essay contest philosophy

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Think Essay Prize

The Royal Institute of Philosophy is pleased to announce the inaugural essay competition for Think .

The winner will be published in an issue of Think , the shortlisted candidates will win a year’s free subscription to  Think , and other prizes will be awarded to all those who make the longlist.

Submissions have now closed for the 2024 Think Essay Prize.

About the prize 

We look forward to receiving your essay submission and hope you are enjoying the programmes and activities that the Royal Institute of Philosophy delivers.

Donate To Marc Sanders Foundation

Philosophical excellence.

The Marc Sanders Foundation awards biennial essay prizes for early-career scholars in many core areas of philosophy, administered by some of the most distinguished philosophers in the world. The Foundation, in collaboration with the APA, also funds graduate student prizes.

Support Philosophical Excellence: To make a gift contribution in support of philosophical excellence, please visit our Contribute Page , and select “Philosophical Excellence” from the drop-down menu.

APA Graduate Student Prizes

The Marc Sanders Foundation has partnered with the Eastern Division of the APA to establish three annual APA graduate student prizes for the best papers in mind, metaphysics, epistemology or ethics. Prize winners will receive a monetary award of $1000 and their papers will be presented at the Eastern Division of the APA. Applications for these prizes are to be submitted to the Eastern Division Program Committee of the APA. Details can be found on the APA Website.

Early Modern Philosophy

The Sanders Prize in the History of Early Modern Philosophy is a $5,000 biennial prize biennial essay competition open to scholars who are within fifteen (15) years of receiving a Ph.D. or students who are currently enrolled in a graduate program. Independent scholars may also be eligible and should direct inquiries to Donald Rutherford , editor of Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy at [email protected].

Epistemology

The Sanders Prize in Epistemology is a $5,000 biennial prize administered by Tamar Szabó Gendler , Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University, and open only to scholars who are within fifteen (15) years of receiving a Ph.D. or students who are currently enrolled in a graduate program. Independent scholars may also be eligible.

The Sanders Prize in Metaethics is a $5,000 biennial prize administered by Russ Shafer-Landau , Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and open only to scholars who are within fifteen (15) years of receiving a Ph.D. or students who are currently enrolled in a graduate program. Independent scholars may also be eligible.

Metaphysics

The Sanders Prize in Metaphysics is a $5,000 biennial prize administered by Dean Zimmerman , Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University, and open only to scholars who are within fifteen (15) years of receiving a Ph.D. or students who are currently enrolled in a graduate program. Independent scholars may also be eligible.

Political Philosophy

The Sanders Prize in Metaphysics is a $5,000 biennial prize administered by Peter Vallentyne , Professor of Philosophy at the University of Missouri. The competition is open only to scholars who are within fifteen (15) years of receiving a Ph.D. or students who are currently enrolled in a graduate program. Independent scholars may also be eligible and should direct inquiries to the Editors of Oxford Studies in Political Philosophy, c/o Peter Vallentyne ([email protected]).

Philosophy of Mind

The Sanders Prize in Philosophy of Mind is a $5,000 biennial prize administered by David Sosa , the Temple Centennial Professor in the Humanities and Chair, Department of Philosophy, at the University of Texas at Austin, and open only to scholars who are within fifteen (15) years of receiving a Ph.D. and students who are currently enrolled in a graduate program. Independent scholars may also be eligible.

Philosophy of Religion

The Sanders Prize in Philosophy of Religion is a $5,000 biennial prize administered by Dean Zimmerman , Professor, and open only to scholars who are within fifteen (15) years of receiving a Ph.D. or students who are currently enrolled in a graduate program. Independent scholars may also be eligible.

The Marc Sanders Foundation would be happy to hear from you. Please feel free to contact us (e-mail is preferred) about any questions you might have.

Associate Director,

Marc Sanders Foundation

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Copyright 2019 Marc Sanders Foundation

Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, registrations are now open all essayists must register  here  before friday 31 may, 2024.

The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Entering an essay in our competition can build knowledge, and refine skills of argumentation. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. All of our essay prizes are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities including Oxford and Princeton, under the leadership of the Chairman of Examiners, former Cambridge philosopher, Dr Jamie Whyte.

The judges will choose their favourite essay from each of seven subject categories - Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law - and then select the winner of the Grand Prize for the best entry in any subject. There is also a separate prize awarded for the best essay in the junior category, for under 15s.

Q1. Do we have any good reasons to trust our moral intuition?

Q2. Do girls have a (moral) right to compete in sporting contests that exclude boys?

Q3. Should I be held responsible for what I believe?

Q1. Is there such a thing as too much democracy?

Q2. Is peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip possible?

Q3. When is compliance complicity?

Q1. What is the optimal global population?  

Q2. Accurate news reporting is a public good. Does it follow that news agencies should be funded from taxation?

Q3. Do successful business people benefit others when making their money, when spending it, both, or neither?

Q1. Why was sustained economic growth so rare before the later 18th century and why did this change?

Q2. Has music ever significantly changed the course of history?

Q3. Why do civilisations collapse? Is our civilisation in danger?

Q1. When, if ever, should a company be permitted to refuse to do business with a person because of that person’s public statements?

Q2. In the last five years British police have arrested several thousand people for things they posted on social media. Is the UK becoming a police state?

Q3. Your parents say that 11pm is your bedtime. But they don’t punish you if you don’t go to bed by 11pm. Is 11pm really your bedtime?

Q1. According to a study by researchers at four British universities, for each 15-point increase in IQ, the likelihood of getting married increases by around 35% for a man but decreases by around 58% for a woman. Why?

In the original version of this question we misstated a statistic. This was caused by reproducing an error that appeared in several media summaries of the study. We are grateful to one of our contestants, Xinyi Zhang, who helped us to see (with humility and courtesy) why we should take more care to check our sources. We corrected the text on 4 April. Happily, the correction does not in any way alter the thrust of the question.

Q2. There is an unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people. Can we fix this? How?

Q3. What is the difference between a psychiatric illness and a character flaw?

Q1. “I am not religious, but I am spiritual.” What could the speaker mean by “spiritual”?

Q2. Is it reasonable to thank God for protection from some natural harm if He is responsible for causing the harm?

Q3. Does God reward those who believe in him? If so, why?

JUNIOR prize

Q1. Does winning a free and fair election automatically confer a mandate for governing?

Q2. Has the anti-racism movement reduced racism?

Q3. Is there life after death?

Q4. How did it happen that governments came to own and run most high schools, while leaving food production to private enterprise? 

Q5. When will advancing technology make most of us unemployable? What should we do about this?

Q6. Should we trust fourteen-year-olds to make decisions about their own bodies? 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS & FURTHER DETAILS

Please read the following carefully.

Entry to the John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2024 is open to students from any country.

Registration  

Only candidates who registered before the registration deadline of Friday, 31 May 2024 may enter this year's competition. To register, click here .  

All entries must be submitted by 11.59 pm BST on  the submission deadline: Sunday, 30 June 2024 .  Candidates must be eighteen years old, or younger, on that date. (Candidates for the Junior Prize must be fourteen years old, or younger, on that date.)

Entry is free.

Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration). 

The filename of your pdf must be in this format: FirstName-LastName-Category-QuestionNumber.pdf; so, for instance, Alexander Popham would submit his answer to question 2 in the Psychology category with the following file name:

Alexander-Popham-Psychology-2.pdf

Essays with filenames which are not in this format will be rejected.

The candidate's name should NOT appear within the document itself. 

Candidates should NOT add footnotes. They may, however, add endnotes and/or a Bibliography that is clearly titled as such.

Each candidate will be required to provide the email address of an academic referee who is familiar with the candidate's written academic work. This should be a school teacher, if possible, or another responsible adult who is not a relation of the candidate. The John Locke Institute will email referees to verify that the essays submitted are indeed the original work of the candidates.

Submissions may be made as soon as registration opens in April. We recommend that you submit your essay well in advance of th e deadline to avoid any last-minute complications.

Acceptance of your essay depends on your granting us permission to use your data for the purposes of receiving and processing your entry as well as communicating with you about the Awards Ceremony Dinner, the academic conference, and other events and programmes of the John Locke Institute and its associated entities.  

Late entries

If for any reason you miss the 30 June deadline you will have an opportunity to make a late entry, under two conditions:

a) A late entry fee of 20.00 USD must be paid by credit card within twenty-four hours of the original deadline; and

b) Your essay must be submitted  before 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 10 July 2024.

To pay for late entry, a registrant need only log into his or her account, select the relevant option and provide the requested payment information.

Our grading system is proprietary. Essayists may be asked to discuss their entry with a member of the John Locke Institute’s faculty. We use various means to identify plagiarism, contract cheating, the use of AI and other forms of fraud . Our determinations in all such matters are final.

Essays will be judged on knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the competent use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force. The very best essays are likely to be those which would be capable of changing somebody's mind. Essays which ignore or fail to address the strongest objections and counter-arguments are unlikely to be successful .

Candidates are advised to answer the question as precisely and directly as possible.

The writers of the best essays will receive a commendation and be shortlisted for a prize. Writers of shortlisted essays will be notified by 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 31 July. They will also be invited to London for an invitation-only academic conference and awards dinner in September, where the prize-winners will be announced. Unlike the competition itself, the academic conference and awards dinner are not free. Please be aware that n obody is required to attend either the academic conference or the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London.

All short-listed candidates, including prize-winners, will be able to download eCertificates that acknowledge their achievement. If you win First, Second or Third Prize, and you travel to London for the ceremony, you will receive a signed certificate. 

There is a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US$2000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme, and the essays will be published on the Institute's website. Prize-giving ceremonies will take place in London, at which winners and runners-up will be able to meet some of the judges and other faculty members of the John Locke Institute. Family, friends, and teachers are also welcome.

The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, which comes with a US$10,000 scholarship to attend one or more of our summer schools and/or visiting scholars programmes. 

The judges' decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

R egistration opens: 1 April, 2024.

Registration deadline: 31 May, 2024. (Registration is required by this date for subsequent submission.)

Submission deadline: 30 June, 2024.

Late entry deadline: 10 July, 2024. (Late entries are subject to a 20.00 USD charge, payable by 1 July.)

Notification of short-listed essayists: 31 July, 2024.

Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024.

Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024.

Any queries regarding the essay competition should be sent to [email protected] . Please be aware that, due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, we cannot guarantee to answer every query. In particular, regrettably, we are unable to respond to questions whose answers can be found on our website.

If you would like to receive helpful tips  from our examiners about what makes for a winning essay or reminders of upcoming key dates for the 2024  essay competition, please provide your email here to be added to our contact list. .

Thanks for subscribing!

The John Locke Institute's Global Essay Prize is acknowledged as the world's most prestigious essay competition. 

We welcome tens of thousands of submissions from ambitious students in more than 150 countries, and our examiners - including distinguished philosophers, political scientists, economists, historians, psychologists, theologians, and legal scholars - read and carefully assess every entry. 

I encourage you to register for this competition, not only for the hope of winning a prize or commendation, and not only for the chance to join the very best contestants at our academic conference and gala ceremony in London, but equally for the opportunity to engage in the serious scholarly enterprise of researching, reflecting on, writing about, and editing an answer to one of the important and provocative questions in this year's Global Essay Prize. 

We believe that the skills you will acquire in the process will make you a better thinker and a more effective advocate for the ideas that matter most to you.

I hope to see you in September!

Best wishes,

Jamie Whyte, Ph.D. (C ANTAB ) 

Chairman of Examiners

Q. I missed the registration deadline. May I still register or submit an essay?

A. No. Only candidates who registered before 31 May will be able to submit an essay. 

Q. Are footnote s, endnotes, a bibliography or references counted towards the word limit?

A. No. Only the body of the essay is counted. 

Q. Are in-text citations counted towards the word limit? ​

A. If you are using an in-text based referencing format, such as APA, your in-text citations are included in the word limit.

Q. Is it necessary to include foo tnotes or endnotes in an essay? ​

A. You  may not  include footnotes, but you may include in-text citations or endnotes. You should give your sources of any factual claims you make, and you should ackn owledge any other authors on whom you rely.​

Q. I am interested in a question that seems ambiguous. How should I interpret it?

A. You may interpret a question as you deem appropriate, clarifying your interpretation if necessary. Having done so, you must answer the question as directly as possible.

Q. How strict are  the age eligibility criteria?

A. Only students whose nineteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. In the case of the Junior category, only students whose fifteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. 

