philosophy essay prize

The Philosophy Essay Prize is open to Year 12 or Lower 6th students. The aim of the Prize is to encourage able sixth formers to pursue their interest in Philosophy, with the hope that they will be encouraged to read this or related subjects at University.

The questions for the 2024 competition are as follows:

‘It is impossible to fit values into the world described by natural science.’ Is it?

Can machines have minds?

You should answer one question only.  The deadline for entries is 12.00 noon UK time on Friday 31 May 2024 .

Candidates are invited to submit an essay of up to 2,000 words.  Entries must be submitted online by the end of May using the form below. 

The competition carries a First Prize of £600 and a Second Prize of £400, to be split equally between the candidate and his or her school or college; the school or college’s portion of the prize to be issued in the form of book tokens.

All candidates will be notified with the results of the competition around the end of August.  Any queries should be directed to the Admissions Administrator, Ms Stacey Smith, at [email protected] .

About your school

Past prize-winners.

1st Prize: Anjali Reddy (Wimbledon High School) Joint 2nd Prize: John Paul Cheng (Winchester College); Dimitrije Golubovic (Gimnazija “Bora Stankovic”, Serbia)

1st Prize: Ms Isabel Rumfitt (James Allen’s Girls’ School) 2nd Prize: Sam Wolffe (University College School)

1st Prize: Mr Fucheng Warren Zhu (Harrow International School, Hong Kong) 2nd Prize: Mr Jacob Tidmarsh (Home-schooled)

1st Prize: Catherine Brewer (Sharnbrook Sixth Form) 2nd Prize: David Levy (JFS)

1st Prize: Dilara Smyth (The Abbey School, Reading) 2nd Prize: Dalir Kosimov (Harris Westminster Sixth Form)

1st Prize: Nicole Souter (The King Edward VI School) 2nd Prize: Jack Chong (Wellington College)

1st Prize: Omodunni Bello (Sherborne School for Girls) 2nd Prize: Max Johnston (Uppingham School)

1st Prize: Conor O’Shea (Harrow School) 2nd Prize: Lila Mendoza (Sevenoaks School)

1st Prize: Harry Lloyd (Monmouth Comprehensive School) 2nd Prize: Kartik Prabhu (Westminster School)

1st Prize: Christopher Banks (King’s College School, Wimbledon) 2nd Prize: Eleanor Holton (The Stephen Perse Foundation Sixth Form, Cambridge)

1st Prize: Jeremy Khoo (Raffles Institution, Singapore) Joint 2nd Prize: Phoebe Bright (St Paul’s Girls’ School) Joint 2nd Prize: Rory Turnbull (Hereford Cathedral School)

1st Prize: Keith Wynroe (De La Salle College, Macroom) 2nd Prize: Nina Maras (Latymer Upper School)

1st Prize: Kacper Kowalczyk (Dulwich College) 2nd Prize: Alice Carter (Canford School)

1st Prize: Ding Hui (Raffles Institution) 2nd Prize: Timothy Wickenden (The Sixth Form College, Farnborough)

1st Prize: Rosie Illingworth (Oundle School) 2nd Prize: Joshua Brown (University College School)

1st Prize: Annie Hawes (Henrietta Barnett School) 2nd Prize: Robert Dixon (Oundle School)

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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.

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The Philosophical Quarterly Essay Prize: Winning Articles

Since 1995, the editors of The Philosophical Quarterly have awarded an essay prize to the best paper on a chosen theme. Browse the full list of previous prize winners in this free Virtual Issue. Click the links below to start reading!

De Minimis Normativism: a New Theory of Full Aptness J Adam Carter (2019)

On Parfit’s Wide Dual Person-Affecting Principle Michal Masny (2018)

The Essential Indexicality of Intentional Action Matthew Babb (2015)

Analysing Animality: A Critical Approach Jason Wyckoff (2014)

The Identity of a Material Thing and its Matter Mahrad Almotahari (2013)

Unethical Acts Tzachi Zamir (2012)

Refuting The Whole System? Hume's Attack on Popular Religion in The Natural History of Religion Jennifer Smalligan Maruši? (2011)

Love as a Reactive Emotion Kate Abramson and Adam Leite (2010)

Autonomy and Plurality Larry Krasnoff (2009)

Creativity Naturalized Maria E. Kronfeldner (2008)

A New Defence of Anselmian Theism Yujin Nagasawa (2007) 

