Our Youth Movement: Politika

Empowering Young People through Public Policy

As the RADIX Youth Wing, we aim to engage young people with politics through tangible output by providing a platform for policy papers, opinion articles and events with the long-term mission of increasing youth voter turnout and electoral participation.

"Our Vision is for youth turnout in elections to match that of the oldest generation, by providing a platform for young people to create political content and host pragmatic policy debate, so as to stimulate positive ideas for change makers"

Politika: Policy Ideas for Positive Change

The Annual Politika UK Policy Paper Competition

Politika UK, the youth wing of Radix Big Tent, is now accepting submissions to its second annual policy paper competition. We're calling on young people across the country to put forward their original policy idea to make the UK a better place.

The competition is open to all 16–18 year olds in the UK.

This year is open-category, so there are no set themes and you're free to write about whatever you feel most strongly about.

What to submit

An original policy paper of 800–1,000 words that:

Identifies and analyses a real-world problem
Proposes an innovative big idea which addresses it
Weighs the idea’s pros and cons
Sets out costing and practical implementation considerations
Argues why it is important we address this issue today!

How to enter

Submit your paper via this link

Submissions close on the 20th September, with winners announced by 29th September, giving year 13 students the chance to add their participation or potential recognition to a personal statement.

Last year's competition

Our 2025 competition was won by Rosie Halsall, whose paper "Supporting Girls' Participation in Sport with Bra-saries" proposed free sports bra fittings for secondary school pupils. It drew national and local media coverage, was featured on The Rest is Politics and BBC News. Rosie met with her local MP and is in the process of making her idea a reality with leading UK sports bra company, Boobydoo. Rosie’s story is proof of what these papers can become, so be as ambitious as you wish.

Read the blog on last year's winning paper here.
Read last year's runner-up paper here.

Our final advice

If you’ve never written a policy proposal or paper before, do not panic. Below is a helpful template which can help to guide you. Feel free to stick to the template as much or as little as you would like to.

Politika Policy Ideas for Positive Change (Final)

“We are not too concerned about the form of your policy proposal. Write the proposal however you feel best communicates your idea and the issue / area it addresses. We want to see creativity, detailed research, but also proper thought into the strengths of the idea, and how you’d mitigate its potential weaknesses.”

- Advice from Chair of Politika UK, Freddie Coughlin

For more tips, insights and updates, head over to our Instagram or LinkedIn @Politika_UK.

Good luck, and we can't wait to read your big idea.