Q. May I submit more than one essay?

A. Yes, you may submit as many essays as you please in any or all categories.

Q. If I am eligible to compete in the Junior category, may I also (or instead) compete in another category?

A. Yes, you may.

Q. May I team up with someone else to write an essay?  

A. No. Each submitted essay must be entirely the work of a single individual.

Q. May I use AI, such as ChatGPT or the like, in writing my essay?

A. All essays will be checked for the use of AI. If we find that any content is generated by AI, your essay will be disqualified. We will also ask you, upon submission of your essay, whether you used AI for  any  purpose related to the writing of your essay, and if so, you will be required to provide details. In that case, if, in our judgement, you have not provided full and accurate details of your use of AI, your essay will be disqualified. 

Since any use of AI (that does not result in disqualification) can only negatively affect our assessment of your work relative to that of work that is done without using AI, your safest course of action is simply not to use it at all. If, however, you choose to use it for any purpose, we reserve the right to make relevant judgements on a case-by-case basis and we will not enter into any correspondence. 

Q. May I have someone else edit, or otherwise help me with, my essay?

A. You may of course discuss your essay with others, and it is perfectly acceptable for them to offer general advice and point out errors or weaknesses in your writing or content, leaving you to address them.

However, no part of your essay may be written by anyone else. This means that you must edit your own work and that while a proofreader may point out errors, you as the essayist must be the one to correct them. 

Q. Do I have to attend the awards ceremony to win a prize? ​

A. Nobody is required to attend the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London. But if we invite you to London it is because your essay was good enough - in the opinion of the First Round judges - to be at least a contender for First, Second or Third Prize. Normally the Second Round judges will agree that the short-listed essays are worth at least a commendation.

Q. Is there an entry fee?

A. No. There is no charge to enter our global essay competition unless you submit your essay after the normal deadline, in which case there is a fee of 20.00 USD .

Q. Can I receive a certificate for my participation in your essay competition if I wasn't shortlisted? 

A. No. Certificates are awarded only for shortlisted essays. Short-listed contestants who attend the award ceremony in London will receive a paper certificate. If you cannot travel to London, you will be able to download your eCertificate.

Q. Can I receive feedba ck on my essay? 

A. We would love to be able to give individual feedback on essays but, unfortunately, we receive too many entries to be able to comment on particular essays.

Q. The deadline for publishing the names of short-listed essayists has passed but I did not receive an email to tell me whether I was short-listed.

A. Log into your account and check "Shortlist Status" for (each of) your essay(s).

Q. Why isn't the awards ceremony in Oxford this year?

A. Last year, many shortlisted finalists who applied to join our invitation-only academic conference missed the opportunity because of capacity constraints at Oxford's largest venues. This year, the conference will be held in central London and the gala awards dinner will take place in an iconic London ballroom. 

TECHNICAL FAQ s

Q. The system will not accept my essay. I have checked the filename and it has the correct format. What should I do?  

A. You have almost certainly added a space before or after one of your names in your profile. Edit it accordingly and try to submit again.

Q. The profile page shows my birth date to be wrong by a day, even after I edit it. What should I do?

A. Ignore it. The date that you typed has been correctly input to our database. ​ ​

Q. How can I be sure that my registration for the essay competition was successful? Will I receive a confirmation email?

A. You will not receive a confirmation email. Rather, you can at any time log in to the account that you created and see that your registration details are present and correct.

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR SUBMISSION

If you are unable to submit your essay to the John Locke Institute’s global essay competition, your problem is almost certainly one of the following.

If so, please proceed as indicated.

1) PROBLEM: I receive the ‘registrations are now closed’ message when I enter my email and verification code. SOLUTION. You did not register for the essay competition and create your account. If you think you did, you probably only provided us with your email to receive updates from us about the competition or otherwise. You may not enter the competition this year.

2) PROBLEM I do not receive a login code after I enter my email to enter my account. SOLUTION. Enter your email address again, checking that you do so correctly. If this fails, restart your browser using an incognito window; clear your cache, and try again. Wait for a few minutes for the code. If this still fails, restart your machine and try one more time. If this still fails, send an email to [email protected] with “No verification code – [your name]” in the subject line.

SUBMITTING AN ESSAY

3) PROBLEM: The filename of my essay is in the correct format but it is rejected. SOLUTION: Use “Edit Profile” to check that you did not add a space before or after either of your names. If you did, delete it. Whether you did or did not, try again to submit your essay. If submission fails again, email [email protected] with “Filename format – [your name]” in the subject line.

4) PROBLEM: When trying to view my submitted essay, a .txt file is downloaded – not the .pdf file that I submitted. SOLUTION: Delete the essay. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “File extension problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

5) PROBLEM: When I try to submit, the submission form just reloads without giving me an error message. SOLUTION. Log out of your account. Open a new browser; clear the cache; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Submission form problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

6) PROBLEM: I receive an “Unexpected Error” when trying to submit. SOLUTION. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If this resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Unexpected error – [your name]” in thesubject line. Your email must tell us e xactly where in the submission process you received this error.

7) PROBLEM: I have a problem with submitting and it is not addressed above on this list. SOLUTION: Restart your machine. Clear your browser’s cache. Try to submit again. If this fails, email [email protected] with “Unlisted problem – [your name]” in the subject line. Your email must tell us exactly the nature of your problem with relevant screen caps.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU EMAIL US.

Do not email us before you have tried the specified solutions to your problem.

Do not email us more than once about a single problem. We will respond to your email within 72 hours. Only if you have not heard from us in that time may you contact us again to ask for an update.

If you email us regarding a problem, you must include relevant screen-shots and information on both your operating system and your browser. You must also declare that you have tried the solutions presented above and had a good connection to the internet when you did so.

If you have tried the relevant solution to your problem outlined above, have emailed us, and are still unable to submit before the 30 June deadline on account of any fault of the John Locke Institute or our systems, please do not worry: we will have a way to accept your essay in that case. However, if there is no fault on our side, we will not accept your essay if it is not submitted on time – whatever your reason: we will not make exceptions for IT issues for which we are not responsible.

We reserve the right to disqualify the entries of essayists who do not follow all provided instructions, including those concerning technical matters.

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The Aristotle: A high school philosophy essay contest

High school students, listen up—the 2024 Aristotle Contest is now open for submissions! Pick one of three essay prompts and showcase your skills of philosophical argumentation and clear writing for one of three cash prizes! Submission deadline is June 24, 2024.

What Is the Aristotle Contest?

In collaboration with the  Ontario Philosophy Teachers’ Association , the department administers the annual Aristotle Contest, awarding cash prizes for the finest philosophical work by current Canadian high school students. The contest provides high school students interested in philosophy with an opportunity to have their work evaluated and recognized by the largest post-secondary Department of Philosophy in North America.

Eligibility

Instructions, previous winners, frequently asked questions, contest sponsors, printable poster.

Anyone enrolled in a Canadian high school at or below the grade 12 level (or equivalent) may participate in the Aristotle Contest. Home-schooled students working at or below the grade 12 level may also participate.

Submissions in both English and French are welcome.

Three questions are posted for this year’s contest; contestants must choose only one. The questions for the 2024 contest were:

• Could an AI ever produce works of art with the kind of aesthetic value that works of art created by humans possess? Defend your answer.
• Some philosophers and scientists believe that humans have free will while others deny it. But why does it matter whether we have free will? Would it be bad if it turned out that we lack it? Why or why not?
• Hundreds of millions of people around the world own pets: dogs, cats, hamsters, horses, birds, snakes, and dozens of other kinds of animals. But none of these creatures can tell us how they feel about this arrangement, and many animal rights advocates have begun arguing that pet ownership is wrong. Is it morally permissible to own pets? Defend your answer.

Contestants will write an essay of no more than 1200 words that develops and defends a position taken in response to the chosen question. Essays must be submitted electronically as a Word document (not PDF) in 12-point font, double-spaced and, if using quotations or ideas from the readings or other sources, with complete referencing. Essays proper should be prepared for blind review, that is, they should not bear the author’s name or any other mark identifying them.

Contestants are not required, encouraged, or expected to do any reading or research beyond reading the chosen question. If contestants choose to use ideas from other sources they will not be penalized for doing so, provided the sources are properly identified. The top ten entries will undergo a plagiarism check.

For a variety of resources on writing in philosophy, visit our Advice on Writing in Philosophy page. For a detailed guide on how to compile, organize, and express your thoughts for the essay in this contest, see the Aristotle Contest Guide to Writing a Philosophy Essay  (PDF).

Essays will be judged according to several criteria, including the quality, depth, and originality of thought; the organization of ideas; and clarity of expression.

View the Aristotle Contest Evaluation Scheme (PDF).

Author names and school affiliations of contestants are redacted so that they remain anonymous to evaluators. In the first round of evaluation, each paper is marked twice: once by a high school teacher and once by a university-affiliated evaluator (a faculty member in U of T’s Department of Philosophy).

A list of ten finalists is then drawn from papers that were ranked highest by both sets of judges. Evaluators then come to a consensus on the contest winners and recipients of certificates of distinction.

Contest winners will be announced October 2024.

To be eligible, each submission must be emailed as an attached Word document (not PDF) along with a completed contest form (PDF). You can either fill in the PDF electronically using an online PDF-filling tool like PDFescape (electronic signatures are acceptable), or you can print the form, fill it out on paper, and scan and attach it to your entry. Entries  must be emailed; printed entries sent by regular mail will not be accepted. Essays that have been submitted to other venues will also not receive consideration.

Submission emails must be dated Monday, June 24, 2024, or earlier. Late entries will not be accepted. All submissions must be emailed as attachments with the subject line “Aristotle Contest entry” to:

Petra Dreiser , Communications Officer, Department of Philosophy ([email protected] )

First place: $500 Second place: $400 Third place: $300

Up to ten submissions will receive an honourable mention.

Take a look at the winning entries from last year (2023). Prizes were awarded to:

• First Place : Owen Yisu Wang, St. George’s School, Vancouver, BC: The Defense of Art: The Dichotomy of Creator and Creation ” (PDF)
• Second Place : Maria Yuanyi Ma, Marianopolis College, Westmount, QC: “ Drawing the Line: Reconsidering the Basis for Judging Work by Morally Flawed Artists ” (PDF)
• Third Place : Serena Chin, Richmond Secondary School, Richmond, BC: “ Finding Certainty in Subjectivity ” (PDF)

The following essay received an honourable mention in 2023:

• Helen Li, Lisgar Collegiate Institute, Ottawa, ON: “ Fair or Unfair? Cherry Picking Dating Partners by Appearance ” (PDF)

In 2022, prizes went to:

• First place: Aarah Shahjahan, Marc Ganeau Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario: “In Times of Crisis: When Safety Precedes Liberty”  (PDF)
• Second place: William Wang, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario: “The Universal Immorality of Perjury”  (PDF)
• Third place: Natalie Oulikhanian, Aloysius Gonzaga Secondary School, Mississauga, Ontario: “Redefining Our Liberties: A Communal Approach to Vaccine Mandates”  (PDF)

The following essay received an honourable mention in 2022:

• Max Long, Richmond Secondary School, Richmond, British Columbia: “ When It’s OK to Lie: The Case of Ethical Perjury” (PDF)

In 2021, prizes went to:

• First place: Alissa Li, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario: “Beyond Borders: A Global Vaccine Solution” (PDF)
• Second place: Maisy Elspeth, Leaside High School, East York, Ontario: “Veganism as Moral Imperative” (PDF)
• Third place: Wilson Li, William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario: “Rationality of an Open Mind” (PDF)

The following essays received honourable mentions in 2021:

• Sarah Youssef, Port Moody Secondary School, Port Moody, British Columbia: “A Case against Cruelty” (PDF)
• Jessica Oh, St. Elizabeth Catholic High School, Thornhill, Ontario: “Money Should Not Factor in Vaccine Distribution” (PDF)

In 2020, prizes went to:

• First place: Darwin Pitts, Lisgar Collegiate Institute, Ottawa, Ontario: “ In Defence of Legitimate Democratic Authority ” (PDF)
• Second place: Justin Liu, St. George’s School, Vancouver, British Columbia: “ A Defense of Privacy in the Digital Age ” (PDF)
• Third place:  Andrei Li, Monarch Park Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario: “ On the ‘Good Life’ and Perpetuation of the ‘Self’ ” (PDF)

The following three essays received honourable mentions in 2020:

• Ariel Wang, Port Moody Secondary School, Port Moody, British Columbia: “ On the Fantasy of a Good Life “  (PDF)
• Ryangwon Kim, Brentwood College School, Mill Bay, British Columbia: “ A Case against Anarchy ” (PDF)
• Zeeniya Waseem, Turner Fenton Secondary School, Brampton, Ontario: “ Inner Contentment and Fulfillment within a Good Life ” (PDF)

In 2019, prizes were awarded to:

• First place: Elizabeth Zhu, University of Toronto Schools, Toronto, Ontario: “Reality Is a Shared Hallucination” (PDF)
• Second place: Ayush Ranjan, The Woodlands School, Mississauga, Ontario: “On the Subjectivity of Reality and the Benefits of a Simulated World” (PDF)
• Third place:  Ritvik Singh, Academy for Gifted Children–P.A.C.E., Richmond Hill, Ontario: “A Treatise on Creative Artificial Intelligence” (PDF)

The following three essays from 2019 received honourable mentions:

• Sameer Bapat, A. Y. Jackson Secondary School, North York, Ontario: “The Creative Capacity of Artificially Intelligent Machines” (PDF)
• Kacper Mykietyn, St. Martin Secondary School, Mississauga, Ontario: “Distribution of Genetic Resources and Its Consequences” (PDF)
• Keyer Thyme, Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, North York, Ontario: “In Defence of the Simulation” (PDF)

Read more about the successful 2019 contestants .

