Boolean brilliance meets real-world complexity.
Think you’ve mastered the art of turning messy digital noise into strategic signal?
Prove it. The Social Listening Query Writing Competition is back for 2025. Have you got what it takes to beat hundreds of other professionals to write the best query?
Register for this year's competition before April 29th for a chance to be crowned the global query writing champion.
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Why do we care about query writing?
Query writing is one of the most important and undervalued skills in social listening. The quality of your query sets the stage for everything that follows: the insight, the story, the strategic impact.
BUT outside of platform trainings, there's almost no space to learn, share, or be recognised for it. That’s why we run this competition: to celebrate the analysts, strategists, and researchers who know how to craft a great query and to give the rest of the industry something to aim for.
Show off your boolean prowess and be in with a chance of winning $500.
What to expect
Each year we set a real-world challenge, one that demands precision, creativity, and a good dose of lateral thinking. No simple brand mentions. No obvious keywords. This is about uncovering signal in complexity.
The 2025 topic? Let’s just say it’s shaping up to be one of the biggest behavioural shifts of the decade, touching everything from food and fashion to wellness and social norms.
You’ll get the full brief during our live virtual kickoff session. For now? Just know this:
- You’ll be writing one Boolean query
- You’ll be judged on precision, coverage, and logic
- You’ll have the chance to win $500
- And you’ll be competing against some of the sharpest minds in the field
To compete, all individuals must agree to the competition rules and agree to submit a final query and summary of their logic in writing the query for judging.
The competition will run from May 1st to May 26th. Before 23:59 BST on May 26th entrants will be required to submit their query and summary of logic behind how they built the query.
All competitors will be required to write a boolean query on a set brief.
All competitors will be required to write their boolean query using the YouScan platform. Competitors will be given access to YouScan for the duration of the competition and be provided with initial training on how the platform's Boolean logic works.
All competitions agree to writing their query alone. No assistance should be provided from wider team. Competitors can ask for assistance from The SI Lab, Listen + Learn Research, and YouScan teams but we will not write the query for you. This is an individual competition.
All competitors must be free to attend a competition kick-off call on Wednesday 1st May at 16:30 BST / 11:30 EDT. During the call, the competition brief will be shared and participants will be given training on the YouScan platform and how their Boolean Logic works.
All submitted queries will be judged using a set framework on relevancy vs breadth. Boolean logic will be assessed for relevance using the YouScan platform - if a boolean query does not work it will be eliminated from judging. Entries will also be judged on the logic behind the approach to writing the query.
Confirmed competition entrants will be invited to join a community forum group for Query Writing. Regular updates and conversations about query writing will be shared in this group. Access to the group will continue after the competition period ends. Continued access is dependent upon complying with the forum rules of conduct.
By entering the Social Listening Query Writing competition you agree to be contacted by The Social Intelligence Lab and registered to our newsletter. You also agree for your details to be shared with the competition partners to deliver the competition.
Winning Boolean queries will be published on The Social Intelligence Lab blog.
Winning participants will be required to provide a short interview with The Social Intelligence Lab team for publication on the blog. Winning participants will also be profiled on the query writing microsite, in other articles, across social media, and in a winners webinar series.
All competitors must meet the YouScan terms of service. YouScan ToS 15.4.
Who can enter
The Social Listening Query Writing competition is open to individuals who work as freelancers, and those who work in brands, organisations, and agencies.
We do not accept entries from individuals working with or affiliated with technology vendors.
During the application process, applicants who do not fit the criteria will be eliminated from the competition.
Entrants will compete in two categories - Brand and Agency. The winner of each category will win $500.
To compete, all individuals must agree to the competition rules and agree to submit a final query and summary of their logic in writing the query for judging.
The competition will run from May 1st to May 26th. Before 23:59 BST on May 26th entrants will be required to submit their query and summary of logic behind how they built the query.
All competitors will be required to write a boolean query on a set brief.
All competitors will be required to write their boolean query using the YouScan platform. Competitors will be given access to YouScan for the duration of the competition and be provided with initial training on how the platform's Boolean logic works.
All competitions agree to writing their query alone. No assistance should be provided from wider team. Competitors can ask for assistance from The SI Lab, Listen + Learn Research, and YouScan teams but we will not write the query for you. This is an individual competition.
All competitors must be free to attend a competition kick-off call on Wednesday 1st May at 16:30 BST / 11:30 EDT. During the call, the competition brief will be shared and participants will be given training on the YouScan platform and how their Boolean Logic works.
All submitted queries will be judged using a set framework on relevancy vs breadth. Boolean logic will be assessed for relevance using the YouScan platform - if a boolean query does not work it will be eliminated from judging. Entries will also be judged on the logic behind the approach to writing the query.
Confirmed competition entrants will be invited to join a community forum group for Query Writing. Regular updates and conversations about query writing will be shared in this group. Access to the group will continue after the competition period ends. Continued access is dependent upon complying with the forum rules of conduct.
By entering the Social Listening Query Writing competition you agree to be contacted by The Social Intelligence Lab and registered to our newsletter. You also agree for your details to be shared with the competition partners to deliver the competition.
Winning Boolean queries will be published on The Social Intelligence Lab blog.
Winning participants will be required to provide a short interview with The Social Intelligence Lab team for publication on the blog. Winning participants will also be profiled on the query writing microsite, in other articles, across social media, and in a winners webinar series.
All competitors must meet the YouScan terms of service. YouScan ToS 15.4.
What are the judging criteria?
Entries will be judged according to four criteria:
✅ Relevancy rate: the percentage of comments returned by your query that match the research criteria.
✅ Breadth: signal volume, weighted by relevancy
✅ Structure of your query: logical, readable, and well-constructed Boolean
✅ Logic behind your structure: written rationale explaining why you structured it the way you did.
Scores will be awarded for each category.If multiple competitors achieve the same top score, the winner will be chosen at random from that group.
