Student competitions and awards

TARGETjobs: First Generation Undergraduate of the Year
This is a great opportunity to win a paid summer internship and 1:1 mentoring with HSBC, with a chance to secure a place on HSBC’s global graduate programme. Open to penultimate year undergraduates, who are the first generation of their family to go to university.

TARGETjobs: Black Heritage Undergraduate of the Year
An opportunity to win a unique experience with Police Now and partners. Open to undergraduates from black heritage (African, Caribbean or any other Black, African or Caribbean background).

TARGETjobs: LGBT+ Undergraduate of the Year
An opportunity to win a place on Clifford Chance's SPARK scheme and, upon completion of the programme, a trip to an international office, where you will work shadow and attend Clifford Chance's annual Pride Art exhibition, run by Arcus, the firm's LGBT+ network.

DMA Talent Marketing Challenge
An opportunity to win hands-on experience, prizes and the opportunity to meet and impress marketing’s top VIPs. Set up your student agency, get stuck into a real-life marketing brief and pitch your solution to a real-life client.

D&AD: New Blood Awards
An annual competition to cultivate new creative talent. Open to all students and recent graduates, the challenge is to answer a creative brief set by world famous brands.

British Guild of Agricultural Journalists/John Deere Journalism Training Award
A training course and 3 day work experience for aspiring journalists and PR professionals in the agriculture/horticulture sectors. There's also a chance to win the John Deere trophy and £250.

L'Oréal Student Innovator Brandstorm
Crack a real business case, take it from idea to concept, learn to be a brand manager and be automatically invited to an assessment centre for a L’Oréal UK internship. The prize is a trip to Paris to compete at their international finals and an automatic offer of a summer internship or industrial placement.

Arts Thread
Arts Thread includes arts, design and creative events and competitions and an opportunity to showcase work.

D&AD: New Blood Awards
An annual competition to cultivate new creative talent. Open to all students and recent graduates, the challenge is to answer a creative brief set by world famous brands.

Crafts Council: Opportunities
Crafts Council includes lists of awards and competitions.

The Alpine Fellowship
Every year, writing, visual arts, and theatre prizes are awarded to the best works concerning the year's theme.

120 Hours
Global Architecture competition for students. Assignments are released, then you have 120 hours to submit your project.

TARGETjobs: Undergraduate of the Year
An annual competition to win a paid internship with leading employers, trips abroad, and the chance to be recognised as the very best.

TARGETjobs: Management Undergraduate of the Year
A chance to win a summer internship with Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Universities Business Challenge
The Universities Business Challenge offers undergraduates the opportunity to improve their knowledge of the business world, put theory into practice and develop team-working, leadership and employability skills. Students work in teams as management consultants in a series of realistic, simulated companies, making all the critical business decisions that affect the company's performance. First prize is £1000.

ICAEW 100
ICAEW are looking for the brightest 100 students with the potential to be the next generation of business leaders. Test your skills against your peers by taking a short online exercise. Students with the top 100 scores by the time the competition closes will be in with a chance of winning exclusive opportunities and prizes.

Adecco CEO For One Month
A competition seeking talented and ambitious individuals (age 18+, no background or work experience level required) for a taste of how to run a multinational company with 34,000 employees in 60 countries. The winner gets to lead the company at UK level for a month in the summer (paid), and then have an opportunity to win the Global CEO for a Month in September, with a 'CEO salary'.

UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA): Students
UKELA provide competitions, events and internship opportunities.

TARGETjobs: Female Undergraduate of the Year
You could win a 10-week summer internship with Rolls Royce – open to female undergraduate engineering students.

Formula Student
Formula Student challenges engineering students to design, build and develop a single seater racing car for competition.

YES Competitions
Includes Engineering YES – a business plan competition for postgraduate students, with cash prizes.

Cyber Security Challenge
The Cyber Security Challenge runs national online competitions throughout the year to raise awareness of cyber learning opportunities and careers. Prizes include internships with sponsor companies, training bursaries and conference places.

Microsoft Imagine Cup
An annual global student technology competition. Working in a team of up to four students, you'll use your imagination and passion to create a technology solution to problems facing the world today – and maybe even turn your idea into a business.

Kaggle
A range of competitions in data science and machine learning, some with prizes.

Go Green in the City
An annual global student competition for sustainable energy solutions, organised by Schneider Electric. Open to undergraduate and postgraduate students studying Business, Engineering, Marketing, and/or Innovation related courses. You'll work in teams of two to compete for regional prizes, professional development, internship offers and more.

Journo Resources: Young and Student Journalism Awards
Journo Resources provides a comprehensive list of awards and competitions by deadline.

Amnesty International Media Awards
Amnesty International Media Awards includes a student award for students who have had an article published (or a radio/TV piece broadcast) in a recognised student media outlet.

Northern Writers' Awards
An annual competition, offering cash prizes, mentoring and support to talented writers based in the North of England.

British Guild of Agricultural Journalists/John Deere Journalism Training Award -
A training course and 3-day work experience in late June/early July for aspiring journalists and PR professionals in the agriculture sector. There's also a chance to win the John Deere trophy and £250.

FutureLegalMind
An annual essay competition offering current law students (undergraduate and postgraduate) and legal trainees within two years of their law career the chance to show off their legal expertise and win prizes.

UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA): Students
Runs events, competitions and internship opportunities.

Edinburgh TV Festival: The Network
A free entry-level scheme for anyone aged 18+ who wants to start a career in television. The 50 delegates selected will receive masterclasses and workshops led by industry professionals. They will also receive access to exclusive Festival sessions, accommodation in Edinburgh, a year of mentoring, and unlimited support to help them find paid TV jobs.

Grierson Trust: Best Student Documentary
Awarded to a student director for a film made during a UK-based, full-time academic course. Judging is based on evidence of quality, integrity, creativity, originality and overall excellence.

World Federation of International Music Competitions
This site lists international classical music competitions.

Biochemical Society: Science Communication Competition
The Biochemical Society looks for talented science communicators to take part in their annual competition. You need to submit an original piece of writing or an original video targeted at the general public, on a molecular bioscience topic of your choice.

The Josh Award
The Josh Award recognises and supports up-and-coming talent in science communication. The award is open to anyone involved in science communication in the UK, whether a full or part-time role or practising science communication as part of their job, e.g. researcher at a University.