In 2018, prizes were awarded to:

• First place:  Eric Fishback, Guelph Collegiate Vocational Institute, Guelph, Ontario: “The Universal Objective Truths of Aesthetics” (PDF)
• Second place:  Abdullah Farooq, Streetsville Secondary School, Mississauga, Ontario: “An Essay on the Importance of Cognition in Aesthetic Judgements” (PDF)
• Third place:  Donald Lv, Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute, Scarborough, Ontario: “Should AI Be Granted Rights” (PDF)

The following four essays from 2018 received honourable mentions:

• Emily Tu, Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario: “Inimitable Human Intelligence and the Truth on Morality” (PDF)
• Woojin Lim, Fraser Heights Secondary School, Surrey, British Columbia: “The Future of Smart Machines: Intelligence, Morality, and Rights” (PDF)
• Adam Aziz, The Academy for Gifted Children P.A.C.E., Richmond Hill, Ontario: “Artificial Intelligence vs. Human Intelligence” (PDF)
• Samuel Chan, Albert Campbell Collegiate Institute, Scarborough, Ontario: “The Humanity in Machines” (PDF)

How much of my essay can include quotes from other sources?

Any quotations will be considered part of the word count. You may use as many quotations as you wish, keeping in mind that the more you use, the less space you will have for developing your own thoughts. Quotations must, of course, be properly referenced.

If my essay is slightly over the 1500 word count limit, will it still be accepted?

No, any paper over the 1500 word count limit will not be accepted. In order to be fair and avoid questions regarding leeway, this rule will be strictly followed.

May I submit my essay physically, by regular mail or in-person at the department?

No. Only electronic submissions will be accepted.

Is CEGEP equivalent to high school grade 12?

For this contest, the first year of CEGEP is equivalent to high school grade 12. Anyone enrolled in the second year of CEGEP is not eligible to participate.

I home-school my child, but the contest form seems designed for teachers .  Is there another form that I should use?

No need to use another form. Use the contest form (PDF) and in place of the school address and phone number, put your home address and phone number.

• The Department of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, St. George campus
• Ontario Philosophy Teachers’ Association

View, share, download, and print the contest poster .

Philosophy Department

Annual Essay Spring Contest

The Department of Philosophy established the annual essay contest in 2011 to recognize exemplary writing by undergraduates.

Any UC Davis undergraduate is eligible to compete by submitting an essay  written between April 2021 and April 2022  for any UC Davis philosophy course.

First Prize: $200    |    Second Prize: $75

Paper Format: Maximum 2,500 words; 12-point font, double spaced, and paginated.

Submissions: Submit PDF or Word Doc only; make sure your name does NOT appear on the essay. Email your essay to Jan Szaif at  [email protected] . In the email, indicate the course/term/year for which you wrote the paper (e.g. PHI 103 in Fall 2021).

The deadline for submissions is April 18, 2022.

Papers should be prepared for anonymous review (by removing the author's name and any other identifying markers). Submissions are read and evaluated by a two- or three-person panel of Department of Philosophy faculty members.

• Past Winners

First Prize: Jarom Longhurst, "Measuring the Wrong Bundle: A Response to the Argument from Negative Experimental Philosophy"

Second Prize: Zachary Nemirovsky, "In Favor of Mathematical Models"  

1st place: Jasmine Gunkel, “Past-Cone-ism: Problems Determining What is Present”

2nd place: Jarom Longhurst, "Does the Truth of Special Relativity Commit Us to the B-Theory of Time?"  

1st place: Jasmine Gunkel, "A Defense of the Adaptationist Approach to Female Sexuality"

2nd place: Paul Johnson: "A Critique of the Kalam Cosmological Argument"

1st place: Chelsie Liberty, "Realism, Austere Nominalism, and Transitivity of Exact Resemblance"

2nd place: Charles Bishop, "The Problems of Paraphrasing: Some Sentences for the Consideration of the Austere Nominalist"

1st place: Gordon Allen, "Dworkin and Riggs v. Palmer"

2nd place: Philip Powers, "Hume and Kant: On the Origin of Moral Precepts"

1st place: Tristan Lenaerts, "Populations: Mind Dependent or Perspective Dependent?"

2nd place: Theo Galanakis, "Chomsky on Rule Following"

1st place: Kristopher Baumgartner, "The Dualist Confusion"

2nd place: Travis Kirk, "A Defense of the Possibility of Scientific Laws in Biology"

The ASU Scholarship Application Portal collects your applications for several different scholarships, and saves your responses to common questions so that you don't need to complete the information twice. There is no single application that you can complete; rather, you must choose which scholarships you wish to apply for and complete an application for each one. You can find a list of scholarships that have portal apps on our scholarship search.

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External to ASU

This is an external scholarship not funded or selected by ASU.

Philosophy Essay Contest

Deadline passed.

The deadline has already passed for this scholarship. Please consider bookmarking this scholarship by clicking the bookmark button below.

The Philosophy Essay Contest annually recognizes a high-quality undergraduate essay on any topic in philosophy. The winning essay will contain a well-reasoned analysis of that topic, presenting a strong philosophical argument supporting the evaluation by the essay writer of the topic.

Recipient should be a full-time, undergraduate student. Prior prize winners are not eligible to enter.

Please submit a 3,000-6,000 word essay (double-spaced) on any philosophical topic. Use either PDF or Word format.

Essays will be blind reviewed. Please do not include any personal identifying information in your essay - in other words, do not put your name in the document and make sure that your name is not included in the file properties/metadata.

Optional: Note at the top of your essay if you were nominated or encouraged by your philosophy instructor to submit your paper to the contest.

To request a change or report a problem with this scholarship posting, please contact us .

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News and events, berkeley essay prize competition, the competition.

The next deadline for submitting papers is November 1, 2024.

For the 2024 competition, submitted papers should address some aspect of Berkeley’s philosophy. Essays should be new and unpublished and should be written in English and not exceed 5,000 words in length. All references to Berkeley should be to Luce/Jessop, and a MLA or similar standard for notes should be followed.

Submissions are blind reviewed and will be judged by members of a review board selected by the Department of Philosophy at the University of Rochester.

The winner will be announced March 1, 2025 and will receive a prize of $4,000 USD. Copies of the winning essays are to be sent to the George Berkeley Library Study Center located in Berkeley's home in Whitehall, Newport, RI.  The winning essay will be published in the following issue of Berkeley Studies .

2023 Winner

David Bartha , Humboldt University of Berlin, "Why Cannot Animals Imagine?" Berkeley on Imagination and the Animal-human Divide

See past Berkeley prize winners .

Submissions

Submissions can be sent electronically to [email protected]  or by post mail to:

Chair, Department of Philosophy University of Rochester P.O. Box 270078 Lattimore 532 Rochester, NY 14627-0078

History of the Prize

Some years before their deaths, Professor and Mrs. Colin Turbayne established an International Berkeley Essay Prize competition in cooperation with the philosophy department at the University of Rochester.

A highly popular teacher of philosophy, the late Professor Turbayne is often described by former students as a "consummate teacher" who made a lasting impression on them. He was also one of the most prolific and influential scholars of George Berkeley, the 18th Century Irish philosopher.

He is perhaps best known as the author of the classic treatise, The Myth of Metaphor, first published by Yale University Press in 1962. An original and highly imaginative criticism of the Newtonian view of the universe as a machine, in it he suggests that the modern mind has been victimized by a powerful metaphor that has been taken literally, and that alternative models of explanation, notably the language model, can serve as beneficial approaches to an understanding of the world, knowledge and science.

He published his last work, Metaphors for the Mind: The Creative Mind and Its Origins in 1990, in which he shows how modern theories of human thought and language arose from historical traditions of philosophy.

Professor Turbayne's devotion to advancing understanding of Berkeley is reflected in the numerous articles he authored, his producing six major editions of Berkeley's works, and the creation and funding of the International Berkeley Essay Prize.

Philosophical Essay Prize Competition

Continuing the enlightenment tradition of asking philosophical prize questions about highly relevant current issues, we seek in this format to philosophically confront the most pressing philosophical reorientations humanity faces in the 21st century. in the years 2019-21, we asked: “how does the digitization of our world change our orientation” we are collecting the award-winning essays in book publication on orientations press ., the prize question for the 2022-23 competition is:, how to orient oneself in times of multiple crises.

Several serious crises have now come upon the world: The looming climate catastrophe, which may result in worldwide famines and mass-migrations; the Coronavirus pandemic, which has paralyzed large parts of the global economy; the energy crisis, which may increasingly lead to social unrest and political upheaval; rising inflation around the world and the threat to the international financial system; and on top of all this, a new war in the middle of Europe, which could develop into a nuclear world war. All these crises, to name only the most spectacular, are closely intertwined in their origins and consequences. They create an orientation situation of hitherto hardly known complexity, and there seems to be no one who could sufficiently survey it, let alone give hints about how to master it, not even the responsible governments. We are witnessing a global disorientation in extreme danger and under the highest pressure to act.

Further questions

The  Foundation for Philosophical Orientation , which is concerned with the conditions of human orientation as such, calls for clarification: We ask what means and ways of our orientation can help in such a situation of multiple crises. Disorientation could make the hardships even more difficult. What in fact are ‘crises’ – who perceives them when, under which conditions, and in which contexts? How do people proceed in crises, what can be observed? What could they do? Is the philosophical concept of orientation useful when dealing of multiple crises? Are our human orientation abilities themselves altogether at stake? Or are there historical examples from which we can learn? What footholds does one follow in such situations? How can one attain an overview? What uncertainties must one reckon with? Insights gained from practical experience in certain fields of orientation (environment, economics, politics, media) can also be helpful.

Contributions

For this year’s prize competition, we expect new contributions (i.e., not yet published in any form) from insightful points of view and with promising philosophical perspectives. We recommend that authors send approx. 20-60 pages of thorough and comprehensive philosophical research that clearly shows connections to the concepts of the philosophy of orientation, as developed in Werner Stegmaier’s What is Orientation? A Philosophical Investigation . Critical approaches are welcome, too.

We will invite the best contributors to a virtual debate with our board and advisory council in order to determine the winners, and we will offer to publish the best essays on Orientations Press .

FPO provides the following prize awards:

1st prize award: $5,000

2nd prize award: $4,000

3rd prize award: $3,000

Special student award: $2,500 (if no student is among the top 3).

Please submit your contributions by October 25, 2023 (midnight CT) to [email protected]

For more information or questions, please contact: [email protected]

Summer 2024 Admissions Open Now. Sign up for upcoming live information sessions here (featuring former and current Admission Officers at Havard and UPenn).

Discourse, debate, and analysis

Cambridge re:think essay competition 2024.

Competition Opens: 15th January, 2024

Essay Submission Deadline: 10th May, 2024 Result Announcement: 20th June, 2024 Award Ceremony and Dinner at the University of Cambridge: 30th July, 2024

We welcome talented high school students from diverse educational settings worldwide to contribute their unique perspectives to the competition.

Entry to the competition is free.

About the Competition

The spirit of the Re:think essay competition is to encourage critical thinking and exploration of a wide range of thought-provoking and often controversial topics. The competition covers a diverse array of subjects, from historical and present issues to speculative future scenarios. Participants are invited to engage deeply with these topics, critically analysing their various facets and implications. It promotes intellectual exploration and encourages participants to challenge established norms and beliefs, presenting opportunities to envision alternative futures, consider the consequences of new technologies, and reevaluate longstanding traditions. 

