving senior students a challenging academic opportunity to engage critically with the world’s most pressing issues. Since 2014, the Prize has grown to reflect the world’s changing concerns, each year’s topic building on a consistent ambition to sharpen students’ capacity to think globally, weigh evidence carefully and form judgements of their own.
Past topics have ranged from MH17 and Brexit in the Prize’s early years, through the rise of Donald Trump and the #MeToo movement, to COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and the rise of artificial intelligence more recently. Last year’s essay examined President Donald Trump’s return to the White House. In 2026 the Prize marks its 13th year.
This year’s question is Conflict in the Middle East and specifically its global ramifications, exploring how a conflict rooted in one region reshapes economies, alliances and public debate well beyond its borders. It is a topic that asks students to look past the headlines and consider what a conflict this complex means for the wider world, from international security and the global economy to the humanitarian cost faced by civilian populations.
Ms Colnan sets the topic each year and offers individual academic mentoring to students throughout the writing phase. The Prize is open to all students in Years 10 to 12, with entries closing in Term 4 and the winning essay published on the School’s website and acknowledged at Speech Night through the award of the perpetual trophy.
View the full brochure for this year’s research threads, assessment criteria and submission details.
