ai essay writing competition

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.

AI Impacts blog

Essay competition on the Automation of Wisdom and Philosophy — $25k in prizes

By Owen Cotton-Barratt

With AI Impacts, we’re pleased to announce an essay competition on the automation of wisdom and philosophy. Submissions are due by July 14th. The first prize is $10,000, and there is a total of $25,000 in prizes available.

AI is likely to automate more and more categories of thinking with time.

By default, the direction the world goes in will be a result of the choices people make, and these choices will be informed by the best thinking available to them. People systematically make better, wiser choices when they understand more about issues, and when they are advised by deep and wise thinking.

Advanced AI will reshape the world, and create many new situations with potentially high-stakes decisions for people to make. To what degree people will understand these situations well enough to make wise choices remains to be seen. To some extent this will depend on how much good human thinking is devoted to these questions; but at some point it will probably depend crucially on how advanced, reliable, and widespread the automation of high-quality thinking about novel situations is.

We believe 1 that this area could be a crucial target for differential technological development, but is at present poorly understood and receives little attention. This competition aims to encourage and to highlight good thinking on the topics of what would be needed for such automation, and how it might (or might not) arise in the world.

For more information about what we have in mind, see some of the suggested essay prompts or the FAQ below.

To enter, please submit a link to a piece of writing, not published before 2024. This could be published or unpublished; although if selected for a prize we will require publication (at least in pre-print form; optionally on the AI Impacts website) in order to pay out the prize. 

There are no constraints on the format — we will accept essays, blog posts, papers 2 , websites, or other written artefacts 3 of any length. However, we primarily have in mind essays of 500–5,000 words. AI assistance is welcome but its nature and extent should be disclosed. As part of your submission you will be asked to provide a summary of 100–200 words. 

Your writing should aim to make progress on a question related to the automation of wisdom and philosophy. A non-exhaustive set of questions of interest, in four broad categories:

Automation of wisdom

What is the nature of the sort of good thinking we want to be able to automate? How can we distinguish the type of thinking it’s important to automate well and early from types of thinking where that’s less important?

What are the key features or components of this good thinking?

How do we come to recognise new ones?

What are traps in thinking that is smart but not wise?

How can this be identified in automatable ways?

How could we build metrics for any of these things?

Automation of philosophy

What types of philosophy are language models well-equipped to produce, and what do they struggle with?

What would it look like to develop a “science of philosophy”, testing models’ abilities to think through new questions, with ground truth held back, and seeing empirically what is effective?

What have the trend lines for automating philosophy looked like, compared to other tasks performed by language models?

What types of training/finetuning/prompting/scaffolding help with the automation of wisdom/philosophy?

How much do they help, especially compared to how much they help other types of reasoning?

Thinking ahead

Considering the research agenda that will (presumably) eventually be needed to automate high quality wisdom/philosophy:

Which parts of the agenda can we expect to automate in a timely fashion? 

What is the core that we will need humans to address?

What do we expect the thorny sticking points to be?

Why may or may not this problem be solved “by default”? (from a technical standpoint)

Can we tell concrete stories or vignettes in which the automation of wisdom/philosophy is/isn’t important, to triangulate our understanding of what matters?

What preparatory research could provide the best groundwork for humanity to automate high-quality wisdom/philosophy before it is necessary?

What projects today or in the near future would be valuable to undertake?

If the world were devoting serious attention to this, what would that look like?

What incentives on institutional actors could push work onto related but less important questions; vice-versa what could help ensure that work remained well-targeted?

What are the natural institutional homes for this research in the short term?

Academia? Nonprofits? Frontier AI labs? Elsewhere in industry?

What might be needed (proofs, audits, track record?) to enable humans (decision-makers, voters) and human institutions to correctly trust wise advice from AI systems?

How could we lay the groundwork for this?

Ideas for catalysing/sustaining this field?

Why may or may not this problem be solved “by default”? (from a social standpoint)

If you’re not sure whether a topic would be within scope, feel free to check with us.

The judging process will be coordinated by Owen Cotton-Barratt. After shortlisting, entries will be assessed by a panel of judges: Andreas Stuhlmüller , Brad Saad , David Manley , Linh Chi Nguyen , and Wei Dai .

Judging criteria will be:

Does the entry tackle an important facet of the automation of wisdom/philosophy?

Does the entry contain good analysis or valuable new ideas?

Is the writing clear, succinct, and epistemically appropriate?

Does the entry provide something that we are excited to see built upon or explored further? 

The prize pool is $25,000, and the prize schedule will be:

$10,000 First Prize

$5,000 Second Prize

4x $2,000 Best-in-Category Prizes 

Judging for these will exclude the overall First and Second Prize winners from consideration

So if e.g. the overall First Prize and Second Prize both went to entries in the “Ecosystems” category, then the third-best entry in that category would receive $2,000 

4x $500 Runner Up Prize, for the best entries across any category that did not receive another prize

For these prizes, the judges may give preference to impressive entries by people at early career stages

Whereas judging for the main prizes will — insofar as this is feasible — be blind to the identities and personal characteristics of the authors

We may contact entrants whose work impresses us about possible further opportunities (e.g. conferences or research positions) on these topics.

Entries should be submitted via this form , which asks for:

Your name and email address

A link to your entry

A 100–200 word summary

Which if any of our four categories your entry falls under

Statement of authorship credit (including AI credit)

A brief description of career stage (so that judges can at their discretion account for this in awarding Runner Up prizes)

Opportunity to opt out of future contact not directly related to this competition

Anything else we should know

You are of course welcome to seek feedback on drafts before submission. Coauthored articles are also very welcome.