Ultimately, our aim is to create a platform for students and scholars to share their perspectives on pressing issues of the past and future, with the hope of broadening our collective understanding and generating innovative solutions to contemporary challenges. This year’s competition aims to underscore the importance of discourse, debate, and critical analysis in addressing complex societal issues in nine areas, including:

Religion and Politics

Political science and law, linguistics, environment, sociology and philosophy, business and investment, public health and sustainability, biotechonology.

Artificial Intelligence 

Neuroengineering

2024 essay prompts.

This year, the essay prompts are contributed by distinguished professors from Harvard, Brown, UC Berkeley, Cambridge, Oxford, and MIT.

Essay Guidelines and Judging Criteria

Review general guidelines, format guidelines, eligibility, judging criteria.

Awards and Award Ceremony

Award winners will be invited to attend the Award Ceremony and Dinner hosted at the King’s College, University of Cambridge. The Dinner is free of charge for select award recipients.

Registration and Submission

Register a participant account today and submit your essay before the deadline.

Advisory Committee and Judging Panel

The Cambridge Re:think Essay Competition is guided by an esteemed Advisory Committee comprising distinguished academics and experts from elite universities worldwide. These committee members, drawn from prestigious institutions, such as Harvard, Cambridge, Oxford, and MIT, bring diverse expertise in various disciplines.

They play a pivotal role in shaping the competition, contributing their insights to curate the themes and framework. Their collective knowledge and scholarly guidance ensure the competition’s relevance, academic rigour, and intellectual depth, setting the stage for aspiring minds to engage with thought-provoking topics and ideas.

We are honoured to invite the following distinguished professors to contribute to this year’s competition.

The judging panel of the competition comprises leading researchers and professors from Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Cambridge, and Oxford, engaging in a strictly double blind review process.

Keynote Speeches by 10 Nobel Laureates

We are beyond excited to announce that multiple Nobel laureates have confirmed to attend and speak at this year’s ceremony on 30th July, 2024 .

They will each be delivering a keynote speech to the attendees. Some of them distinguished speakers will speak virtually, while others will attend and present in person and attend the Reception at Cambridge.

Why has religion remained a force in a secular world? 

Professor Commentary:

Arguably, the developed world has become more secular in the last century or so. The influence of Christianity, e.g. has diminished and people’s life worlds are less shaped by faith and allegiance to Churches. Conversely, arguments have persisted that hold that we live in a post-secular world. After all, religion – be it in terms of faith, transcendence, or meaning – may be seen as an alternative to a disenchanted world ruled by entirely profane criteria such as economic rationality, progressivism, or science. Is the revival of religion a pale reminder of a by-gone past or does it provide sources of hope for the future?

‘Religion in the Public Sphere’ by Jürgen Habermas (European Journal of Philosophy, 2006)

In this paper, philosopher Jürgen Habermas discusses the limits of church-state separation, emphasizing the significant contribution of religion to public discourse when translated into publicly accessible reasons.

‘Public Religions in the Modern World’ by José Casanova (University Of Chicago Press, 1994)

Sociologist José Casanova explores the global emergence of public religion, analyzing case studies from Catholicism and Protestantism in Spain, Poland, Brazil, and the USA, challenging traditional theories of secularization.

‘The Power of Religion in the Public Sphere’ by Judith Butler, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, and Cornel West (Edited by Eduardo Mendieta and Jonathan VanAntwerpen, Columbia University Press, 2011)

This collection features dialogues by prominent intellectuals on the role of religion in the public sphere, examining various approaches and their impacts on cultural, social, and political debates.

‘Rethinking Secularism’ by Craig Calhoun, Mark Juergensmeyer, and Jonathan VanAntwerpen (Oxford University Press, 2011)

An interdisciplinary examination of secularism, this book challenges traditional views, highlighting the complex relationship between religion and secularism in contemporary global politics.

‘God is Back: How the Global Rise of Faith is Changing the World’ by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge (Penguin, 2010)

Micklethwait and Wooldridge argue for the coexistence of religion and modernity, suggesting that religious beliefs can contribute to a more open, tolerant, and peaceful modern world.

‘Multiculturalism’ by Tariq Modood (Polity Press, 2013)

Sociologist Tariq Modood emphasizes the importance of multiculturalism in integrating diverse identities, particularly in post-immigration contexts, and its role in shaping democratic citizenship.

‘God’s Agents: Biblical Publicity in Contemporary England’ by Matthew Engelke (University of California Press, 2013)

In this ethnographic study, Matthew Engelke explores how a group in England seeks to expand the role of religion in the public sphere, challenging perceptions of religion in post-secular England.

Gene therapy is a medical approach that treats or prevents disease by correcting the underlying genetic problem. Is gene therapy better than traditional medicines? What are the pros and cons of using gene therapy as a medicine? Is gene therapy justifiable?

Especially after Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, gene therapy is getting more and more interesting approach to cure. That’s why that could be interesting to think about. I believe that students will enjoy and learn a lot while they are investigating this topic.

The Hall at King’s College, Cambridge

The Hall was designed by William Wilkins in the 1820s and is considered one of the most magnificent halls of its era. The first High Table dinner in the Hall was held in February 1828, and ever since then, the splendid Hall has been where members of the college eat and where formal dinners have been held for centuries.

The Award Ceremony and Dinner will be held in the Hall in the evening of  30th July, 2024.

Stretching out down to the River Cam, the Back Lawn has one of the most iconic backdrop of King’s College Chapel. 

The early evening reception will be hosted on the Back Lawn with the iconic Chapel in the background (weather permitting). 

King’s College Chapel

With construction started in 1446 by Henry VI and took over a century to build, King’s College Chapel is one of the most iconic buildings in the world, and is a splendid example of late Gothic architecture. 

Attendees are also granted complimentary access to the King’s College Chapel before and during the event. 

Confirmed Nobel Laureates

Dr Thomas R. Cech

The nobel prize in chemistry 1989 , for the discovery of catalytic properties of rna.

Thomas Robert Cech is an American chemist who shared the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Sidney Altman, for their discovery of the catalytic properties of RNA. Cech discovered that RNA could itself cut strands of RNA, suggesting that life might have started as RNA. He found that RNA can not only transmit instructions, but also that it can speed up the necessary reactions.

He also studied telomeres, and his lab discovered an enzyme, TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase), which is part of the process of restoring telomeres after they are shortened during cell division.

As president of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, he promoted science education, and he teaches an undergraduate chemistry course at the University of Colorado

Sir Richard J. Roberts

The nobel prize in medicine 1993 .

F or the discovery of split genes

During 1969–1972, Sir Richard J. Roberts did postdoctoral research at Harvard University before moving to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was hired by James Dewey Watson, a co-discoverer of the structure of DNA and a fellow Nobel laureate. In this period he also visited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology for the first time, working alongside Fred Sanger. In 1977, he published his discovery of RNA splicing. In 1992, he moved to New England Biolabs. The following year, he shared a Nobel Prize with his former colleague at Cold Spring Harbor Phillip Allen Sharp.

His discovery of the alternative splicing of genes, in particular, has had a profound impact on the study and applications of molecular biology. The realisation that individual genes could exist as separate, disconnected segments within longer strands of DNA first arose in his 1977 study of adenovirus, one of the viruses responsible for causing the common cold. Robert’s research in this field resulted in a fundamental shift in our understanding of genetics, and has led to the discovery of split genes in higher organisms, including human beings.

Dr Aaron Ciechanover

The nobel prize in chemistry 2004 .

F or the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation

Aaron Ciechanover is one of Israel’s first Nobel Laureates in science, earning his Nobel Prize in 2004 for his work in ubiquitination. He is honored for playing a central role in the history of Israel and in the history of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Dr Ciechanover is currently a Technion Distinguished Research Professor in the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and Research Institute at the Technion. He is a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, the Russian Academy of Sciences and is a foreign associate of the United States National Academy of Sciences. In 2008, he was a visiting Distinguished Chair Professor at NCKU, Taiwan. As part of Shenzhen’s 13th Five-Year Plan funding research in emerging technologies and opening “Nobel laureate research labs”, in 2018 he opened the Ciechanover Institute of Precision and Regenerative Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen campus.

Dr Robert Lefkowitz

The nobel prize in chemistry 2012 .

F or the discovery of G protein-coupled receptors

Robert Joseph Lefkowitz is an American physician (internist and cardiologist) and biochemist. He is best known for his discoveries that reveal the inner workings of an important family G protein-coupled receptors, for which he was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Brian Kobilka. He is currently an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as a James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry at Duke University.

Dr Lefkowitz made a remarkable contribution in the mid-1980s when he and his colleagues cloned the gene first for the β-adrenergic receptor, and then rapidly thereafter, for a total of 8 adrenergic receptors (receptors for adrenaline and noradrenaline). This led to the seminal discovery that all GPCRs (which include the β-adrenergic receptor) have a very similar molecular structure. The structure is defined by an amino acid sequence which weaves its way back and forth across the plasma membrane seven times. Today we know that about 1,000 receptors in the human body belong to this same family. The importance of this is that all of these receptors use the same basic mechanisms so that pharmaceutical researchers now understand how to effectively target the largest receptor family in the human body. Today, as many as 30 to 50 percent of all prescription drugs are designed to “fit” like keys into the similarly structured locks of Dr Lefkowitz’ receptors—everything from anti-histamines to ulcer drugs to beta blockers that help relieve hypertension, angina and coronary disease.

Dr Lefkowitz is among the most highly cited researchers in the fields of biology, biochemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, and clinical medicine according to Thomson-ISI.

Dr Joachim Frank

The nobel prize in chemistry 2017 .

F or developing cryo-electron microscopy

Joachim Frank is a German-American biophysicist at Columbia University and a Nobel laureate. He is regarded as the founder of single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson. He also made significant contributions to structure and function of the ribosome from bacteria and eukaryotes.

In 1975, Dr Frank was offered a position of senior research scientist in the Division of Laboratories and Research (now Wadsworth Center), New York State Department of Health,where he started working on single-particle approaches in electron microscopy. In 1985 he was appointed associate and then (1986) full professor at the newly formed Department of Biomedical Sciences of the University at Albany, State University of New York. In 1987 and 1994, he went on sabbaticals in Europe, one to work with Richard Henderson, Laboratory of Molecular Biology Medical Research Council in Cambridge and the other as a Humboldt Research Award winner with Kenneth C. Holmes, Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. In 1998, Dr Frank was appointed investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Since 2003 he was also lecturer at Columbia University, and he joined Columbia University in 2008 as professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics and of biological sciences.

Dr Barry C. Barish

The nobel prize in physics 2017 .

For the decisive contributions to the detection of gravitational waves

Dr Barry Clark Barish is an American experimental physicist and Nobel Laureate. He is a Linde Professor of Physics, emeritus at California Institute of Technology and a leading expert on gravitational waves.

In 2017, Barish was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics along with Rainer Weiss and Kip Thorne “for decisive contributions to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves”. He said, “I didn’t know if I would succeed. I was afraid I would fail, but because I tried, I had a breakthrough.”

In 2018, he joined the faculty at University of California, Riverside, becoming the university’s second Nobel Prize winner on the faculty.

In the fall of 2023, he joined Stony Brook University as the inaugural President’s Distinguished Endowed Chair in Physics.

In 2023, Dr Barish was awarded the National Medal of Science by President Biden in a White House ceremony.

Dr Harvey J. Alter

The nobel prize in medicine 2020 .

For the discovery of Hepatitis C virus

Dr Harvey J. Alter is an American medical researcher, virologist, physician and Nobel Prize laureate, who is best known for his work that led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus. Alter is the former chief of the infectious disease section and the associate director for research of the Department of Transfusion Medicine at the Warren Grant Magnuson Clinical Center in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. In the mid-1970s, Alter and his research team demonstrated that most post-transfusion hepatitis cases were not due to hepatitis A or hepatitis B viruses. Working independently, Alter and Edward Tabor, a scientist at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, proved through transmission studies in chimpanzees that a new form of hepatitis, initially called “non-A, non-B hepatitis” caused the infections, and that the causative agent was probably a virus. This work eventually led to the discovery of the hepatitis C virus in 1988, for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2020 along with Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice.

Dr Alter has received recognition for the research leading to the discovery of the virus that causes hepatitis C. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award conferred to civilians in United States government public health service, and the 2000 Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research.

Dr Ardem Patapoutian

The nobel prize in medicine 2021 .