The Regress of Pure Powers? Alexander Bird (2006)

A New Argument for Evidentialism Nishi Shah (2005)

Poverty and Rights James W. Nickel (2004)

The Attractions and Delights of Goodness Jyl Gentzler (2003)

Future Contingents and Relative Truth John MacFarlane (2002)

Reid and Epistemic Naturalism Patrick Rysiew (2001) 

Is ‘Normal Grief’ a Mental Disorder? Stephen Wilkinson (1999)

The Limits of Human Nature Keith Horton (1998)

Emergence: Non-Deducibility or Downwards Causation? Jürgen Schröder (1997)

Art Media and the Sense Modalities: Tactile Pictures Dominic Lopes (1996)

An Unconnected Heap of Duties? David McNaughton (1995)

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On the Work of Jürgen Habermas

• Habermas’s appropriation of earlier thinkers such as Kant and Hegel
• His analysis of social evolution, history as a learning process
• Communicative action and discourse
• His stance toward contemporary philosophical movements, such as feminism
• Postmetaphysical thinking
• His philosophy of religion
• His critique of technocracy and scientism

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• Events Calendar
• Prizes and Scholarships

Undergraduate History of Philosophy Essay Prize

Past recipients of the Undergraduate History of Philosophy Essay Prize:

• Kelly Dinneen (2019), “Freedom and Affection: Metaphysical and Moral Grounds for Duns Scotus’ Libertarianism”
• Alison Weinberger (2020), “Correlation is not Causation: Understanding the Scope of Aristotle’s Teleology in Light of Physics II.8”
• Rose Scotti-Burrows (2021), “A Modern Allegory of the Cave: Social Media and Misinformation”
• Not awarded (2022)
• Ellie McDonald (2023), "The Socratic Refutation: A Tool for the Paradigm-Challenging Elenchus”
• John Whitten (2024), “Stoicism and Eternal Recurrence"

Morris Judd Undergraduate Essay Prize

The Morris Judd Undergraduate Essay Prize is awarded to the best undergraduate essay submitted on any topic in the values area. The prize comes with a cash award of $500 as well as formal recognition of the honor at the Department’s spring commencement ceremony. The competition is open to all current CU undergraduates with a major or minor in Philosophy.

The prize is named for Morris Judd, a former Instructor in the Philosophy Department at CU who taught a variety of courses including several in the values area.  The Department held Judd to be an outstanding teacher, but his appointment at the University was discontinued in the early 1950s when he refused to answer questions about whether he had ever been a Communist.  You can find more information about his story here: http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_13137226

Past recipients of the Morris Judd Undergraduate Essay Prize:

• Toby Bollig (2018), “Is Circumventing the Euthyphro Dilemma by Appealing to God’s Nature Problematic?”
• Rebecca Mullen (2019), “The Moral Access Problem and Identifying Moral Expertise”
• Kelly Dineen (2020), " On the Uniqueness of Epistemic Buck Passing”
• Not awarded (2021)
• Britton Rufien, “An Objection to John Hick’s Soul-Making Theodicy” (2022)
• Not awarded (2023)
• Lindsey Harriman (2024), “An Assessment of Experientialism as the Most Successful Theory of Well-Being”

The Morris Judd Scholarship for Philosophy Majors

Undergraduate Philosophy majors at CU Boulder are eligible to apply for this scholarship ( https://colorado.academicworks.com/opportunities/12194) . In selecting recipients, the department will take into account academic excellence, contributions to the university’s philosophical community, and need. Applications from women and other underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged. The award amount is $2000 for one academic year.

A complete application for the Morris Judd Scholarship includes:

• One Letter of Recommendation (from a faculty member in the Philosophy Department)
• A One-Page (Single-Spaced) Personal Statement

In composing the personal statement, applicants should comment on their particular interests and projects in philosophy, as well as their post-college plans. In addition, they may elaborate on any special circumstances they would like the selection committee to consider, such as academic awards or honors, involvement in community outreach, bringing a unique or diverse perspective to the Department or the CU Boulder campus, and personal hardship or disadvantage (financial or otherwise).

The Morris Judd Scholarship is named after Morris Judd, who in the early 1950s was a faculty member in CU Boulder’s Philosophy Department. Although he was an outstanding teacher, his appointment was terminated when he and 50 other faculty members, staff, and students were investigated for alleged ties to the Communist Party.