The deadline for submissions is midnight anywhere in the world on Sunday 14th July. We hope to complete shortlisting within two weeks of the submission deadline, and contact winners within four weeks of the submission deadline. Winners whose entries are not yet public will have two weeks after we contact them to provide a public version, or agree to us publishing it on the AI Impacts website. Payment will be made by ACH (for US-based winners) or wire transfer (for international winners).

We reserve the right to extend the submission deadline or increase the prize pool without notice. Judges have the right to split prizes in cases of ties, or to not award prizes in the unlikely event that no submissions are found to merit them.

If you want to ask questions about the competition, feel free to comment, or to email [email protected]

FAQ on the automation of wisdom and philosophy

What’s the basic idea here.

We're interested in the automation of thinking that can help actors to take wise actions (whatever that means) and avoid unwise actions. As an important subcategory, we're interested in the automation of philosophical thinking, and how to avoid practical errors grounded in philosophical mistakes.

What do you want to know about such automation?

We're not certain! We think it's a potentially important area which hasn't received that much attention. We'd like people to explore more of the ideas around this. If we understood more of the contours of when such automation might be helpful (or unhelpful!), that would seem good. If we understood more about what would be necessary for automation, that would seem good. If people developed a sense of things it would be good for someone to do in the world, that's potentially great.

We give a bunch of example questions we'd be interested in people addressing in the essay prompts part of the announcement, but because it seems like a broad area we've preferred to leave the competition fairly open, and wait to see which parts people can make meaningful contributions to.

What do you mean by “wisdom” and “philosophy”?

By “wisdom”, we mean something like “thinking/planning which is good at avoiding large-scale errors”. An archetype of something which is smart-but-not-wise might be a plan full of clever steps which are each individually well-chosen to chain to the previous step in the plan, but which collectively forget why they were doing this, and end up taking actions which are in conflict with the original goal. Wisdom is also what’s needed for noticing that an old ontology was baking in some problematic assumptions about what was going on.

By “philosophy”, we mean something like “the activity of trying to find answers by thinking things through, without the ability to observe answers”. This is close to the sense understood in the academic discipline of philosophy.

We’re not sure if automating these things is most naturally thought of as one topic, two topics, or more …

What threats are you concerned about?

Progress in these areas seems like it could potentially help avoid a number of different issues:

Unwise human actions

Humans sometimes take actions which are predictably unwise (from some perspectives), and which they later regret. Such actions could be really bad if they interact with high stakes situations. If people had access to trusted high wisdom automated advice, this could help them to reduce the rate of these errors.

This might be particularly important around issues coming with the development of AI, as people will be facing very novel situations and be less able to rely on experience.

Human philosophical errors

People sometimes make decisions that are influenced by their philosophical understanding of an issue. This could happen in the future, e.g. around understanding of AI consciousness/rights. Automation of good work, if achievable, could help people to have deeper understanding by the times they need to make key decisions.

Unwise AI actions

If people empower AI agents, ensuring that they are in some sense wise and not just smart could help to reduce rare damaging actions. In the extreme this could reduce risk of human extinction (imagine an AI system which wipes out humans in order to secure its own power, and later on reflection wishes it hadn't; a wiser system might have avoided taking that action in the first place).

AI philosophical errors

If AI systems become superintelligent and are meaningfully running the world, their stances on philosophical questions could matter. e.g. deciding to engage in acausal trade (if it doesn’t actually make sense), or deciding not to (if it does) could be a large and consequential error. Better understanding of the automation of philosophy could help either to lead to more philosophically-competent AI systems, or alternatively could help people to coordinate about which parts of thinking should not be delegated to AI systems.

Is there a particular threat model you’re focused on?

No. We could make some guesses (both about which of the above categories are most concerning, and more concretely what the most concerning threats within them are), but we feel like the whole area is under-explored, and wouldn’t be confident in our guesses. We’d love to see high-quality analysis of this.

The fact that the automation of wisdom/philosophy seems important to better understand for multiple different threats — and also seems like a plausibly useful intervention for improving our ability to handle unknown unknowns — feeds into our desire to see it prioritized more than at present.

Automating wisdom, philosophy — isn’t this all just AI capabilities work?

Maybe! Certainly this is a type of capability (and high performance probably requires significantly advanced general capabilities, relative to today).

However, it seems to us that for a given level of general smarts in a system, the capacity for wisdom or philosophy could keep up with that, or could fail to. We are concerned about worlds where the ability to automate wise actions is outstripped by the ability to automate smart ones. So it seems like it may (at least in part) be a problem of differential technological development. We would be interested in further analysis of this question.

The precise opinions expressed in this post should not be taken as institutional views of AI Impacts, but as approximate views of the competition organizers. We offer them not because we're sure they're exactly right, but because we think they're pointing in a promising direction and it's more likely to provoke high quality interesting entries if we provide some concrete starting points.

We recognise that the timeline may be on the tight side for thoroughly researched papers. We are very happy to consider papers (and note that most journals accept papers that have been available as pre-prints, e.g. see   https://philarchive.org/journals.html for philosophy journals), but for entrants who are targeting academic publication we also welcome people putting the heart of their argument into an essay for the competition and later expanding it into a paper.

Feel free to use unusual formats if you consider them best for exploring the ideas. e.g. we would be happy to receive a fictional business plan or technical roadmap for a hypothetical firm working on a challenge in these areas.

Ready for more?

The AIIRA Writing Contest 2023

How will ai change the landscape of your career within the next decade.

This contest is sponsored by the AI Institute for Resilient Agriculture (AIIRA) with partial support from USDA/NIFA and US NSF .

Contest Details

Calling all high schoolers! We're back with a new prompt, and we want to see your thoughts. This season, we're asking you to think about a career you'd like to have in the future. How will AI affect your role in that job within the next decade? How will AI benefit your career, and what responsibilities will become redundant due to AI? You can submit an essay exploring this topic and write a fictional scene dipicting how your intended career may look ten years from now.