For discovering how pressure is translated into nerve impulses

Dr Ardem Patapoutian is an Lebanese-American molecular biologist, neuroscientist, and Nobel Prize laureate of Armenian descent. He is known for his work in characterising the PIEZO1, PIEZO2, and TRPM8 receptors that detect pressure, menthol, and temperature. Dr Patapoutian is a neuroscience professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. In 2021, he won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine jointly with David Julius.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why should I participate in the Re:think essay competition? 

The Re:think Essay competition is meant to serve as fertile ground for honing writing skills, fostering critical thinking, and refining communication abilities. Winning or participating in reputable contests can lead to recognition, awards, scholarships, or even publication opportunities, elevating your academic profile for college applications and future endeavours. Moreover, these competitions facilitate intellectual growth by encouraging exploration of diverse topics, while also providing networking opportunities and exposure to peers, educators, and professionals. Beyond accolades, they instil confidence, prepare for higher education demands, and often allow you to contribute meaningfully to societal conversations or causes, making an impact with your ideas.

Who is eligible to enter the Re:think essay competition?  

As long as you’re currently attending high school, regardless of your location or background, you’re eligible to participate. We welcome students from diverse educational settings worldwide to contribute their unique perspectives to the competition.

Is there any entry fee for the competition? 

There is no entry fee for the competition. Waiving the entry fee for our essay competition demonstrates CCIR’s dedication to equity. CCIR believes everyone should have an equal chance to participate and showcase their talents, regardless of financial circumstances. Removing this barrier ensures a diverse pool of participants and emphasises merit and creativity over economic capacity, fostering a fair and inclusive environment for all contributors.

Subscribe for Competition Updates

If you are interested to receive latest information and updates of this year’s competition, please sign up here.

2016 High School Essay Contest

The PLATO High School Essay Contest awards will be given to the best philosophical essays written by high school students, in response to the year’s contest essay question.

Awards : First place – $250 Second place – $150 Third place – $100

All winning essays will be published in PLATO’s journal Questions: Philosophy for Young People .

Contest Details: Eligibility : All high school students in the U.S. are eligible to enter.

Submission Process: Please submit the essay as a .doc or .docx file. The first page of the entry should be a cover page that includes a one-paragraph bio, your name, contact information (phone and email), grade and school. The essay should begin on page 2 (please make sure your name is not listed on the pages containing the essay).  It should be emailed to: [email protected] with the subject line: “2016 PLATO Essay Contest Entry.”

Essay length : 2,000 words maximum

Judging : The papers will be read and judged by a panel of high school philosophy teachers and philosophy professors. Deadline: January 31, 2016

2016 PLATO Essay Contest Question

What is the moral status of non-human animals? What value should their lives have? Do all non-human animals have the same moral status? Or do some species have greater moral worth than others?

To answer this question, consider this scenario. Lana has come to you for advice. She is wondering whether to become a moral vegetarian like some of her friends. These friends have persuaded her that eating meat contributes to factory farming and unfair treatment of animals—she is definitely against that. However, she wonders if deciding to not eat meet would sufficiently address her concerns about animal rights. Maybe she should become a vegan instead. If she is convinced that animals have a moral standing, then surely she should give up buying leather shoes and beauty products too. But if this is true, where will this line of reasoning lead her? Will she soon find herself not walking on the street for fear of stepping on an ant? Lana wants to do the right thing, but she feels confused. What should she do? What do you tell her?

Directions:  Write an essay that provides a reasoned, sincere and well-supported argument in response to the question, focusing on the ethical dilemma.

Give your essay a title, number your pages, and proofread it carefully.

Your essay should advance reasons to help support your own conclusions about the question. The best essays will not simply summarize arguments put forth by others or make assertions, but will ask questions and make claims based on evidence and considered reflection. Strive to be consistent in your reasoning by testing your position against other practical and ethical commitments. Be sure to represent arguments that oppose your own point of view and defend your position against such challenges.

We ask that you reference at least one of the sources listed below. These texts can be a source of information, but they can also be used to spur inquiry. If you decide to quote from the text, be sure to interpret the passage in your own words. Explain what you understand the philosopher to be saying and why what he or she is saying is important for your argument. For example, the philosopher’s position might support, complicate or challenge your own response to the question. We do not require you to cite other sources, though you may.

Here are two online philosophy resources about animals rights that may prove helpful:

* Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , particularly, in this case, an article by Lori Gruen:  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-animal/

* Equality for Animals by Peter Singer: http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/1979—-.html

If you use outside references, list them at the end of the essay using the citation style above (MLA style). For notes within the essay, use author’s name and page, e.g. (Kant, p. 222).

Please do not use Wikipedia or dictionary definitions in your essay.

For more information or questions about the PLATO High School Essay Contest, please email: [email protected]

2014-15 PLATO ESSAY CONTEST

Announcement: We have our winners for the 2014/15 essay contest. Congratulations and thanks to all who participated!

First place Syra Mehdi Noble and Greenough School, Dedham, MA “Aristotle’s Theory of Friendship Tested”

Second place Julia Walton Academy of Notre Dame du Namur Villanova, PA “In the Place Beyond Utility and Pleasure”

Third Place Brendan Bernicker Radnor High School Radnor, PA “So Tyler, Did Jamie Cheat?”

Read the winning essays

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The Cal Poly Philosophy Department houses a Religious Studies program with a wide variety of courses in GE and a Religious Studies minor.

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Student Essay Contest Rules

• The Philosophy department offers $750 in prize money for this year's annual student essay contest. The winner will be awarded a prize of $500, and the runner-up will be awarded $250. These prizes are available to undergraduates at Cal Poly in any major enrolled in a minimum of 6 units in Spring 2024, or who have completed their graduation requirements during the 2023-2024 academic year. 
• Essays may be on any philosophical topic and typically originate as term papers in philosophy courses offered by the department. Essays need not be identical with the draft submitted for course credit; indeed, it is expected that faculty will advise student authors on how to improve their manuscripts for submission to the contest.
• Essays should be between 7 and 20 typed pages in length (between 2,100 and 6,000 words), and double-spaced with normal margins, printed in a standard font (e.g., Times New Roman 12 point, etc.). In addition, essays must observe proper citation conventions (e.g., MLA Stylesheet, APA, Chicago Manual of Style, etc.).  We recognize that AI content generation tools (AICGs), such as ChatGPT and AI writers that use Large Language Models (LLMs), are currently altering the writing process. The Philosophy Department Essay contest aims to encourage original philosophical thinking and reward clear and persuasive writing that gives voice to such thinking. Student authors who incorporate output from an AICG tool are required to describe how such a tool was used in an appendix to their paper. All authors are expected to follow the standard scholarly practice of including citations for words written by, or paraphrased from, others (including AIGC tools). P lagiarism will not be tolerated and will result in a report to the offending student's college dean.
• Each student may submit only one essay to the contest. The essay and a separate title page must be submitted as an email attachment (either Microsoft Word .doc or PDF) to the Philosophy department's ASC by email to [email protected] . Essays must be submitted to the Philosophy Department by 11:59pm on Friday, May 10, 2024. Late emails will not be accepted.
• Essays must be submitted formatted for blind review with a separate title page consisting of the following information: the words "2024 Cal Poly Philosophy Essay Contest," the student's name and e-mail address, and the full title of the paper. The student's name must not appear anywhere else in the separate essay manuscript document. The first page of of the essay manuscript must begin with the title of the essay. The Essay Contest Committee Chair will assign anonymous labels to each essay received and also on the separate title page with the student's name; title pages with students' names and labels will be separated from the essays they identify and filed together.
• Essays, without their identifying title pages, will be distributed by the Essay Contest Committee Chair to full-time Philosophy department faculty members acting as Essay Contest Referees. In extraordinary circumstances, the Essay Contest Committee reserves the right not to award a prize or, in the event of a tie, to split the award between two or more essays.
• The prize winners will be notified via e-mail by the Essay Contest Committee Chair. The prize winners will honored at the Philosophy Department Advisory Board Reception TBD. Prize money will be disbursed the Financial Aid office. The Philosophy department's ASC will help the winners with the necessary paperwork for the disbursement of the prize money. 
• A copy of the winning essays will be archived, and the author and title of winning papers will be listed on the Philosophy department Website Essay Contest page, while the other essays will not be retained.

The authors of top submissions to the Essay Contest will be invited to present their work at the Spring Symposium on Saturday, June 1, 2024. For details, see  https://philosophy.calpoly.edu/student-symposium .

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ACPQ Essay Contest

ACPQ Rising Scholar Essay Contest

Each year, the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly (ACPQ) hosts its annual Rising Scholar Essay Contest. Any scholar who has not attained the rank of associate professor is invited to submit a paper contributing to the development or elucidation of the Catholic philosophical tradition. The winning paper is published in the ACPQ.

Contest Rules and Additional Information

Contest rules, contest winners, previous winners.

• Papers must be submitted electronically  by no later than 5 p.m. (CDT) on September 1, 2023. The paper should be accompanied by an abstract of up to 150 words. The cover letter field of the submission site's Details and Comments section should indicate the author's academic rank as of September 1, 2023 (e.g., "PhD candidate") and that the submission is for the essay contest.
• Papers should be prepared for blind review and should be of the length, format and style characteristic of ACPQ articles . Participants should consult a recent edition of the journal or the ACPQ Article Submission Guidelines . The statement "Redacted for Blind Review" may be used in place of any material removed for the purposes of blind review (such as acknowledgments, statements of gratitude, affiliation information, or references authored by participant(s)).
• No author may enter more than one paper in the contest. Previous Rising Scholar Contest winners are ineligible to enter.
• Entering a paper in the contest constitutes agreement to its publication in the ACPQ should it be accepted for that purpose; such agreement is not contingent on the papers winning the contest. Papers entered in the contest must therefore not be under consideration for publication elsewhere.
• The winning paper will be published in the ACPQ and will be specially designated in the ACPQ as winner of the contest.
• Notification will be sent by November 1, 2023, regarding whether papers have reached the finalists stage.
• It is expected that the author(s) of the winning essay will be notified by December 15, 2023.

Inquiries may be directed to [email protected] .

The winning essay will be published in the ACPQ and specially designated in the journal as winner of the contest.

The author of a single-authored winning paper will receive a $3000 award and a free one-year membership in the American Catholic Philosophical Association (ACPA). Each co-author of a co-authored winning paper will receive a share, equal to that of the other co-author(s), of a $3000 award, together with a free one-year membership for in the ACPA. All co-authors of the winning paper must be below the rank of associate professor at the time of the submission deadline, September 1, 2023. Author(s) need not be members of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Andrew J. Jaeger , Back to the Primitive: From Substantial Capacities to Prime Matter, ACPQ v. 88 no. 3 (2014): 381-95.

Brian Besong , Reappraising the Manual Tradition, ACPQ v. 89 no. 4 (2015): 557-84.

Joseph Stenberg , "Aquinas on the Relationship between the Vision and Delight in Perfect Happiness," ACPQ v. 90 no. 4 (2016): 665-80.

Therese Scarpelli Cory , "Knowing as Being? A Metaphysical Reading of the Identity of Intellect and Intelligibles in Aquinas," ACPQ v. 91 no. 3 (2017): 333-51.

Daniel Shields , "Everything in Motion is Put in Motion by Another: A Principle in Aquinas' First Way," ACPQ v. 92 no.4 (2018): 535-61.

Thomas A. Ward , "A Most Mitigated Friar: Scotus on Natural Law and Divine Freedom," ACPQ v. 93 no. 3 (2019): 385-409.

Christopher-Marcus Gibson , “What’s the Good of Perfected Passion? Thomas Aquinas on Attentiveness & the Filiae Luxuriae,” ACPQ v. 95 no. 2 (2021): 249-70.

Nathaniel B. Taylor , "Substances in Subjects: Instantiation and Existence in Avicenna," ACPQ v. 96 no. 3 (2022).

John Jalsevac, "Mitigating the Magic: The Role of Memory, the Vis Cogitativa, and Experience in Aquinas's Abstractionist Epistemology," ACPQ v. 97 no. 3 (2023).

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High School Philosophy Contest

Imagine being a high school student in the U.S. who is interested in philosophy. What official, academic outlet would you have? Not many students have the opportunity to take a philosophy or ethics course in high school, but there are rumblings now of a possible future in this country in which philosophy and ethics are taught more widely in our schools. In a recent article on pre-college philosophy in American high schools, published in the Spanish journal of philosophy, Diálogo Filosófico , I said that there seems to be a “paradoxical situation of philosophy in high school in the United States.” Philosophy is at best a scarce elective in American schools. Often—if philosophy is present at all—it is a club run by a teacher who took some philosophy courses in college and is excited to talk about ideas and do some inquiry with her students. Some schools might invite graduate students of philosophy to come in and offer workshops or Philosophy for Children , mostly in elementary schools. But usually there is no philosophy per se done in our schools. Indeed, many people may believe that philosophy is superfluous, unnecessary, and impractical, yet the critical thinking, inquiry, character education, and many forms of conceptualizing, that educators foster in schools are embedded in the process of philosophical thinking. In any case, the American Philosophy Olympiad (APO) draws from the students who do somehow find a way to study philosophy while in high school.