Eligible students may apply for the Morris Judd Scholarship through the AcademicWorks portal, accessible through myCUinfo. The scholarship is awarded on an annual basis, with applications due April 15.

Past recipients of the Morris Judd Scholarship:

• Mattie McGarey (2018)
• Alison Weinberger (2019)
• Kelsey Grant (2020)
• Ian Gaskins (2021)
• Taylor Johnson (2022)
• Ellie McDonald (2023)
• Tess Kuczun (2024)

The Socrates Prize

The Socrates Prize is awarded each year at Spring Commencement to the undergraduate philosophy major(s) with the highest overall GPA.

Past recipients of the Socrates Prize:

• Toby Bollig (2018)
• Grey Shipman (2019)
• Kieran Britt, Stephen Troy, and Alison Weinberger (2020)
• Ben Deitsch and Charlotte Moore (2021)
• Derek Horn (2022)
• Henry Ediger and Aaron Gafari (2023)
• Tyler Fredericks (2024)

The Paduano Family Scholarship

Undergraduate Philosophy majors at CU Boulder are eligible to apply for the Paduano Family Scholarship ( https://colorado.academicworks.com/opportunities/12851 ). The scholarship is based on both merit and need, with need more strongly weighted. Applications from women and other underrepresented groups are particularly encouraged. The award amount is $1000 for next academic year, 2021/22 .

A complete application for the Paduano Family Scholarship should include:

• Overall GPA
• Personal Statement (1/2- to 1-page, single-spaced)

In composing the personal statement, applicants should comment on their particular interests and projects in philosophy and elaborate on any circumstances they would like the selection committee to consider, including personal hardship or disadvantage (financial or otherwise), academic awards or honors, and involvement in community outreach.

Eligible students may apply for the Paduano Family Scholarship through the AcademicWorks portal, accessible through myCUinfo. The scholarship is awarded on an annual basis, with applications due April 15 .

Past winners of the Paduano Family Scholarship:

• Charles Doremieux (2020)
• Rose Scotti-Burrows (2021)
• Grace Patrick (2022)
• Ariadna Olivas (2023)
• Laila Sefidkar (2024)
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Study with us | Schools liaison | What we do | Events and prizes | Lloyd Davies Philosophy Prize

The Lloyd Davies Philosophy Prize for Year 12 students

Developing independent study.

The purpose of the Prize is:

• To give students in Year 12 (or equivalent) who are considering applying to university an opportunity to write about a subject they are interested in. This should enable them to develop their abilities for independent research and thought in Philosophy.
• To support teachers of able pupils by providing interesting and challenging further work in Philosophy and by bringing their students into contact with Higher Education.
• To encourage able students to consider applying to study Philosophy, either at Oxford or at another university, by giving them some experience of the type of work involved.
• To recognise the achievement and effort of the best of those who apply through prizes and commendations. Note: the judges are not able to provide feedback on any essays.

Assessment Criteria

Entrants should be in Year 12 (or equivalent) at their school or college. The judges will look for:

• Originality of thought
• An accurate understanding of the issues
• Clarity of structure and expression
• And a critical approach to what has been read

General Guidelines

• Essays should be no more than 2,500 words in length and should be on one of the topics listed below. Essays should be word processed and submitted by email in either Word or PDF format to  [email protected] .
• A font size of 12pt or greater should be used, and the page margins should be set to no less than 1 inch.
• Entries must be sent with a completed entry form, which is available to download below.
• Please include a bibliography (note: this does not count towards the word limit).

How to Apply

The 2022 Lloyd Davies Competition is now closed for entries.

Check here again soon for information on how to enter the 2023 competition.

Previous Essay Questions

Those who entered the 2022 essay competition answered the following questions:

1. ‘If I know that something is true, I know that any evidence against it is misleading. So I am justified in never questioning my knowledge, even when I come across evidence against it.’ Discuss.

2. Is mathematics similar to morality?

3. Is the distinction between past and future fundamental?

2022 Competition Result

The winner of the 2022 Lloyd Davies Philosophy Prize was Emily Tan.

• Emily Tan ‘s essay was on the question “Is Mathematics Similar to Morality?”

One essay was chosen as the close runner-up

• Jem Perry ‘s essay on the question “Is Mathematics Similar to Morality?”