The submission deadline for this contest is December 31, 2023 . To obtain more informatiom about this contest or to submit your writings, please visit the Duotrope's Submission Manager link below.

• First Place: $500 USD
• Second Place: $400 USD (x2)
• Third Place: $250 USD (x3)

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Creative writin…

Creative writing prize breaks new ground with AI

The article at a glance.

The Cambridge Creative Writing Competition organised by the Psychometrics Centre at Cambridge Judge allowed AI (artificial intelligence) to be used for the first time.

Category: News Research centre news

The Psychometrics Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School announced the winners of the 2nd Cambridge Creative Writing Competition, which was the first time that artificial intelligence was used in the competition.

Each entrant was challenged to write 3 short stories in 40 minutes, sometimes alone and sometimes with the assistance of AI.

First Prize winner

• Jess Thomas of Cambridgeshire

Second Prize winners

• Liam Etheridge
• Charlotte Crawley
• Rachel Ngai
• Nicholas Chan
• Tommy Higgins/Jeremy Wang/Rachel Lindsay (sharing the last 2nd Prize)

AI allowed for first time due to its central role in future of work

We received an exceptionally large number of submissions, many of which showed a great level of originality and imagination. We decided to allow AI to be used in the competition for the first time because we expect AI to be an essential part of the future of work and have the potential of greatly enhancing human capabilities and creativity.

The winner receives £500 and the runners-up each receive £100. The competition is supported by a Cambridge Judge Behavioural Small Research Grant.

The Psychometrics Centre

The Psychometrics Centre researches human behaviour to improve global standards in psychometrics for better business outcomes and user experiences.

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Visit the Psychometrics Centre website to learn more about the Creative Writing Competition.

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Invesco and Cambridge Judge Business School announce a 10-year collaboration

Invesco to support Cambridge Judge Business School’s research activities in long-term asset management, alternative finance and data-analytics. Global asset management firm Invesco and Cambridge Judge Business School today announced a 10-year collaboration under which Invesco will support research activities in long term asset management, alternative finance and data-analytics. "Collaborations such as this between industry and academia are vital in producing research that sits at the forefront of academia and practice. We are delighted to be working with Invesco, which will help both sides to learn and progress in these core areas," said Professor Christoph Loch, Director of Cambridge Judge Business School. "We look forward to engaging with each other’s networks, sharing ideas and enhancing the impact of outward-looking research." Doug Sharp, CEO, Invesco EMEA said: “High-quality long-term research is essential in developing the knowledge and understanding that underpins best practice and innovation in the asset management industry. Invesco places great importance on participating in this discussion and driving thought leadership. We are delighted to be working with the University of Cambridge, whose reputation for research excellence is world-renowned. The knowledge, talent and ideas we will have access to through this collaboration will be of value to our clients and our…

Is your profile picture ‘smart’?

Algorithms can predict a person's intelligence based on social network photos as accurately as humans can and without faulty stereotyping, says study from University of Cambridge Judge Business School. Algorithms can assess a person's intelligence based on their social network photos as accurately as humans can and without faulty stereotyping, finds a study from University of Cambridge Judge Business School being presented to a leading big data conference today (Tuesday 7 February). Humans inaccurately stereotype people wearing glasses or smiling as being intelligent, the research shows. The study, based on the Facebook profile photos of 1,122 people who had also completed Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests, used machine learning to find links between the social network users' photos and their intelligence, and also asked strangers to estimate each person’s intelligence from their photo. The findings: machines using factors such as a photo’s colour, composition and texture predict a person’s “measured intelligence” as accurately as (or marginally better than) humans do, while humans use inaccurate cues such as eyeglasses in judging "perceived intelligence". This has important implications for hiring and other practices in which profile photos are routinely reviewed. "The fact that machines can accurately judge intelligence poses an obvious privacy risk,…

‘Data’ and popcorn

New exhibit at the Science Museum in London features research about our Big Data by Dr David Stillwell of Cambridge Judge Business School. A new exhibit at the Science Museum called Our Lives in Data features much-cited research on social media data by Dr David Stillwell, University Lecturer in Big Data Analytics & Quantitative Social Science at Cambridge Judge Business School. David's research, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that highly sensitive details of an individual's personality can be accurately predicted based on their Facebook "likes". "As the amount of data collected grows so does the debate around data ownership," the Science Museum says in describing the new exhibit, which will be in place until September 2017. "Over 90 per cent of all available human data has been recorded in the last two years and is already being used to transform the world around us." The free exhibit at the museum's Wellcome Wing includes a video in which David speaks about his research on Big Data, as well as an interactive display based on David’s research: people rate brands they like or dislike, and then receive a personality prediction at the end along with a…

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The Economist’s essay contest featured an AI submission. Here’s what the judges thought.

Text-generating AI is getting better and better — but it’s not yet contest-winning good.

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Earlier this summer, the Economist announced a competition for young people. They asked contestants to answer this question: “What fundamental economic and political change, if any, is needed for an effective response to climate change?”

More than 2,400 people responded, from over 110 countries. And the Economist slipped one essay into the stack of submissions that their judges would review: an essay written by an artificial intelligence.

The AI in question was GPT-2 , a language-generating system developed by San Francisco AI lab OpenAI and announced this spring . The team at OpenAI hasn’t released the whole system to the public yet as they continue to research ways it might be abused — to spam reviews, boost bots, or spread disinformation. The team at the Economist fed a version of GPT-2 their prompt, got six different 400-word texts, and spliced three of them together to make a submission for their contest.