In May of 2016, two American high school students will represent the U.S. as young American philosophers in Ghent, Belgium. February 29 is the due date for students from anywhere in the U.S. to submit an essay to the APO on one of two topics presented by the APO. The top two essays will win the chance to fly to Ghent with representatives of the APO to compete in the International Philosophy Olympiad (IPO) and rub elbows with their peers, as well as with professors and teachers of philosophy from more than forty countries.

The APO, which has been in development since 2010, is the American branch of the IPO. Every year, students from more than forty nations gather in a different host country to write an essay on one of four topics given to them at the competition. There is history here, but that is a subject for a future blog post.

The IPO—founded in 1993—is recognized by both the Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie   (FISP), and UNESCO . “Since 2001 the International Philosophy Olympiads have been organized under the auspices of FISP and with the recognition and support of UNESCO” ( IPO Regulations, Preamble ). The APO is recognized and sponsored by the APA. In 2011, two young American high school philosophers, one young woman and one young man, traveled to Vienna to write their essays in Spanish. The work of that year has become the American Philosophy Olympiad. Since Austria, we have been to Norway in 2012, Denmark in 2013, Lithuania in 2014, and Estonia last year. Our pre-college philosophy writing contest is now connected to the world of international philosophy. The deadline for the APO essays to be submitted is February 29. In May, we’ll travel to Ghent and meet with other international students and teachers, leaders from FISP, and representatives from UNESCO, for our international contest.

According to the Regulations of the IPO (Section 6b.II), “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).” So in order to participate in the IPO, not only must a student have read some philosophy, but she must also be proficient enough in French, German, or Spanish to write her essay in one of those three languages. That’s part of the international nature of the competition. Although the rationale is not explicitly stated in the IPO Regulations, it seems to me that the reason for requiring a student to write her essay in a language that is not her official state language is to foster deeper international understanding and profound empathy for people from other lands. It is a question of philosophical and cultural perspective that, it is hoped, will engender compassion.

If you would like to join in the efforts of the APO or find out more about it, visit our blog . I would also be glad to correspond or chat with you about it. If you know of a high school student who would like to submit an essay this year, have the student go to the APO blog and follow the instructions. Perhaps someday one of your students, children, or grandchildren will board a plane to fly to another country to meet other philosophers and write an international essay.

If you would like to submit a contribution on pre-college philosophy, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us via the  submission form here .

Joseph A. Murphy is Ethics Department Chair at the  Dwight-Englewood School .

• Editor: Jeremy Cushing
• essay contest
• high school philosophy
• Philosophy for Children
• pre-college philosophy

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“Philosophy is at best a scarce elective in American schools. Often—if philosophy is present at all—it is a club run by a teacher who took some philosophy courses in college and is excited to talk about ideas and do some inquiry with her students. Some schools might invite graduate students of philosophy to come in and offer workshops or Philosophy for Children, mostly in elementary schools. But usually there is no philosophy per se done in our schools. ”

It’s true that philosophy is scarce as coursework in American high schools, and I lament this as much as the author. But the author is neglecting the major philosophic activity in which many American high schools students engage, which is interscholastic debate.

For decades now, especially in the category of Lincoln-Douglas debate, high school students have debated explicitly philosophical topics, figures, and texts, especially in connection with moral and political philosophy. I first discovered philosophy through Lincoln-Douglas, and I’ve known many other professional philosophers who have as well. More professional philosophers should be aware of this activity and the opportunities it presents for cultivated interest in philosophy in college.

There is so much shortage of philosophy in U.S high schools. Only some some colleges allow philosophy classes and It is only taught by a teacher who took some philosophy courses in college.

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Engineering and embodiment, why arguments (almost) never work: motivated reasoning and persuasion, the teaching workshop: diversity and the canon, a suggestion to improve teaching, teaching philosophy outside.

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JoAnne Rafalson Memorial Essay Contest

2025 call for papers .

The Department of Philosophy invites submissions for the twenty-fourth annual (2025) JoAnne Rafalson Memorial Essay Contest. The contest is open to all graduate students enrolled in, and pursuing the M.A. degree in, the Department of Philosophy at Northern Illinois University. Papers in any area of philosophy are eligible. The author of the winning paper will receive a cash prize of $1,000, which will be awarded without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, or financial need. A departmental colloquium will be scheduled in spring 2025, at which the recipient will present the winning paper to faculty, graduate students, and the interested public.

Contestants must submit their essays in accordance with the following submission guidelines . Each contestant may submit only one paper to the contest. Papers must mploy gender-neutral language .  Each paper must be double-spaced, with at least one-inch margins and page numbers. Each paper must be accompanied by an abstract of no more than 150 words. There must be a single cover sheet specifying title and author. To permit blind reviewing, there should be no self-references or other identifying elements within the papers; authors should identify themselves only on the accompanying cover sheet. Papers must not exceed a length that could be presented, reading at a moderate pace, in 45 minutes or less.

The deadline for submissions is Feb. 14, 2025. Papers should be submitted by email to the departmental Office Administrator, Linda Davis, at [email protected] . She will remove the cover sheet with the author's name, assign each paper a numerical code, and retain the identifying information until the winning paper has been selected.

Origin of the JoAnne Rafalson Memorial Essay Contest

The JoAnne Rafalson Memorial Essay Contest is funded by an endowment established by Bruce Rafalson to memorialize JoAnne Rafalson and to recognize and support outstanding achievement in philosophical essay writing by NIU philosophy graduate students. Mr. Rafalson is a graduate of NIU’s M.A. program in philosophy.

Essay Contest Winners

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• JoAnne Rafalson Memorial Essay Prize
• C. Mason and Madeline Myers Award
• Sherman M. Stanage Scholarship
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Best Essay Writing Contests in 2024

Showing 50 contests that match your search.

National Essay Contest

U.S. Institute of Peace

Genres: Essay

This year, AFSA celebrates the 100th anniversary of the United States Foreign Service. Over the last century, our diplomats and development professionals have been involved in groundbreaking events in history – decisions on war and peace, supporting human rights and freedom, creating joint prosperity, reacting to natural disasters and pandemics and much more. As AFSA looks back on this century-long history, we invite you to join us in also looking ahead to the future. This year students are asked to explore how diplomats can continue to evolve their craft to meet the needs of an ever-changing world that brings fresh challenges and opportunities to the global community and America’s place in it.

Additional prizes:

Runner-up: $1,250

📅 Deadline: April 01, 2024 (Expired)

Personal Essay Competition 2024

Write the World

Genres: Essay and Memoir

We want to hear about an experience in your life, rife with characters and description and conflict and scene… but we also want to hear how you make sense of this experience, how it sits with you, and why it has surfaced as writing. Open a window into your life and invite your readers to enter.

Best entry: $100

Runner up: $50 | Best peer review: $50

📅 Deadline: June 24, 2024

A Very Short Story Contest

Gotham Writers Workshop

Genres: Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Humor, Memoir, and Non-fiction

Write a great short story in ten words or fewer. Submit it to our contest. Entry is free. Winner of the bet gets a free Gotham class.

Free writing class from Gotham Writers Workshop.

📅 Deadline: May 31, 2024

Craft your masterpiece in Reedsy Studio

Plan, write, edit, and format your book in our free app made for authors.

Learn more about Reedsy Studio .

The Letter Review Prize for Unpublished Books

The Letter Review

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult

Free to enter. Seeking 0-5000 word (poetry: 15 pgs) excerpts of unpublished books (Fiction, Poetry, Nonfiction), including most self-published and indie-published works. 2-4 Winners (publication of extract is optional). We Shortlist 10-20 writers. Open to writers from anywhere in the world, with no theme or genre restrictions. Judged blind.

Optional Publication of Excerpt, Letter of Recommendation

📅 Deadline: April 30, 2024

Literary and Photographic Contest 2023-2024

Hispanic Culture Review

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, and Poetry

As we move forward we carry our culture wherever we go. It keeps us alive. This is why we propose the theme to be “¡Hacia delante!”. A phrase that means to move forward. This year we ask that you think about the following questions: What keeps you moving forward? What do you carry with you going into the future? How do you celebrate your successes, your dreams, and your culture?

Publication in magazine

📅 Deadline: February 07, 2024 (Expired)

International Essay Competition 2023/24

Avernus Education

Welcome to our prestigious International Essay Competition. At Avernus Education, we are thrilled to provide a platform for young minds to showcase their prowess in Medicine, Engineering, Law, Economics, Psychology, History and Politics. These varied subject categories underscore the importance of interdisciplinary study, a crucial foundation for future leaders in our increasingly interconnected world. Winners receive an exclusive Avernus Education Scholarship worth over £5000 - granting them free entrance to our exclusive summer camp at Oxford University! Outstanding Runners Up receive 5 hours worth of Credits for Avernus Education courses, conferences and tutoring services.

100% Scholarship Award to our Oxford University Summer Programme (worth £5995)

Partial scholarship

📅 Deadline: February 19, 2024 (Expired)

International Voices in Creative Nonfiction Competition

Vine Leaves Press

Genres: Essay, Memoir, Non-fiction, and Novel

Small presses have potential for significant impact, and at Vine Leaves Press, we take this responsibility quite seriously. It is our responsibility to give marginalized groups the opportunity to establish literary legacies that feel rich and vast. Why? To sustain hope for the world to become a more loving, tolerable, and open space. It always begins with art. That is why we have launched this writing competition.

Book publication

💰 Entry fee: $25

📅 Deadline: July 01, 2024

Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award

Killer Nashville

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Poetry, Science Fiction, Script Writing, Short Story, and Thriller

The Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award is committed to discovering new writers, as well as superlative books by established authors and, upon discovery, sharing those writers and their works with new readers. There are a large number of both fiction and non-fiction categories you can enter.

💰 Entry fee: $79

📅 Deadline: June 15, 2024

High School Academic Research Competition

Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal

Genres: Essay and Non-fiction

The High School Academic Research Competition is where talented students from around the world compete to publish high-quality research on any topic. SARC challenges students to sharpen their critical thinking skills, immerse themselves in the research process, and hone their writing skills for success.

Indigo Research Intensive Summer Program

📅 Deadline: March 20, 2024 (Expired)

Aurora Polaris Creative Nonfiction Award

Trio House Press

Genres: Essay, Memoir, and Non-fiction

We seek un-agented full-length creative nonfiction manuscripts including memoir, essay collections, etc. 50,000 - 80,000 words.

Publication

📅 Deadline: May 15, 2024

Jane Austen Society of North America Essay Contest

Jane Austen Society of North America

Genres: Children's and Essay

JASNA conducts an annual student Essay Contest to foster the study and appreciation of Jane Austen's works in new generations of readers. Students world-wide are invited to compete for scholarship awards in three divisions: high school, college, and graduate school.

$1,000 scholarship

Two nights’ lodging for JASNA’s Annual General Meeting

📅 Deadline: June 02, 2022 (Expired)

Climate Change Writing Competition

This month, dear writers, ahead of COP27, help us raise the voices of young people in this urgent fight. In a piece of personal narrative, tell the world’s leaders gathering in how climate change impacts you. How has this crisis changed your environment, your community, your sense of the future? Storytelling, after all, plays a critical role in helping us grasp the emergency through which we are all living, igniting empathy in readers and listeners—itself a precursor to action.

Runner-up: $50

📅 Deadline: October 18, 2022 (Expired)

The Hudson Prize

Black Lawrence Press

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

Each year Black Lawrence Press will award The Hudson Prize for an unpublished collection of poems or prose. The prize is open to new, emerging, and established writers.

💰 Entry fee: $28

📅 Deadline: March 31, 2024 (Expired)

Share Your Story

FanStory.com Inc.

Write about an event in your life. Everyone has a memoir. Not an autobiography. Too much concern about fact and convention. A memoir gives us the ability to write about our life with the option to create and fabricate and to make sense of a life, or part of that life.

