trans FTM entering john locke essay competition

I'm thinking you'll be fine - as you said, a form declaring 'sex' will often just want what you declare yourself as and hence are. Either way, I doubt it's a big deal as most of the time they just want this information for statistics, diversity, etcetera, to examine in that way. If you're stressed it might be worth emailing their admin team just to check? But it shouldn't influence your entry or anything, so I'd definitely say you're good.
Hope that helps! Best of luck

thanks for affirming what i thought, it's probably just meaning 'how do you declare as' in an old-fashioned way. i wonder how non-binary people enter though that's annoying

i'm keeping my profile as male