Competition
ARSO 14th Continental Essay Competition 2026/2027
African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO)
At a glance
- Deadline
- Open. No closing date published.
- Fee
- No fee to apply
- Who may apply
- Studying at a tertiary institution in an African Union member state
- 35 or under at the essay deadline
- Enrolled student
- Where
- Online; essay sent via your national standards body
Pays cash prizes and continental recognition for a short essay on African trade and standards.
The facts
- What you get
- Cash prizes: USD 1,000, 800 and 500
- Where
- Online; essay sent via your national standards body
- How long
- One essay of 1,000 to 1,200 words
- What it costs you
- Nothing to apply
Where you stand
This one is free. There is no fee to apply, and nobody should ask you for money at any point. In their words, what it costs you: Nothing to apply.
What they ask for
- Studying at a tertiary institution in an African Union member state
- 35 or under at the essay deadline
- Enrolled student
Get ready to apply
Built only from what this listing states.
The application takes real work, by our reading.
1. What to get ready
The listing does not say what it needs. When you open their page, write down everything it asks for before you start.
2. Dates
- No closing date is stated.
- Openings with no closing date can close once they have enough people, so sooner is safer. Our advice
3. What it costs you
- Nothing to apply.
Download checklist (.txt) Send to WhatsApp
The download is a small text file. You can read it later without data. It also lists each condition they set, so you can tick yourself against them. WhatsApp sends the same list to you, or to somebody helping you.
No CV yet? Make a plain one from your answers. Nothing you type is kept.
Tips for applying for a competition
General advice from us, the same for every competition. It is not what this organisation says; that is above.
- Read the rules and the judging criteria first, and write to them.
- Check who owns your work after you enter. The rules usually say.
- Submit a day early. Upload pages are often slow near a deadline.
If there is an interview or a test
- If there is a final or a pitch, practise out loud and time yourself.
All our tips and messages to copy. Practise answering, with nothing kept. Received an offer? Check whether it is real, then read before you say yes.
How to apply
You apply on African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO)'s own website, not here. We never send an application for anybody and we never ask you for anything to pass on. Check their page for anything not shown here.
More like this, open now
How we checked this
This was opened and verified at African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO)'s own website on 21 October 2026: it was real, still open, and open to people from African countries. If anything here is wrong, tell us.