💰 Entry fee: $10

📅 Deadline: September 15, 2022 (Expired)

Irene Adler Prize

Lucas Ackroyd

Genres: Essay, Non-fiction, and Travel

I’ve traveled the world from Sweden to South Africa, from the Golden Globes to the Olympic women’s hockey finals. I’ve photographed a mother polar bear and her cubs and profiled stars like ABBA, Jennifer Garner and Katarina Witt. And I couldn’t have done it without women. I’ve been very fortunate, and it’s time for me to give back. With the Irene Adler Prize, I’m awarding a $1,000 scholarship to a woman pursuing a degree in journalism, creative writing, or literature at a recognized post-secondary institution.

2x honorable mentions: $250

📅 Deadline: May 30, 2024

Environmental Writing 2024

The writer and activist Bill McKibben describes Environmental Writing as "the collision between people and the rest of the world." This month, peer closely at that intersection: How do humans interact with their environment? Given your inheritance of this earth, the world needs your voices now more than ever.

📅 Deadline: April 22, 2024

Bacopa Literary Review Annual Writing Contest

Writers Alliance of Gainesville

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

Bacopa Literary Review’s 2024 contest is open from March 4 through April 4, with $200 Prize and $100 Honorable Mention in each of six categories: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Flash Fiction, Free Verse Poetry, Formal Poetry, and Visual Poetry.

📅 Deadline: April 04, 2024 (Expired)

Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Stella Kupferberg Memorial Short Story Prize is a writing competition sponsored by the stage and radio series Selected Shorts. Selected Shorts is recorded for Public Radio and heard nationally on both the radio and its weekly podcast. This years entries will be judged by Carmen Maria Machado (In the Dream House, Her Body and Other Parties).

$1000 + free 10 week course with Gotham Writers

📅 Deadline: March 01, 2024 (Expired)

Work-In-Progress (WIP) Contest

Unleash Press

Genres: Crime, Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Young Adult

We aim to assist writers in the completion of an important literary project and vision. The Unleash WIP Award offers writers support in the amount of $500 to supplement costs to aid in the completion of a book-length work of fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Writers will also receive editorial feedback, coaching meetings, and an excerpt/interview feature in Unleash Lit.

Coaching, interview, and editorial support

💰 Entry fee: $35

📅 Deadline: July 15, 2024

Military Anthology: Partnerships, the Untold Story

Armed Services Arts Partnership

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Non-fiction, Poetry, and Short Story

Partners are an integral aspect of military life, at home and afar, during deployment and after homecoming. Partnerships drive military action and extend beyond being a battle buddy, wingman, or crew member. Some are planned while others arise entirely unexpectedly. Spouses, family, old or new friends, community, faith leaders, and medical specialists all support the military community. Despite their importance, the stories of these partnerships often go untold. This anthology aims to correct that: We will highlight the nuances, surprises, joy, sorrow, heroism, tears, healing power, and ache of partnerships. We invite you to submit the story about partnerships from your journey, so we can help tell it.

$500 Editors' Choice award

$250 for each genre category (prose, poetry, visual art)

Brink Literary Journal Award for Hybrid Writing

Genres: Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Non-fiction, Poetry, Science Writing, and Short Story

The Brink Literary Journal Award for Hybrid Writing will be administered to the winner of a literary contest designed to champion innovative hybrid and cross-genre work.

💰 Entry fee: $22

📅 Deadline: February 16, 2024 (Expired)

NOWW 26th International Writing Contest

Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW)

Open to all writers in four categories: poetry, short fiction, creative nonfiction, and critical writing.

2nd: $100 | 3rd: $50

💰 Entry fee: $7

📅 Deadline: February 29, 2024 (Expired)

Hispanic Culture Review Contest 2022-2023

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Short Story, and Flash Fiction

As the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano once said, "the best that the world has is in the many worlds that the world contains." Therefore, this year we invite you to reflect on the following questions: How do you or your community celebrate these connections? How do you value those experiences with those people who leave a mark on your life? 1 work will be awarded in each category: 1) photography & visual arts, 2) poetry, and 3) narrative/essay/academic investigation.

$100 for photography, poetry, and essay winners

💰 Entry fee: $0

📅 Deadline: February 01, 2023 (Expired)

Great American Think-Off

New York Mills Regional Cultural Center

The Great American Think-Off is an exhibition of civil disagreement between powerful ideas that connect to your life at the gut level. The Cultural Center, located in the rural farm and manufacturing town of New York Mills, sponsors this annual philosophy contest.

Solas Awards

Best Travel Writing

Extraordinary stories about travel and the human spirit have been the cornerstones of our books since 1993. With the Solas Awards we honor writers whose work inspires others to explore. We’re looking for the best stories about travel and the world. Funny, illuminating, adventurous, uplifting, scary, inspiring, poignant stories that reflect the unique alchemy that occurs when you enter unfamiliar territory and begin to see the world differently as a result. We hope these awards will be a catalyst for those who love to leave home and tell others about it.

📅 Deadline: September 21, 2024

Artificial Intelligence Competition

New Beginnings

Genres: Essay, Non-fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Short Story

There is no topic relating to technology that brings more discussion than artificial intelligence. Some people think it does wonders. Others see it as trouble. Let us know your opinion about AI in this competition. Include experiences you have had with AI. 300-word limit. Winners will be selected January 1, 2024. Open to anyone, anywhere.

💰 Entry fee: $5

📅 Deadline: December 15, 2023 (Expired)

Journalism Competition 2024

What are the most important issues taking place close to home? Perhaps a rare bird sighting near your town? Or a band of young people in your province fighting for access to higher education? This month, immerse yourself in a newsworthy event inside the borders of your own country, and invite us there through your written reporting.

📅 Deadline: July 22, 2024

Askew's Word on the Lake Writing Contest

Shuswap Association of Writers

Genres: Fiction, Non-fiction, Poetry, Essay, Memoir, and Short Story

Whether you’re an established or emerging writer, the Askew’s Word on the Lake Writing Contest has a place for you. Part of the Word on the Lake Writers’ Festival in Salmon Arm, BC, the contest is open to submissions in short fiction (up to 2,000 words), nonfiction (up to 2,000 words), and poetry (up to three one-page poems).

💰 Entry fee: $11

📅 Deadline: January 31, 2024 (Expired)

Annual Contest Submissions

So To Speak

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, LGBTQ, Non-fiction, and Poetry

So To Speak is seeking submissions for poetry, fiction, and non-fiction with an intersectional feminist lens! It is no secret that the literary canon and literary journals are largely comprised of heteronormative, patriarchal, cisgender, able-bodied white men. So to Speak seeks work by writers, poets, and artists who want to challenge and change the identity of the “canonical” writer.

💰 Entry fee: $4

📅 Deadline: March 15, 2024 (Expired)

100 Word Writing Contest

Tadpole Press

Genres: Essay, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Humor, Memoir, Mystery, Non-fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Thriller, Young Adult, Children's, Poetry, Romance, Short Story, Suspense, and Travel

Can you write a story using 100 words or less? Pieces will be judged on creativity, uniqueness, and how the story captures a new angle, breaks through stereotypes, and expands our beliefs about what's possible or unexpectedly delights us. In addition, we are looking for writing that is clever or unique, inspires us, and crafts a compelling and complete story. The first-place prize has doubled to $2,000 USD.

2nd: writing coach package

💰 Entry fee: $15

World Historian Student Essay Competition

World History Association

The World Historian Student Essay Competition is an international competition open to students enrolled in grades K–12 in public, private, and parochial schools, and those in home-study programs. Membership in the World History Association is not a requirement for submission. Past winners may not compete in the same category again.

📅 Deadline: May 01, 2024

Narratively 2023 Memoir Prize

Narratively

Genres: Essay, Humor, Memoir, and Non-fiction

Narratively is currently accepting submissions for their 2023 Memoir Prize. They are looking for revealing and emotional first-person nonfiction narratives from unique and overlooked points of view. The guest judge is New York Times bestselling memoirist Stephanie Land.

$1,000 and publication

💰 Entry fee: $20

📅 Deadline: November 30, 2023 (Expired)

Goldilocks Zone

Sunspot Literary Journal

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Memoir, Non-fiction, Novel, Novella, Poetry, Script Writing, and Short Story

Sunspot Lit is looking for the perfect combination of craft and appeal in stories, CNF, novel or novella excerpts, artwork, graphic novels, poems, scripts/screenplays. Literary and genre accepted. Enter through Submittable or Duotrope.

Lazuli Literary Group Writing Contest

Lazuli Literary Group

Genres: Essay, Fiction, Poetry, Short Story, Flash Fiction, Non-fiction, Novella, and Script Writing

We are not concerned with genre distinctions. Send us the best you have; we want only for it to be thoughtful, intelligent, and beautiful. We want art that grows in complexity upon each visitation; we enjoy ornate, cerebral, and voluptuous phrases executed with thematic intent.

Publication in "AZURE: A Journal of Literary Thought"

📅 Deadline: March 24, 2024 (Expired)

The Letter Review Prize for Nonfiction

Genres: Essay, Memoir, Non-fiction, Crime, Humor, and Science Writing

2-4 Winners are published. We Shortlist 10-20 writers. Seeking Nonfiction 0-5000 words. Judges’ feedback available. Open to writers from anywhere in the world, with no theme or genre restrictions. Judged blind. All entries considered for publication + submission to Pushcart.

Publication by The Letter Review

💰 Entry fee: $2

Discover the finest writing contests of 2024 for fiction and non-fiction authors — including short story competitions, essay writing competitions, poetry contests, and many more. Updated weekly, these contests are vetted by Reedsy to weed out the scammers and time-wasters. If you’re looking to stick to free writing contests, simply use our filters as you browse.

Why you should submit to writing contests

Submitting to poetry competitions and free writing contests in 2024 is absolutely worth your while as an aspiring author: just as your qualifications matter when you apply for a new job, a writing portfolio that boasts published works and award-winning pieces is a great way to give your writing career a boost. And not to mention the bonus of cash prizes!

That being said, we understand that taking part in writing contests can be tough for emerging writers. First, there’s the same affliction all writers face: lack of time or inspiration. Entering writing contests is a time commitment, and many people decide to forego this endeavor in order to work on their larger projects instead — like a full-length book. Second, for many writers, the chance of rejection is enough to steer them clear of writing contests. 

But we’re here to tell you that two of the great benefits of entering writing contests happen to be the same as those two reasons to avoid them.

When it comes to the time commitment: yes, you will need to expend time and effort in order to submit a quality piece of writing to competitions. That being said, having a hard deadline to meet is a great motivator for developing a solid writing routine.

Think of entering contests as a training session to become a writer who will need to meet deadlines in order to have a successful career. If there’s a contest you have your eye on, and the deadline is in one month, sit down and realistically plan how many words you’ll need to write per day in order to meet that due date — and don’t forget to also factor in the time you’ll need to edit your story!

For tips on setting up a realistic writing plan, check out this free, ten-day course: How to Build a Rock-Solid Writing Routine.

In regards to the fear of rejection, the truth is that any writer aspiring to become a published author needs to develop relatively thick skin. If one of your goals is to have a book traditionally published, you will absolutely need to learn how to deal with rejection, as traditional book deals are notoriously hard to score. If you’re an indie author, you will need to adopt the hardy determination required to slowly build up a readership.

The good news is that there’s a fairly simple trick for learning to deal with rejection: use it as a chance to explore how you might be able to improve your writing.

In an ideal world, each rejection from a publisher or contest would come with a detailed letter, offering construction feedback and pointing out specific tips for improvement. And while this is sometimes the case, it’s the exception and not the rule.

Still, you can use the writing contests you don’t win as a chance to provide yourself with this feedback. Take a look at the winning and shortlisted stories and highlight their strong suits: do they have fully realized characters, a knack for showing instead of telling, a well-developed but subtly conveyed theme, a particularly satisfying denouement?

The idea isn’t to replicate what makes those stories tick in your own writing. But most examples of excellent writing share a number of basic craft principles. Try and see if there are ways for you to translate those stories’ strong points into your own unique writing.

Finally, there are the more obvious benefits of entering writing contests: prize and publication. Not to mention the potential to build up your readership, connect with editors, and gain exposure.

Resources to help you win writing competitions in 2024

Every writing contest has its own set of submission rules. Whether those rules are dense or sparing, ensure that you follow them to a T. Disregarding the guidelines will not sway the judges’ opinion in your favor — and might disqualify you from the contest altogether. 

Aside from ensuring you follow the rules, here are a few resources that will help you perfect your submissions.

