Australian Philosophy Olympiad

The APO is an annual competition that consists of two rounds.

The first round will be a 90-minute online test that students will sit at their own schools under the supervision of their teachers. Participants are to write an essay of between 1,000 and 1,500 words in length in response to ONE of the prompts provided.

The second round will invite the top 6-10 contestants of the first round for a 15-minute academic interview with a panel of philosophy educators. It will be conducted virtually.

The first round of the APO occurs in February or March every year, and the second round is hosted at the end of March. The specific dates will be notified at the end of the previous year.

To ensure fairness, all contestants must take the online exam at this time. No alternative testing time will be offered.

Please find the assessment criteria and sample prompts of the APO here. To prepare for the competition, we suggest reading this guideline of the International Philosophy Olympiad.

National Winners: Three top contestants will be selected to be the national winners based on their performance in both rounds of the competition.

High Distinction: Top 10% of the contestants in the first round will be awarded High Distinction.

Distinction: Top 20% of the contestants in the second round will be awarded Distinction.

The award categories and criteria are reviewed annually.

The International Philosophy Olympiad (IPO) has authorised the APO to organise the Australian delegation.

The two winners representing Australia at the IPO will be responsible for funding their own travel to the event (in 2026, the event will be held in Warsaw, Poland). If the winners cannot afford the trip, the APO will contact the contestants for their interest in participating in the IPO, following the rankings in the national selections.

Foreign Language Requirements:

In the Statute of the IPO, it states that “The essay must be written in one of the following languages: English, German, French, Spanish; however, it must not be written in the official language(s) of the student’s state (e.g., a German does not write in German).” Therefore, when selecting the Australian team's representatives, we need to consider the contestants’ proficiency in German, French, or Spanish, as they will need to write in German, French or Spanish in the IPO. We will contact the contestants in the order of the national selections' rankings.

Because the first round of the APO will be completed under the supervision of school teachers at participants' schools, the APO can only be registered by school teachers, who will have the responsibility to invigilate the first-round competition.

The registration can be done with the form below. 

The participation fee is $25 Australian dollars per contestant. The APO is a nonprofit organisation. The fee will be used to fund the online test systems for the first round of the competition, the administration and marking of the selections, and a part of the travel expenses of team leaders from Australia for the IPO each year.

The invoice for the participation fee will be sent directly to each teacher after the registration deadline.

The Australian Philosophy Olympiad is proudly sponsored by Elite Admission Consulting. The selection process is designed and administered by a group of high school philosophy educators in Australia.

If you have any further questions, please email us.

Ethan Nistor - Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School (VIC)

Katherine Ye - Melbourne Girls Grammar School (VIC)