Graduate and undergraduate students currently enrolled at the University of Oxford in any subject are invited to enter the Oxford Uehiro Prize in Practical Ethics by submitting an essay of up to 2000 words on any topic relevant to practical ethics. Eligibility includes visiting students who are registered as recognized students, and paying fees, but does not include informal visitors. Two undergraduate papers and two graduate papers will be shortlisted from those submitted to go forward to a public presentation and discussion, where the winner of each category will be selected, which will take place on Tuesday 10th March 2020.
The winner from each category will receive £300, and the runner up £100. Revised versions of the two winning essays will be considered for publication in the Journal of Practical Ethics, though publication is not guaranteed.
Finalists may also have the opportunity to present their papers at the Festival of arguments: ethics fit for the 21st century on the 24th March.
To enter, please submit your written papers by the end of Monday 10th February 2020 to rocci.wilkinson@philosophy.ox.ac.uk. Finalists will be notified in mid February of selection. The public presentation will take place in 8th Week, Hilary term 2020, on Tuesday 10th March. Please save this presentation date, as you will need to attend if selected as a finalist.
Detailed instructions
Stage 1: The Essay
The essay of up to 2000 words may cover any topic relevant to practical ethics. The question to be addressed should be stated clearly in bold at the outset. The focus of the marking will be on the quality and originality of your argument. References are therefore allowed but are not required. The essay can draw upon existing published work but needs to be sufficiently original to be eligible for publication in the Journal of Practical Ethics.
Submissions should be prepared for blind review by our assessors. Please remove any identifying information from your manuscript (both as a pdf and a word document) and provide a title sheet on a separate file with the title of your essay, your name and contact details, including email. Please include a word count. Please note that essays exceeding 2000 words cannot be considered. Footnotes are not included in the word count, however footnotes should be kept to a minimum. All assessors will be blinded to the identity of contributors and software to detect plagiarism will be employed.
Assessors will be asked to divide their marks to give 10% on the quality/originality of question posed; 40% originality of argument; and 50% quality of the argument.
Stage 2: Presentation
The best two papers from each section will go to the final round, where there will be a 15 minute presentation of each paper, followed by 15 minute question time from the panel and audience.
The panel will make a final judgement based on 75% weighting on the quality of the paper, and 25% from the presentation and question and answer session.
The Prize
The winner of each category will be awarded a prize of £300. The runner up will win £100.
All finalists will also be considered for publication on the blog Practical Ethics in the News and all entrants will be invited to attend the presentations, and to join a drinks reception after the event. Winners and shortlisted entrants will be announced on the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics’ website and notified by email.
Full details and terms and conditions available here