Free online courses

On Writing:

How to Craft a Killer Short Story

The Non-Sexy Business of Writing Non-Fiction

How to Write a Novel

Understanding Point of View

Developing Characters That Your Readers Will Love

Writing Dialogue That Develops Plot and Character

Stop Procrastinating! Build a Solid Writing Routine

On Editing:

Story Editing for Authors

How to Self-Edit Like a Pro

Novel Revision: Practical Tips for Rewrites

How to Write a Short Story in 7 Steps

How to Write a Novel in 15 Steps

Literary Devices and Terms — 35+ Definitions With Examples

10 Essential Fiction Writing Tips to Improve Your Craft

How to Write Dialogue: 8 Simple Rules and Exercises

8 Character Development Exercises to Help You Nail Your Character

Bonus resources

200+ Short Story Ideas

600+ Writing Prompts to Inspire You

100+ Creative Writing Exercises for Fiction Authors

Story Title Generator

Pen Name Generator

Character Name Generator

After you submit to a writing competition in 2024

It’s exciting to send a piece of writing off to a contest. However, once the initial excitement wears off, you may be left waiting for a while. Some writing contests will contact all entrants after the judging period — whether or not they’ve won. Other writing competitions will only contact the winners. 

Here are a few things to keep in mind after you submit:

Many writing competitions don’t have time to respond to each entrant with feedback on their story. However, it never hurts to ask! Feel free to politely reach out requesting feedback — but wait until after the selection period is over.

If you’ve submitted the same work to more than one writing competition or literary magazine, remember to withdraw your submission if it ends up winning elsewhere.

After you send a submission, don’t follow it up with a rewritten or revised version. Instead, ensure that your first version is thoroughly proofread and edited. If not, wait until the next edition of the contest or submit the revised version to other writing contests.

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More than 100 students enter essay contest, winners give cash to charity

A pr. 18—The Downriver West Kiwanis Club held its annual Elementary School Essay Contest recently at the Brownstown Community Center.

This contest marked the fourth year that the club has offered the two-school district project. Invitations to elementary schools in various communities were sent out requesting participation.

The fourth-grade teachers at Barnes Elementary School in Flat Rock, Miller Elementary School in New Boston, and Brown Elementary School in Huron Township answered the bell.

Students accepted the opportunity to write a 150-word essay or less answering the following question: "If you had $100 to donate to a worthy cause, who would you donate it to, and why?"

It turned out to be a question more than 100 students were willing to answer.

A panel of club members reviewed all entries before the deadline and after careful consideration, chose first- and second-place winners from each school.

The winners and their parents, along with teachers, principals and staff from each school, were invited to attend a dinner to receive their recognition.

Also in attendance were representatives from each charity that the students chose to write about in their respective essays. Each student then read their essay out loud that evening.

The first-place winners received a $100 check from the club to present to their charity of choice at the event.

The winners also received a lawn sign to proudly display in their yard, a certificate of congratulations and a gift basket.

Students from all three schools received a certificate of participation from the club.

The winners from each school are:

First place: Charles Wright — Toys for Tots

Second place: Caroline Ingram — St. Jude's Children's Hospital

First place: Connor Novak — Kiwanis of Michigan Foundation

Second place: Axton Sortwell — St. Jude's Children's Hospital

First place: Grace Luker — St. Jude's Children's Hospital

Second place: Henry Kridner — Toys for Tots

Every month, the club works on a different service project to assist the communities they serve.

The club welcomes anyone who would like to participate.

Information on scheduled meetings, upcoming service projects and community events can be found on the club's social media page at Facebook.com/downriverwestkiwanis .

Downriver West Kiwanis is an organization of volunteers dedicated to improving the lives of children in and around the communities they serve.

(c)2024 The News Herald, Southgate, Mich. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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The Ph.D. Program in History

at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York

• George Watt Essay Contest 2024

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives is an organization dedicated to preserving the legacy of the American volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War. They have an annual essay contest, The Watt Prize, named in honor of Lincoln Brigade volunteer George Watt, a writer, and lifelong activist central to the creation of ALBA, which is now accepting submissions. Students from anywhere in the world are invited to submit an essay or thesis chapter about any aspect of the Spanish Civil War, the global political or cultural struggles against fascism in the 1920s and 1930s, or the lifetime histories and contributions of the international volunteers who fought in support of the Spanish Republic from 1936 to 1938.

The contest offers cash prizes and accepts submissions in the Graduate and Undergraduate categories. More information about the essay contest and a detailed look at the contest requirements and judging criteria are located here on their website . The essay requirements and deadline are also listed below:

Email Submissions to  WattAward@alba-valb.org

Graduate Award ( Up to $1000)

• Submissions must be between 3,500 and 12,500 words.
• Submissions may be in Spanish or English.
• The Applicant must currently be registered as a graduate student and work must be related to graduate studies.
• Winners are expected to make a statement/presentation to the selection committee prior to award disbursement.
• Any work produced since August 1, 2023, is eligible for the competition.
• One essay will be awarded up to $1000
• Deadline: July 5, 2024

Undergraduate Award ( Up to $500)

• Essays must be between 2,000 and 10,500 words.
• Submissions must have been produced to fulfill an undergraduate course or degree requirement (please specify course, degree, and institution; for thesis chapters, please add a thesis abstract).
• One essay will be awarded up to $500

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An NPR editor who wrote a critical essay on the company has resigned after being suspended

The Associated Press

April 17, 2024, 8:51 PM

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NEW YORK (AP) — A National Public Radio editor who wrote an essay criticizing his employer for promoting liberal views resigned on Wednesday, attacking NPR’s new CEO on the way out.

Uri Berliner, a senior editor on NPR’s business desk, posted his resignation letter on X, formerly Twitter, a day after it was revealed that he had been suspended for five days for violating company rules about outside work done without permission.

“I cannot work in a newsroom where I am disparaged by a new CEO whose divisive views confirm the very problems” written about in his essay, Berliner said in his resignation letter.

Katherine Maher, a former tech executive appointed in January as NPR’s chief executive, has been criticized by conservative activists for social media messages that disparaged former President Donald Trump. The messages predated her hiring at NPR.

NPR’s public relations chief said the organization does not comment on individual personnel matters.

The suspension and subsequent resignation highlight the delicate balance that many U.S. news organizations and their editorial employees face. On one hand, as journalists striving to produce unbiased news, they’re not supposed to comment on contentious public issues; on the other, many journalists consider it their duty to critique their own organizations’ approaches to journalism when needed.

In his essay , written for the online Free Press site, Berliner said NPR is dominated by liberals and no longer has an open-minded spirit. He traced the change to coverage of Trump’s presidency.

“There’s an unspoken consensus about the stories we should pursue and how they should be framed,” he wrote. “It’s frictionless — one story after another about instances of supposed racism, transphobia, signs of the climate apocalypse, Israel doing something bad and the dire threat of Republican policies. It’s almost like an assembly line.”

He said he’d brought up his concerns internally and no changes had been made, making him “a visible wrong-thinker at a place I love.”

In the essay’s wake, NPR top editorial executive, Edith Chapin, said leadership strongly disagreed with Berliner’s assessment of the outlet’s journalism and the way it went about its work.

It’s not clear what Berliner was referring to when he talked about disparagement by Maher. In a lengthy memo to staff members last week, she wrote: “Asking a question about whether we’re living up to our mission should always be fair game: after all, journalism is nothing if not hard questions. Questioning whether our people are serving their mission with integrity, based on little more than the recognition of their identity, is profoundly disrespectful, hurtful and demeaning.”

Conservative activist Christopher Rufo revealed some of Maher’s past tweets after the essay was published. In one tweet, dated January 2018, Maher wrote that “Donald Trump is a racist.” A post just before the 2020 election pictured her in a Biden campaign hat.

In response, an NPR spokeswoman said Maher, years before she joined the radio network, was exercising her right to express herself. She is not involved in editorial decisions at NPR, the network said.

The issue is an example of what can happen when business executives, instead of journalists, are appointed to roles overseeing news organizations: they find themselves scrutinized for signs of bias in ways they hadn’t been before. Recently, NBC Universal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde has been criticized for service on paid corporate boards.

Maher is the former head of the Wikimedia Foundation. NPR’s own story about the 40-year-old executive’s appointment in January noted that she “has never worked directly in journalism or at a news organization.”

In his resignation letter, Berliner said that he did not support any efforts to strip NPR of public funding. “I respect the integrity of my colleagues and wish for NPR to thrive and do important journalism,” he wrote.

David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder

Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.

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Metcalfe County students among winners in statewide poster, essay contests

EDMONTON, Ky. (WBKO) – Two Metcalfe County students are among the winners of this year’s Kentucky Department of Agriculture Poster and Essay contests.

Jameah Kirby was named as the statewide 5th-grade winner of the essay contest, and Emily Shaw is the statewide 12th-grade winner of the poster contest.

The theme of this year’s contest was “Agriculture for a Better Kentucky,” according to Metcalfe County Schools.

“We are so proud of you both,” said a news release from Metcalfe County Schools. “Congratulations!”

Jameah and Emily will each receive a $100 check from Kentucky Agriculture and Environment in the Classroom.

The students have been invited to a statewide awards ceremony at the University of Kentucky’s Kroger Field and a baseball game at Kentucky Proud Park.

Copyright 2024 WBKO. All rights reserved.

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2024 RBG Essay & Art Contest Winners Recognized at Women in Law Leadership Lecture

The essay and artwork contest winners hail from Woodbridge Elementary School, Segue Institute for Learning, and Mount Saint Charles Academy.

One of the highlights of the recent Women in Law Leadership Lecture, featuring guest Director Rosie Hidalgo of the US Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) and RWU Law's Prof. Emily J. Sack, was the presentation of the 2024 Ruth Bader Ginsburg Essay/Art Contest. Elementary School Winner (Grades K-5) Visaagan Vipakaran's artwork entitled "Equality for All People" won the prize for art. Visaagan is a Grade 5 student at Woodridge Elementary School. Middle School Winner (Grades 6-8) Reese Lourenco's essay, "The Great Influence of Ruth Bader Ginsburg," earned the Middle School prize. Reese is a Grade 6 student at Segue Institute for Learning. According to Reese, the late RBG inspired with her bravery and perseverance. High School Winner (Grades 9-12) Avery Blais's essay, “The RBG Within ME,” secured her the High School prize. For this Grade 9 student of Mount Saint Charles Academy, RBG is a goal—a symbol of perseverance in paving the way for the next generation of Americans, serving as a reminder for Avery not to give up.

Information on the annual RBG Essay/Art Contest, this year's winners, as well as copies of the essays and an image of the winning artwork, may be found at this link.  

EMCON students sweep 2024 AAHN essay contest

Both undergraduate and graduate winners are emcon students..

Two Elaine Marieb College of Nursing students have won the 2024 Sarah B. Pasternack Nursing Student Essay Contest . Ameneh Arzheh (PhD Nursing) and Shaely Lora-Brito (BSN) won the respective graduate and undergraduate categories in the contest. They will each receive a $500 prize and will read their essays during a Nursing Archives Associates meeting later this spring.

Both students responded to the prompt: "Why is understanding nursing history important to the future of nursing?" Lora-Brito opens likening the history of nursing to the unfolding pages of a diary.

"Understanding the history of nursing is like unfolding the pages of a diary that holds the secrets to the soul of healthcare... Knowing the history of nursing isn't just a look back into the past; it's a guiding light that illuminates the way to the future." 

Lora-Brito goes on to discuss the historical importance of Mary Eliza Mahoney, the first African-American licensed nurse, writing, "Mahoney's story teaches us that nursing is not just about the skills and knowledge we acquire but also about the values we embody and the changes we strive to make, not only in healthcare but in society as a whole."

Arzheh also opens with the perspective that understanding history allows us to shape the future of nursing with an informed lens, with a specific focus on nursing theory.

"Nursing theory played a pivotal role in establishing the profession's unique identity... Nursing theories contribute significantly to shaping the profession by offering unique worldviews that enrich our understanding of nursing practice."

Using theory by which to evolve the profession and industry, Arzheh writes, helps shape nurse self-awareness, too. "This self-awareness becomes a catalyst for developing a deeper and more empathetic connection with patients," Arzheh argues.

Only two winning essays are selected each year for this prestigious contest. The winning essays will eventually be published in full on the Nursing Archives Associates website. The contest is in honor of Sarah Pasternack, MA, RN, who "served as the President of the Nursing Archives Associates for more than 20 years. She received the Living Legend Award from the ANA Massachusetts in 2014. Sarah was an Assistant Professor at Boston University School of Nursing and a Nursing Patient Services Director and an Advanced Practice Nurse in Patient Safety and Quality at Boston Children’s Hospital," according to AAHN .

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NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

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Legendary editor marty baron describes his 'collision of power' with trump and bezos.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.