You can read the bot’s submission over at the Economist . Perhaps more entertainingly, you can read the judges’ responses. On the whole, the judges were fooled, but they weren’t especially impressed. Judges were asked to vote “yes,” “no,” or “maybe” for each of the essays they read — essays with the most votes were moved on to the next round of judging. The AI essay garnered 4 “nos” and 2 “maybes.”

“I do not think it shows a strong understanding of existing climate policy nor of the scientific literature coming out of the IPCC,” wrote one no-voting judge.

“It is strongly worded and backs up claims with evidence, but the idea is not incredibly original,” wrote another judge who rated the essay a “maybe.”

So the AI did not emerge victorious — but even this mediocre performance is a stunning change from what AI was capable of just a few years ago. Until recently, chat bots were very obviously bots, producing incredibly simplistic, confused, incoherent text that no one would confuse for a competent human writer.

Now AI systems can be used by humans to generate text that seems perfectly adequate as an essay for a competition — not award-winning, but not suspiciously bad. (It seems awfully likely that the use of systems like GPT-2 for cheating on homework will eventually be widespread.)

And since the release of GPT-2, OpenAI’s competitors have developed highly sophisticated language models, too. In September, Salesforce announced a new language model called CTRL , even bigger than the ones OpenAI has released, which allows humans more options for tuning the text they want to generate — for example, by telling the AI they want it to write news, or horror, or poetry.

As researchers continue to make these models better and better, it’ll get even harder to tell the difference between an essay written by a robot and an essay written by a human. And natural language processing isn’t the only field where AI has been advancing rapidly, forcing us to consider the implications of our current advances and the alarming potential of future ones. AIs have also improved rapidly at generating faces of people who don’t exist , at enhancing low-resolution photographs , at strategy wargaming , and at taking science tests .

Perhaps an AI that can really tell us what to do about global warming will arrive in time for us to make use of its assistance.

Sign up for the Future Perfect newsletter. Twice a week, you’ll get a roundup of ideas and solutions for tackling our biggest challenges: improving public health, decreasing human and animal suffering, easing catastrophic risks, and — to put it simply — getting better at doing good.

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A.I., Bioprinting and Glass Frogs: The Winners of Our 4th Annual STEM Writing Contest

Students explain concepts from the world of science, technology, engineering and math.

By The Learning Network

When I was 14, I boarded an airplane to Boston and started my academic life as an international student in New England … Every time I return home for breaks, I am always first greeted by a warm and reassuring smell when I enter the house … It is the fresh smell of clean bed linen, the herbal smell of my mother’s shampoo, and the musky smell of our golden retriever all converging into what I call ‘the smell of home’ … I have since recognized how indispensable my sense of smell is — without it, I would have lost an essential part of the human experience that sculpts my sense of self.

This personal revelation by 18-year-old Siwen Cui turned into “What the Nose Knows: The Underappreciated Olfactory Sense,” one of the winning essays of our fourth annual STEM Writing Contest .

This was how many of the students who entered our contest described coming up with their subjects: They looked at the world around them and started to get curious. One wanted to know, What connections could there be between music and astrophysics? Another asked, What solutions are there to the world’s plastic problem? A third wondered, Just how worried should I be about the volcano I keep hearing about on the news?

In collaboration with Science News , we invited students to find a STEM-related question, concept or issue they were interested in, and, in 500 words or fewer, explain it to a general audience. Of the over 3,000 student essays we received from around the world, we chose 10 winners, 11 runners-up and 23 honorable mentions. These essays not only helped us understand an interesting scientific or mathematical phenomenon, but also engaged us and made us see why we should care about it.

We will publish the winning essays in full throughout this week; you can read them via the links below. We hope their pieces will inspire you to get more curious about the world around you and approach it with the same spirit of inquiry and discovery these young people did.

Thank you to all the students who participated, and to all the teachers who encouraged them to enter. Students, if you enjoyed this challenge, join us for our upcoming Podcast and Summer Reading Contests .

In alphabetical order by the writer’s first name

Andrei Li, 18, Monarch Park Collegiate, Toronto, Ontario: “ I Spy With My Little Muon: Peering Inside Pyramids With Cosmic Rays ”

Catherine Ji, 14, New Trier High School, Wilmette, Ill.: “ Whales and Cancer: A Deep Dive Into Cetacean Genes ”

Daphne Zhu, 15, Lynbrook High School, San Jose, Calif.: “ Pine Beetle Infestation: Epidemic of North America’s Forests ”

Erica Frischauf, 16, Lakewood High School, Lakewood, Ohio: “ Hearing Colors and Tasting Sounds: What Is Synesthesia? ”

Judah Spiegel, 14, Albany High School, Albany, Calif.: “ Computing Creativity: Can A.I. Produce Art? ”

Justin Wang, 16, Alhambra High School, Alhambra, Calif.: “ Nature’s Solution to Plastic Pollution: The Amazing Power of the Wax Worm ”

Leah Li, 14, Milton Academy, Milton, Mass.: “ Glass Frogs: Clearing the Mystery of Clotting ”

Logan Ramanathan, 17, The Nueva School, Los Altos Hills, Calif.: “ 3-D Bioprinting: A Modern Day Prometheus ”

Siwen Cui, 18, Kent School, Kent, Conn.: “ What the Nose Knows: The Underappreciated Olfactory Sense ”

Yejin (Jenny) Son, 17, Chadwick International School, Songdo, South Korea: “ An Awakening of a Geological Giant: The Next Deadly Eruption of Mount Baekdu ”

Aaron Baxa, 18, Saint Peter High School, St. Peter, Minn.: “The Coyote’s Bad Rap”

Cyrus Fa’amafoe’, 18, Servite High School, Fullerton, Calif.: “From Dead Ends to Friends: Human Hair as a Sustainable Solution to Oil Spills”

Genevieve S. Topper-Kroog, 15, The Masters School, New York, N.Y.: “Bioremediation: The Sunflower’s Ability to Absorb Nuclear Waste”

Meadow Lam, 14, Bellaire High School, Houston: “The Secrets Behind a ‘Ha-ha-ha’: Laughter and Its Effects on the Human Body”

Oscar Johnson Kohler, 16, North Hollywood High School, Los Angeles: “Food for Thought: Glucose, Alzheimer’s and Cognitive Function”

Peggy Chen, 15, Green Hope High School, Cary, N.C.: “Vertical Forests: The Dystopian Jungles That Are Leading the Fight Against Climate Change”

Rachel Kim, 16, Ramapo High School, Franklin Lakes, N.J.: “Glass Frogs Become Transparent at Night. What’s Their Secret?”

