The Wharton Global Youth Program Comment & Win is an annual competition that runs from June to August and is designed to encourage high school-age students to discover Global Youth stories, podcasts and videos, learn about business, and develop stronger reflective and persuasive commenting skills. Three separate three-week rounds of competition, each with a new theme. You only have to register once to compete in any or all rounds (see the registration button below).
Compete in Our Comment & Win 2025
This year’s contest begins on Monday, June 16, 2025 and runs through Friday, August 15, 2025. Students can choose to participate in one or two rounds, or all three. Three-round competitors are entered into the running for a special Grand Prize. You may comment as many times as you like in a round!
Hundreds of high school students from around the world have participated in the Comment & Win in the past eight years, dazzling the Global Youth team with their provocative, insightful and interesting perspectives on our business and finance content. Check out this article featuring the best of last year’s Round 4, as well as links to reports about all the previous 2023 rounds (see below). Many commenting threads inspire lively exchanges, prompting students to practice their reflective listening and discourse skills. These are fun to read and difficult to judge!
First step, be sure to register!
What You Need to Know About Round 1, 2025
Round 1 starts on Monday, June 16 and ends at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, July 4.
In Round 1, the theme is Anything Goes, in which you can comment on any story in any style. That’s it — just search through our Wharton Global Youth articles and podcasts and find a business topic that resonates with you. Read, reflect, comment.
A few pointers:
- This is not an essay contest.
- Express yourself clearly, colorfully and succinctly.
- Comments are, by nature, a way to express your ideas, opinions and aspirations.
- You should use the related Global Youth content to inform your comments.
Below are a few links to streamline your content exploration.
- Global Youth Business Journal Articles by Date (starting with the most recent)
- Global Youth Future of the Business World Podcast (55 episodes and transcripts)
- Global Youth Articles by Category (search by business topics that interest you)
While we’ve published some 35 new articles and podcasts in our online business journal since wrapping up last year’s Comment & Win, there are hundreds of stories in our archives dating back to 2011 when we first launched an online platform for introducing high school students to the broad scope of business and finance. Perhaps you have a new perspective to add to past commenters!
You can search our article archives HERE or click on the categories in the upper left corner of each article page to search stories that are grouped by theme (social impact, entrepreneurship, global business trends). This categories page is a more direct path to that type of search. You can access the transcripts and audio for our monthly Future of the Business World podcast HERE.
You can also use our search engine (just click on the magnifying glass in the upper right corner of the Global Youth website) to search all articles by keyword or topic. HOWEVER, make sure you first filter that search by clicking THIS SITE and not ALL WHARTON. And then check the box Articles and News on the left for content type. So, ACCESS SEARCH ENGINE ➡️ TYPE SEARCH REQUEST IN THE BOX ➡️ THIS SITE ➡️ CONTENT TYPE: ARTICLES & NEWS. The Comment & Win contest is specifically for Global Youth content. Comments left on other Wharton website stories will be disqualified. If you don’t see Wharton Global Youth Program in the upper left corner of the page, then you have landed elsewhere in the Wharton community.
Good luck! We encourage all competitors to take a minute to read our Commenting and Online Conduct Policy. Don’t fret if your comment doesn’t show up the minute you post it. We are regularly reviewing and approving comments from the Global Youth Comment Command Center.
How Do I Win?
Ultimately, students who effectively use Global Youth content to inform their comments, add value to the discussion around the text, express opinions clearly and succinctly (and with personality), and develop an authentic voice, are selected as winners.
That voice is important. Liza Cowan, an English teacher who founded R.E.A.L. Discussion, a discussion-based learning system for secondary schools, has said, “In today’s world, the stakes are high: students need to graduate confident that their voices matter and competent at engaging others with inquiry, evidence, and empathy.”
Inside Scoop: This is NOT an essay contest! This is NOT a school assignment where you must reflect on each point in the article. You are responding to business content in different ways. The definition of commenting is to provide an opinion and even an attitude on something. While the various Round themes might require deeper context, you should come at this contest with a spirit of self-expression. Keep that in mind as you craft your comments.
What Do I Win?
Following each three-week round, our judges select a top winner for that round, as well as runners-up. Top Round winners receive a special prize from Wharton School Press and all Round winners receive recognition in a Wharton Global Youth news story, as well as on social media. Commenters competing in all three rounds will be eligible for a special Grand Prize in August and the published title of Comment & Win 2025 champion.
Do Your Research
Want inspiration? We recommend that you read the articles we’ve written about past Comment and Winners, all of which link directly to their comments. You’ll find some useful links from last year’s competition below. You can also search up “Comment and Win” on the Wharton Global Youth Program website for many more winning insights from previous years.
🥳 Read about the winners of Round 1, 2024, which wrapped up on June 21, HERE.
🥳 Read about the winners of Round 2, 2024, which ended on July 5, HERE.
🥳 Read about the winners of Round 3, 2024, which ended on July 19, HERE.
🥳 Read about the winners of Round 4, 2024, which ended on August 9, HERE.
How will your students spend their summer months? Between their trips to the beach, college summer programs, internships and just hanging out with friends, why not give them the chance to think, write and shine?
Here’s our Comment & Win Classroom Guide and our Comment & Win Teacher Toolkit for some inspiration to engage your students with our annual Comment & Win contest.
Curious about this year’s contest? Feel free to reach out to commentandwin@wharton.upenn.edu with any questions or concerns.