The 18th IIBC English Essay Contest for High School Students Announced

The Institute for International Business Communication (IIBC), which administers the TOEIC® Program in Japan, will begin accepting entries for the 18th IIBC English Essay Contest for high school students on July 1, 2026, at 10:00 AM. The contest is supported by the Japan-America Society and the International Educational Exchange Association, with backing from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Japan Federation of English Education Societies. Now in its 18th year, the contest was established in 2009 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the TOEIC Listening & Reading Test. It was launched with the desire to create opportunities for high school students to express their thoughts and opinions in English, and has continued to serve as a venue for fostering English expression skills. The number of entries has been increasing year by year; last year, both the individual and group categories saw record-high participation, with 433 entries from 224 schools and 3,936 entries from 68 schools, respectively. The theme, "Connecting Hearts, Expanding Worlds: Resonance Through Communication," embodies the idea that understanding each other across differences in values and backgrounds leads to changes in thinking and lifestyle, thereby expanding one's world. While the forms of communication are diversifying due to the spread of AI, the importance of resonance between hearts is being questioned once again. We hope that high school students will reflect on "connecting hearts" in this new era and express their thoughts.