Roselin Mota, 16, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City, N.J.: “Untangling the History of Curly Hair”

Salina Li, 16, Stuyvesant High School, New York, N.Y.: “Cordyceps: The Mind-Control Fungus?”

Sarah Behjet, 13, Saint Timothy Middle School, Farmington, Conn.: “The Naked Mole Rat: The Subterranean Sensation Shaking Up the Way We View Longevity”

Victoria Tan, 16, Jericho High School, Jericho, N.Y.: “The Cosmic Symphony: How Data Sonification Can Revolutionize Astronomy”

Honorable Mentions

Aaryan Doshi, 16, Monta Vista High School, Cupertino, Calif.: “Seeing the Unseen: How Hyperspectral Imaging Is Revolutionizing Precision Agriculture and Environment Protection”

Amy Zhou, 16, Eric Hamber Secondary School, Vancouver, British Columbia: “Hemp: A Pioneer Entangled in a Family Feud”

Audrielle Paige Esma, 15, Astra Nova School, Wildwood, Fla.: “When Things Go Sour: Sharp Flavors and Strange Behaviors”

Benjamin Li, 16, Millburn High School, Millburn, N.J.: “Black Box Algorithms: Exploring One of the Most Misunderstood Technologies”

Chloe Kim, 16, Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.: “Feeling Rejected? Take a Tylenol (or Not…)”

Delia: “The End”

Eliza Olszewska, 18, River Dell High School, Oradell, N.J.: “Drop the Pounds and Starve Cancer?”

Gia Gupta, 16, Cherry Hill High School East, Cherry Hill, N.J.: “Plastic: A Caterpillar’s Next Meal?”

Hafsa Kanchwala, 16, The Baldwin School, Philadelphia: “Ukraine’s Environment May Be the Last to Recover After Putin’s ‘Ecocide’”

Jia Lakhamraju, 16, Singapore American School, Singapore: “Fresh Water in the Desert: Brought to You by Camel Nostrils and Beetle Shells”

Justine Tobes, 17, St. Thomas More Academy, Raleigh, N.C.: “Eco-Bricks: A Solution to the Plastic Epidemic of the Philippines”

Leah Wu, 14, Langley High School, Vienna, Va.: “Listen Up … in Your Mouth?”

Lily Rose Stasko, 17, Bishop Walsh School, Cumberland, Md.: “3-D Printing: The Organ Shortage Solution”

Liu Bohan, 17, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H.: “Raining Diamonds: Uranus and Neptune’s Unique Phenomenon”

Matviy Amchislavskiy, 15, The Governor’s Academy, Byfield, Mass.: “Medical Marvels: Xenobots Usher in a New Era of Medical Miracles”

Olivia Xu, 15, West-Windsor Plainsboro High School North, West Windsor Township, N.J.: “Water Bears in Space: The Neil Armstrong of Microorganisms”

Ontario Zeng, 17, Great Oak High School, Temecula, Calif.: “Life From Death: The Key Toward Longevity Tucked Away Within Cancer Cells”

Reagan Fan, 16, Yorba Linda High School, Yorba Linda, Calif.: “Crawling Batteries: How Crab Shells Will Replace Your Standard Battery”

Rosie Strickland, 17, Brien McMahon High School, Norwalk, Conn.: “Earth’s Old Growth Forests Need Our Protection — and We Need Them”

Sara Wang, 13, Astra Nova School, Henderson, Nev.: “3-D Printing: CORAL-ling Reef Degradation”

Saul Calderon, 16, Jose Marti STEM Academy, Union City, N.J.: “The Zombie Apocalypse Is Among Us! Say Hello to Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis”

Steven Xiao, 16, Canyon Crest Academy, San Diego, Calif.: “The Artistic Frontier: A.I.-Generation”

Tony Silva, 17, The Governor’s Academy, Byfield, Mass.: “Is Blue Light Killing You? The Effects and Concerns of Blue Light From Technology”

Thank you to our contest judges.

From the Society for Science Community: Victoria Bampoh, Jennifer Donnelly, Phebe Martinez Fuentes, Terianne Hall, Lori Herbsman, Meghan Hess, Kehakashan Khan, Jefferson Marshall, Amanda Nix, Dawn Parker, Amy Telford, Peggy Veatch, Jieun Yoo

From The New York Times Science-Journalism Community: David Brown, Shannon Stirone

From The Learning Network Community: Kathryn Curto, Shannon Doyne, Jeremy Engle, Caroline Gilpin, Michael Gonchar, Annissa Hambouz, Simon Levien, Keith Meatto, Natalie Proulx, Trishna Ramsamooj, Katherine Schulten, Vanessa Vieux

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International AI essay competition 2022

You are here.

Do you enjoy learning about the technological innovations and are good with words? Share your ideas by writing an academic paper. Tuesday 25 January 2022

The  GovTech  Centre invites undergraduate and postgraduate students to take part in an international essay competition on the topic of Social, ethical and cultural aspects of using Artificial Intelligence. The future of new technologies . 