The assessors wish to commend the essays written by:

• Ilea Dehghan on the question “Is Mathematics Similar to Morality?”
• Lloyd Doré-Green on the question “If I know that something is true, I know that any evidence against it is misleading. So I am justified in never questioning my knowledge, even when I come across evidence against it.’ Discuss”
• Andrew McKimm on the question “Is the distinction between past and future fundamental?”
• Amelie Zhang on the question “Is the distinction between past and future fundamental?”

2021 Competition Result

In 2021 we received close to 100 entries from students from all over the world. One essay was chosen as the winner:

• Bo Cresser ‘s (Kingsdale Foundation School, London) essay on the question “Does it really matter whether we have a free will or not?”
• Sirui Cai ‘s (Raffles, Singapore) essay on the question “Does it really matter whether we have a free will or not?”

The standard of entries was extremely high. The assessors wish to single out for special mention the essays by:

• Amia Guha (Westminster School, Oxford), on the question “Does it really matter whether we have a free will or not?”
• Nicholson Kanefield (Boulder High School, Colorado) on the question “Do you know that you are not dreaming right now? If so, how? If not, does it matter?”
• Pongsapak Waiwitlikhit (Shrewsbury International School Riverside, Bangkok) on the question “Should we rethink the nature and limits of freedom of speech in the internet age?”
• Oliver Weiner (Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School) on the question “Do you know that you are not dreaming right now? If so, how? If not, does it matter?”

The essays by

• William Dewhurst (Downside School, Radstock)
• Cecilia, Forsyth (St Paul’s Girls’ School, London)
• Maya Grunschlag (St Paul’s Girls’ School, London)
• Jiay Lin (Cardiff Sixth Form College)
• Lucy Richardson (Cranford House School, Wallingford)
• Haley Son (Seoul Foreign School)
• Nathan Steward (Marling School, Stroud)
• Martha Vine (Godolphin and Latymer School, London)

were also highly commended.

2020 Competition Result

In 2020, two essays were chosen as joint winners:

• Kunal Barman ‘s (St Edward’s School) essay on the question: “should vaccines be compulsory?”
• Elliott Bonal ‘s (Ecole Diagonale, France) essay answering the question: “Is it rational to believe in the existence of viruses but not to believe in the existence of dark matter?”

The general standard of entries was high. The assessors singled out for special mention the essays by

• Bruce, Edward (Ralph Allen School)
• Walsh, Oliver (Royal Grammar School)
• Orkeny, Bence (ELTE, Radnoti Miknlos Gyakorlo Altalanos Iskola es Gyakorlo Gimnazium, Hungary)
• Yang, Joanne (Seoul International School)
• Pang, Gabriel (Comberton Sixth Form)
• O’ Gorman, Tom (Brighton College)
• Goel, Abhay (Westminster School)
• Frasheri, Allan (Largo High School)

further information

Rex nettleford essay competition, schools liaison and outreach, our outreach work.

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 Nayef Al-Rodhan Book Prize

The Royal Institute of Philosophy is pleased to announce The Nayef Al-Rodhan International Book Prize in Transdisciplinary Philosophy. This £20,000 annual prize will annually reward the most original philosophical research that transcends academic disciplines.

About the prize 

The Royal Institute of Philosophy is pleased to announce the 2024 Nayef Al-Rodhan International Book Prize in Transdisciplinary Philosophy . Submissions are welcome from publishers anywhere in the world.

2023 Book Prize Award Ceremony and Remarks by Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan 

On 31 October, 2023 The Royal Institute of Philosophy held the Award Ceremony for The Nayef Al-Rodhan International Book Prize in Transdisciplinary Philosophy at the Library in Conway Hall, in London.

We were pleased to announce the 2023 winner. The judging panel chose  The Right to Sex  by Amia Srinivasan as the winning entry to the new £20,000 annual prize designed to reward annually the most original philosophical research that transcends academic disciplines.

The Right to Sex chosen as the 2023 Book Prize winner 

TRIP is delighted to announce that the winner of the inaugural Nayef-Al-Rodhan International Prize in Transdisciplinary Philosophy has been named as The Right to Sex by Amia Srinivasan.

Shortlist announced  

The judging panel for the 2023 Nayef Al-Rodhan Book Prize have now announced this year’s shortlist.

Longlist revealed 

The judging panel for the 2023 Nayef Al-Rodhan Book Prize have now announced this year’s longlist.