Classics essay competition

Does anyone know any good classics essay competitions to enter?

(edited 1 month ago)

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They may run your entry against a plagiarism checker which will flag against anything you have posted online...also posting this online means anyone else could copy it and submit it themselves. It's generally not a good idea to post on a public forum any work you are submitting formally I think..?

In any event some things to consider are ensure you have a reference backing up any claims you make (e.g. "women were typically confined to domestic roles" - where is this claim coming from?) and be specific and avoid generalisations (is the previous claim true for every ancient civilisation? Or you strictly speaking about e.g. Attic Greek civilisation? Women were not confined to domestic roles only in e.g. Spartan Greece for example, at least in terms of the examples you are using).

You also refer to "Loki" as a modern character, when the Marvel character Loki is himself based on the Norse mythological figure Loki...remember it refers only to "ancient literature" as the source of these mythical portrayals, which may well encompass Old Norse literature. I think also referring to Marvel's Loki without reference to the Norse myth in terms of the question feels like a significant missed opportunity...?

It feels to me that you've not fully engaged with the first half of the question namely the implicit question of - how are myths portrayed in ancient literature. which would then hence segue into, how have those portrayals influenced modern storytelling (note they seem to be asking about storytelling, not story content). Also don't forget that influences don't have to be imitation, modern texts subverting and/or rejecting a classical format, are still being influenced by it.

In general I think you use too many examples from too many texts, with limited concrete textual evidence used (in terms of direct quotes, specific references to particular lines/passages etc), with too little actual analysis of the textual material itself (both modern and ancient). You also kind of wing round a lot of different critical approaches too. I might recommend focusing on a particular critical approach with a focus on a smaller number of texts to enable you to develop deeper analysis.

(edited 1 month ago)

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Classics essay competition

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