The goal of the competition is to write an academic or a literary text on the aforementioned issue in an innovative and original way. The winners will be awarded the price of 1,000 EUR and will be given an opportunity to publish the best papers. 

Fill the form until  25 February of 2022 31 March 2022.

International AI essay competition

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BI students win competition with essay on the AI revolution

MSc students Philipp Athanasiadis and Johannes Javorsky came out on top with their essay discussing who really stands to gain from the rapid rise of generative AI. 

The two are this year’s winners of BI’s Opinion Essay Competition, which is organised as part of the master course Ethics and Sustainability in Organizations each semester. 

“We feel very honored to have won this year’s opinion essay competition and are happy to see that critical thinking is valued and encouraged,” say Philipp and Johannes. 

In their essay, the two students question who really will benefit from the generative AI revolution and the possible extreme boost in productivity it is expected to bring. 

Addressing AI responsibly

“We deeply believe that generative AI is an increasingly disruptive technology that will certainly change our future. How we deal with it will define whether the changes will be for the better or the worse. In our opinion, addressing generative AI responsibly is one of the most important challenges of today.”

The winners of the competition receive a prize of NOK 10,000 in addition to having their essay “Generative AI: A bright future ahead of us – but for whom?” published as a featured article on BI Business Review. 

Leaders of tomorrow

Professor Caroline Dale Ditlev-Simonsen is responsible for the competition. She describes the essay competition as a great alternative to just tasking students with writing a regular assignment. 

“This competition demands students to apply what they have learned, critically reflect, and take a personal stand on how the world of business approaches sustainability. Initiatives like this aim to support and enhance students’ skills and engagement when it comes to sustainable development and corporate sustainability. These are all highly important things to learn for a group of people that represent the leaders of tomorrow,” says Ditlev-Simonsen.

This year’s jury consisted of Karen Spens (President of BI), Abhimanyu Manimaran (Director Strategy and Partnerships, UN Global Compact Norway), Linn Dybdahl (Senior Adviser, NMBU) and Pål Nygaard (Associate Professor, BI). 

Read the winning essay here: “Generative AI: A bright future ahead of us – but for whom?” 

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Artificial Intelligence Writing Competition

Center for Legal & Court Technology (CLCT)

The Center for Legal and Court Technology (CLCT) is pleased to announce its fourth annual writing competition dedicated to innovative legal issues likely to arise from Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things, and/or related technologies.

Some application deadlines have not yet been announced. In those cases, the dates posted are based on the scholarship provider’s most recent information. Please confirm each deadline via the provider’s website.

Current J.D., LL.B., LL.M., S.J.D., J.S.D., Ph.D. student - full-time or part-time 

Attend ABA-accredited law school within the U.S.

Foreign law school with equivalent accreditation

In good standing

May not be offered this year - verify status with the scholarship provider

1st Prize: $2,500, 2nd Prize: $1,500, 3rd Prize: $1,000

Emerging Technology Policy Writing Competition

The Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI), the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) are seeking student submissions to the inaugural emerging technology policy writing competition. As emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence profoundly shape every aspect of our lives, managing their social impacts has become a top priority for many policymakers. Succinct, effective, and evidence-based policy writing can help policymakers map out a human-centric approach to the safe, responsible development and deployment of those technologies. This year’s competition focuses on the future of work. We are looking for innovative policy analysis and solutions that leverage emerging technologies for the creation of jobs.

2022 Winners

First place: expanding ai adoption is an opportunity for job creation.

Aniket Baksy, Ph.D. candidate, Economics Avi Gupta, Master's student, Computer Science

Although AI is increasingly applicable to business tasks, AI adoption remains low and concentrated in large firms, which increases inequality across firms and workers at those firms. We identify the key barriers to AI adoption as the high costs of AI customization to specific business needs of complementary data infrastructure needed to leverage AI. We propose two clusters of policies to lower AI adoption costs for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). First, we propose public support targeted at the creation and commercialization of flexible low/no-code AI platforms. Second, we propose creating public data repositories and a clearinghouse-like infrastructure to improve SME access to cutting-edge pre-trained models and computational infrastructure. We also propose the creation of a medium-skilled data curator workforce to manage and reuse data and provide new opportunities for retrained workers.

Second Place: Robots as Equalizers

Wajeeha Ahmad, Ph.D. candidate, Management Science and Engineering Derek Knowles, Ph.D. candidate, Mechanical Engineering

Emerging robot technologies that augment rather than replace humans yield two advantages: 1) new types of tasks can be completed through the synergy of humans and robots and 2) robots that perform menial or strenuous tasks reduce the required abilities of the human operator thereby lowering the barrier of entry into that particular industry. Specifically, we explore how people with disabilities can be empowered to join a wider range of industries by training them as robot operators. We offer insight and policy recommendations on how to create more widespread and inclusive economic growth through human-robot collaboration.

Third Place: Web 3.0: Potential, Pitfalls, and Policy

Carl Shan, Master's student, Computer Science Darren Wong, Master’s, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Web3.0 marks the newest iteration of the Internet, characterized by decentralized digital infrastructure that empowers users as the primary arbiter of value creation and exchange. It is poised to create new jobs in existing and new sectors, including fractional work and the creator economy. However, equitable labor outcomes are contingent on access to Web3.0 and there is uncertainty surrounding its impact on job security and quality. We recommend policymakers assign agency jurisdiction to spearhead Web3.0 development and foster a conducive business environment. Setting standards and improving the interoperability of traditional and Web3.0 ecosystems will protect workers and legacy organizations.

The goal of this competition is to help students develop policy writing skills, foster inter- and multidisciplinary research conversations on emerging technologies, and facilitate collaborations across fields. Winners will be announced in early September, and the three winning teams will receive a total of $10,000 in cash prizes. Further, the winners will publish their final products as Stanford HAI and Stanford Digital Economy Lab policy briefs.

