13 March 2026
The Federation of Finnish-British Societies’ annual English Essay Writing Competition was held for the 43rd time on the 14th and 15th of January, 2026. The essay titles were posted on the Helsinki Finnish-British Society website for download on the first competition day. Teachers then sent in the best essays from their schools. In all, 62 shortlisted essays were received from a total of 23 schools throughout Finland.
The jury was composed of five judges, including representatives from the Finnish-British Society and the Association of Teachers of English in Finland. The judges gave first prize to Janna Laine from Espoonlahden lukio for her authentic description of emotional development reflected by the view seen through a window. A special mention from the judges goes to Inka Lehto from Rauman Lyseon lukio for a touching description of personal loss.
The standard of essays was, as usual, extremely high, and the many years of English studies showed in the essays. The judges would like to congratulate the winner and the runners-up and thank all those who took part in the competition, not forgetting the English teachers who organised the competition in their schools.
Päivi Kuivalainen
Chair, Essay Writing Competition
THE RESULTS OF THE FINNBRIT WRITING COMPETITION 2026
| First prize | 500€ for a trip to the UK |
| Janna Laine | Espoonlahden lukio |
| Runner-up prizes | Books |
| Inka Lehto | Rauman Lyseon lukio |
| Iiris Antila | Alppilan lukio, Helsinki |
| Isabella Högström | Mattlidens gymnasium, Espoo |
| Emma Jansson | Lovisa Gymnasium |
| Carolina Killström | Etelä-Tapiolan lukio, Espoo |
| Lukas Kindström | Mattlidens Gymnasium IB World School, Espoo |
| Fatima Mateen | Etelä-Tapiolan lukio, Espoo |
| Matilda Mayes | Ressun lukio, Helsinki |
| Elvira Myllykoski | Tampereen klassillinen lukio |
| Sahana Suresh | Ressun lukio IB World School, Helsinki |
14 January 2026
THE WRITING COMPETITION ESSAY TOPICS ARE:
| 1. If I could do it all again |
| 2. Looking out of the window |
| 3. The day the internet went silent |
| 4. What adults don’t understand about my generation |
| 5. What I like best about my country |
Good luck!
31 October 2025
AN INVITATION TO TAKE PART IN AN ENGLISH LANGUAGE WRITING COMPETITION
For the 43rd time, the Federation of Finnish-British Societies, together with Finnish-British Society Helsinki (Finnbrit), is organising the annual national English language writing competition. The 2026 competition is for those students who started lukio (upper secondary school) in 2025.
PRIZES
The first prize is 500€, which is to be put towards travelling to the UK (tickets refunded after purchase). The prizes for the nine runners-up are novels in English.
RULES AND INSTRUCTIONS
Each teacher will arrange an invigilated writing event on either Wednesday, 14 January or Thursday, 15 January 2026. The topics will be published on the Finnbrit website on 14 January 2026 at 8:00 a.m.
Only those students who started lukio in 2025 can take part. The writing time is 90 minutes, and the length of the text should be 200–250 words (articles and prepositions count as words) or approximately 1250 characters. Texts longer than 300 words will not be considered.
All texts must be written using Abitti, and only if that is not possible, by pen and paper. Use of dictionaries or any other supporting material is not allowed. Texts written on word processing applications such as Microsoft Word will not be considered. Each text must contain the name and age of the writer and the full name of the school.
SUBMITTING TEXTS TO FINNBRIT
The deadline for submitting the texts is Friday, 6 February 2026. Teachers should use their own judgement in selecting two texts per group or class (or two texts per approximately 25 students if there are many students not divided into groups or classes). Please do not send all the texts from the group or class you are teaching. The selected texts should be sent by email as pdf attachments to finnbrit@finnbrit.fi. They can, if necessary, be sent by post to Finnish-British Society, Fredrikinkatu 20 B 9, 00120 Helsinki, in which case early posting is required.
THE PANEL OF JUDGES
The panel of judges consists of representatives from the Association of Teachers of English in Finland and Finnish-British Society.
ANNOUNCING THE WINNERS
The prize winners will be announced on the Finnbrit website on Friday, 13 March 2026. The book prizes and certificates will be sent to each school. The winner of the first prize will be contacted through the school.
Finnbrit and the Federation of Finnish-British Societies reserve the right to publish the winner’s name, the name of the school, and the winning text on their websites as well as in print.