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Junior Philosophy Olympiad

JPO 2025

Aristoteles & NextGen

Junior Philosophy Olympiad is an English playground on philosophical topics for students from grades 4 to 9 in Viet Nam and internationally, organized by The Olympia Schools.

The theme of the 2025 competition is "Aristotle & NextGen". Contestants will delve into and explore Metaphysics and Ethics—two fundamental branches of Aristotle’s philosophy. Get ready to challenge yourself with thought-provoking philosophical questions such as:

What is the nature of reality?
Does everything have a cause?
Do we have free will?
What makes an action right or wrong?
What is the ultimate goal of human life?
How can one become a virtuous person?

Through this competition, students will develop their abstract thinking, self-reflection, and logical reasoning skills, gaining a deeper understanding of the world and their place within it.

Competition information

Participants

Vietnamese and international students can register to participate in groups of 3 and compete in the 2 corresponding boards:

- Griffin board: For students from grade 4-6

- Olympia board: For students from grades 7-9

- Members of a team can come from different ages (within the age range of each board) and are not required to study at the same school.

Locality

Vietnam & international

Competition format

Speaking, writing and debating in English

Competition theme of 2025

Aristotle's philosophy: Metaphysics and Ethics

Download

the Competition rules

Competition rounds

Round 1

Knowledge Quest

Online Round

After registering, the teams will receive questions for Round 1 and they will submit 90-180 seconds video to answer. The videos will be posted on Facebook Junior Philosophy Olympiad for voting. 70% of scoring points come from the scoring by jury, 30% others come from voting results. In each board, the top 10 teams with the highest scores in Round 1 will move forward to Round 2, which is organized at The Olympia Schools.

Round 2

Being pen

Collaborative Writing Round

The jury will give an essay topic, each member of Top 10 teams will write an individual essay after agreeing with the whole team to choose a topic, ensuring the relation and consistency between the essays of the members in the same team.

Round 3

Ethics Bowl

Ethics Bowl Showcase

Held on the same day as Round 2, after the writing competition, the teams from each group will be paired to compete against each other in a philosophical debate (Ethics Bowl)..

Round 4

Finale

Ethics Bowl Showcase

The top two teams from each group will advance to the finale, where they will compete in an Ethics Bowl on stage to determine the Champion and Runner-Up. The Top 2 teams will be selected based on a combination of 50% of their score from Round 2 and 50% from Round 3.The format of the final round will be similar to Round 3, but with increased difficulty. Round 4 will take place on the same day as Rounds 2 and 3 at The Olympia Schools, Hanoi..

Competition timeline

18/03/2025

Launching of the competition

Receiving applications for Round 1

April 2025

Introduction and instruction about the competition

20/04/2025

Registration deadline for Round 1

16/04 - 23/04/2025

Online voting time for Round 1

May 2025

Organizing Round 2, 3 and 4

What do students get?

Challenge students’ knowledge and skills

All competition rounds require not only contestants’ learning agility but also their diverse subject knowledge and strong academic skills to satisfy their desire to learn and explore profound, humane and philosophical topics..

Cultivate philosophical thinking

Annually, students accompany the competition in their philosophical journey to foster their philosophical thinking, form a solid human outlook, worldview and value system for themselves in their learning and life journey..

Valuable Award

Scholarship awards and valuable gifts.

Improve students’ foreign language skills

Develop and hone students' skills in using academic and creative English language..

Self-development

Practice teamwork skills, critical thinking, and cultivate their reflective capacity..

Prizes

Prizes	Olympia Board(Students from grade 7 - 9)	Griffin Board(Students from grade 4 - 6)
01 First prize	15.000.000 VND in cash Award trophy, medal and certificate Summer camp 25% scholarship at The Olympia Schools for each participant Other gifts from sponsors.	15.000.000 VND in cash Award trophy, medal and certificate Summer camp 25% scholarship at The Olympia Schools for each participant Other gifts from sponsors.
01 Second Prize	5.000.000 VND in cash Certificate Summer camp 25% scholarship at The Olympia Schools for each participant Other gifts from sponsors.	5.000.000 VND in cash Certificate Summer camp 25% scholarship at The Olympia Schools for each participant Other gifts from sponsors.
03 Third Prizes	Medal and Certificate Summer camp 25% scholarship at The Olympia Schools for each participant Other gifts from sponsors	Medal and Certificate Summer camp 25% scholarship at The Olympia Schools for each participant Other gifts from sponsors

See more information about the prizes here

Judges

Dr. Vo Thuc Anh

PhD Linguistics, Nottingham University

Head of English Department at Olympia

Dr. Nguyen Chi Hieu

PhD Economics, Stanford University

Academic Director of The Olympia Schools

CEO & Co-founder, IEG Global

Debate Expert Do Hoang Long

Expert Advisor of The Debaters on VTV7

Mr. Chu Duc An

Managing Director & Co-founder at Moji Debate Academy

Trainer at Truong Teen & The Debaters 2022 on VTV7

Ms. Garima Gupta

Master of English Language at Rohilkhan University

IB-DP, IB-MYP and IGCSE teachers at many international schools

The competition is not only an English language playground for "little philosophers" with profound and humanistic topics, but it is also an opportunity for students to hone their critical thinking skill, reflective capacity, research ability, and simultaneously form a humanistic outlook on the life of a global citizen. Through topics that are both close to students and touch the depths of knowledge, self and morality, students can develop their own personal outlook and value system in their lifelong learning and personal development journey.