>>> $5,000 1st Place >> $3,000 2nd Place > $2,000 3rd Place

Developing business models and technology policies that drive job growth is an essential and urgent task as the next generation of technologies will create massive labor market disruptions: Some jobs will become obsolete, others will transform considerably, and entirely new jobs will be created. While much has been studied about how technologies may displace jobs, less attention has been paid to how to catalyze the direction of commercialization of those technologies to create jobs—particularly for low- to middle-wage workers without college degrees.

Abstracts and final policy briefs should assess the effect of a particular technology (from the list below) on the future of work—specifically, its current state of commercialization and impact on jobs; and the policies and business models that may be needed to enable the creation of jobs, build equity in the labor market, and promote democratic values.

• Artificial intelligence (including applications and methodologies)
• Robotics and autonomous vehicles (including drones)
• Advance communications infrastructure such as 5G and Web3.0
• Quantum computing
• XR and metaverse

This competition is supported by the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, the Stanford Digital Economy Lab, and a gift from the Markle Foundation.

Meet the people making the Emerging Technology Policy Writing Competition happen.

Christie Ko

Holly McCall

Stefaan Verhulst

Daniel Zhang

Jury members.

Erik Brynjolfsson

Lisa Gevelber

Jana Juginovic

Nela Richardson

Gregory Rosston

Russell Wald

The competition is open to Stanford graduate students from any discipline (i.e. computer science, engineering, social science, etc.) who are interested in developing policy-related knowledge and skills and whose research area intersects with emerging technologies.

Application closed on  Wednesday, July 6, 2022 . Upon selection, candidates will be paired into teams of two where members across fields (e.g., social science, humanities, and STEM) are represented. The teams will work with advisers to develop policy briefs via a series of workshops and editorial processes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the competition’s timeline?  Submissions of abstracts are due July 6, 2022. Selected candidates are notified by July 17, 2022, and will work with advisers over the subsequent seven weeks to workshop their ideas and write policy briefs. Winning teams will be announced in early September. Can I work on this alone?  No. Candidates can submit initial abstracts individually, but upon submission, selections will be assigned to teams of two where members across fields (e.g., social science, humanities, and STEM) work on policy briefs together. As in the real world, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary efforts are crucial to tackling challenging policy questions related to emerging technologies. What is a policy brief?  A policy brief is a concise summary of information on a particular issue with analysis and recommendations to equip policymakers with the knowledge needed to think critically about and make decisions on said issue. A high-quality policy brief uses clear language to help non-specialist readers understand the thrust of a subject matter, communicating the practical implications of research to the policy audience. Find examples of HAI policy briefs . What makes for effective policy writing?  Good policy writing is clear, concise, and engaging to read. Recommendations or bottom lines appear up-front so readers immediately grasp what the essential takeaways are. Read the Stanford HAI policy writing and style guidelines . How will policy briefs be evaluated?  The jury will evaluate each brief based on its writing, analysis, and recommendations. Successful briefs should assess the technology from an analytical perspective, research its opportunities and challenges, diagnose its effect and implications, and recommend innovative interventions to positively steer its impact on job creation.

For questions, please contact us at [email protected] .

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Best Science Writing Writing Contests in 2024

Showing 16 contests that match your search.

The Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition

Chicken House Books

Genres: Fiction, Novel, Novella, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Young Adult

We're looking for original ideas, a fresh voice, a diverse range of entries and stories that children will love! To enter, you must have written a full-length novel suitable for children/young adults aged between 7 and 18 years. We suggest a minimum of 30,000 words and ask that manuscripts do not exceed 80,000 words. The IET 150 Award will be awarded to a manuscript that celebrates Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

A worldwide publishing contract with Chicken House & royalty advance of £10,000

Additional prizes:

An offer of representation from a top literary agent

💰 Entry fee: $25

📅 Deadline: June 01, 2024

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

The Letter Review Prize for Books

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

The Letter Review Prize for Books is open to writers from anywhere in the world. Seeking most unpublished (we accept some self/indie published) novels, novellas, story collections, nonfiction, poetry etc. 20 entries are longlisted.

$1000 USD shared by 3 winners

📅 Deadline: October 31, 2023 (Expired)

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 .

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

Universe of Threats Natural Disaster Writing Contest

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Science Writing, and Short Story

CAPTRS is building a catalog of threats, called the “Universe of Threats,” which will be used to prepare decision makers for future threats. We invite you to submit a 2,500 word or less story describing a threat scenario related to natural disasters, including floods, wildfires, hurricanes or another natural disaster of your choosing.

2nd: $2,500 | 3rd: $1,000 | Publication on CAPTRS website

📅 Deadline: January 31, 2024 (Expired)

Storytrade Book Awards

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

The Storytrade Book Awards recognizes excellence in small and independent publishing. Open to all indie authors and publishers including self-published authors, university presses, and small or independent presses, our annual awards program spotlights outstanding books in a number of fiction and nonfiction categories.

Medal, Book Stickers, Digital Seal

💰 Entry fee: $75

📅 Deadline: June 30, 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.

Publication

💰 Entry fee: $5

📅 Deadline: December 15, 2023 (Expired)

Reader Views Literary Awards

Reader Views

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

The Reader Views Literary Awards program helps level the playing field for self-published authors, recognizing the most creative and exciting new books in the industry. Our awards program is recognized industry-wide as one of the top literary awards programs for independent authors.

Several marketing prizes (e.g. book review)

💰 Entry fee: $89

📅 Deadline: December 15, 2024

The Book of the Year Awards

The Independent Author Network

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

The Independent Author Network presents the 10th Annual IAN Book of the Year Awards, an international contest open to all authors with 55 fiction and non-fiction categories. Winners are eligible to receive a share of cash prizes of $6,000 USD. Open to all English language print and eBooks available for sale, including small presses, mid-size independent publishers, university presses, and self-published authors.

