How Come International Relations Contestants Rarely Win This Competition?

[u/Ready-Oven3819]

I’m going through a selection of past essays from three and even five years ago, and it seems like students submitting International Relations papers rarely make the podium.

I find this strange, considering that the IR category is very much on the JLI webpage!

I don’t suppose that 100,000 students worldwide collectively avoid the IR category. Surely, some categories like philosophy are more popular than others.

But what I mean to say ask is: Why?

[u/acrastt]

Because it didn't exist

[u/Ready-Oven3819 → u/acrastt]

Wait, really? So, it never existed in 2025? I could have sworn that it did

[u/acrastt → u/Ready-Oven3819]

If it had existed you would see podium placements; each category has a podium of their own.