$6,000.00 USD in total cash prizes

💰 Entry fee: $49

📅 Deadline: August 16, 2024

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

Science Fiction Writing Contest

FanStory.com Inc

Genres: Fiction, Science Writing, and Science Fiction

Share a Science Fiction themed story to enter this writing contest with a cash prizes. Let your imagination fly and enjoy sharing your writing.

Winning entries will be features on the FanStory.com welcome page.

💰 Entry fee: $9

📅 Deadline: April 12, 2023 (Expired)

Elegant Literature's Monthly Award For New Writers

Elegant Literature

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Story, Thriller, Young Adult, Flash Fiction, and Science Writing

One of the largest awards open to unpublished writers and closed to professionals. We are the first magazine to pay pro rates and only accept submissions from new writers, putting over $150k into the hands of emerging talent around the globe so far. One new writer receives the grand prize. We also choose the best stories, pay the authors professional rates, and publish them in our magazine. April guest judge is Christopher Fielden.

10x Paid publication, 25 x $20 USD | Free entry to Novelist Accelerator

💰 Entry fee: $10

📅 Deadline: May 01, 2024

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)

Summer Nanofiction Battle

Writing Battle

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Short Story, Thriller, and Young Adult

Two days to write a 250 word short story. The peer-powered quarterly writing contest where every story receives oodles of feedback. Write one. Read ten. Win thousands.

Genre Winner (x4): $1,500

Genre Runner-up (x4): $375 | Feedback by industry professionals

💰 Entry fee: $20

📅 Deadline: August 02, 2024

Not Quite Write Prize for Flash Fiction

Not Quite Write

Genres: Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Flash Fiction, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Science Writing, Thriller, and Young Adult

The Not Quite Write Prize for Flash Fiction challenges writers to create an original piece of flash fiction based on two typical writing prompts plus one ""anti-prompt"". An anti-prompt is a challenge to break a specific “rule” of writing while telling a great story. Participants compete for AU$2,000 in cash prizes, including AU$1,000 for the winner, cash prizes for the entire shortlist and two bonus ‘wildcard’ prizes. Winners are read aloud on the Not Quite Write podcast, where the judges share in-depth analysis about the entries and offer free writing advice. The Not Quite Write Prize for Flash Fiction is hosted in Australia and open to all writers of any age and level of ability around the world.

Publication on the Not Quite Write website and podcast

💰 Entry fee: $16

📅 Deadline: April 21, 2024

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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AI for Essay Writing — Exploring Top 10 Essay Writers

Table of Contents

Let’s admit it — essay writing is quite a challenging task for students. Especially with the stringent deadlines, conducting research, writing , editing, and addressing to-and-fro reviews — consumes a whole lot of time and often becomes stressful. Therefore, students are always on the lookout for tools that speed up the essay writing process.

And that’s when AI writing tools make their debut! Using the best AI for essay writing makes the lives of students much easier by automatically generating the essay for them.

The rise in the popularity of artificial intelligence technology and deep learning has paved the way for the numerous AI writer tools available today. To help you understand the different types of AI tools and their benefits, we’ve uncovered the features of the top 10 AI essay generators in this article.

Let’s explore the tools and learn how they are transforming the tedious task of essay writing!

What is essay writing?

Essay writing is a part of academic writing that emphasizes formulating an idea or argument. The main objective of academic essay writing is to present a well-reasoned argument or idea. Evidence, analysis, and interpretation are the three major components of essay writing . It should have a logical structure to support the argument or idea of the essay so that it communicates clearly and concisely.

What is an AI essay writer?

AI essay writers is a tool that is designed to help students generate essays using machine learning techniques. They can be used to generate a full essay or generate a few parts of the essay, for example, essay titles, introduction, conclusion, etc.

Why should researchers use AI essay generators?

There are infinite benefits to using AI tools for writing unique essays, especially for researchers or students. Here are a few of them —

1. Saves time

Using best AI for essay writing has its own benefits. Students can take care of the research process while these AI tools write the essays for them. Be it an essay topic or a full-length essay generation, it saves a bunch of students' time.

2. Boosts productivity

Writing is a tedious task especially when you want to write an essay about a novel topic, that writer’s block starts haunting and your productivity gets affected. But, with AI, it’s the other way around and increases productivity by quickly generating the essays for you.

3. Enhances writing skills — Vocabulary and Style

Adopting the best AI essay writing AI tool not only help with creating essays but also help us hone our writing skills by giving proper suggestions about grammar, sentence structure, tone, style, and word choice.

4. Reduces stress

Students often undergo a lot of pressure and stress because of deadlines and submissions. With the best AI essay generator, they help you write essays smarter thereby reducing stress and fear in no time.

5. Facilitates multidisciplinary research

AI essay writing tools foster interdisciplinary study through their ability to scan and combine knowledge from multiple domains. That way, it helps us quickly get a grasp of new subjects or topics without a heavy-lifting process.

6. Cost-effective

Most of the AI essay writing tools have lower pricing and also allow certain discounts for students. So, it is also a cost-effective approach to use AI writing tools.

The Top AI Essay Writing Tools and Their Features

Several AI essay writers are available based on the types of essays one would want to generate. Now, let's quickly understand the top 10 AI writing tools that generate essays within just a few minutes.

1. PerfectEssayWriter.ai

It is one of the best AI for essay writing that not only creates an essay but also comes up with advanced features including plagiarism detection, auto-referencing, and contextual analysis. As a result, it generates coherent essays that are well-researched and properly cited. It is best recommended for creating academic essays and essay outlines.

How does PerfectEssayWriter work?

• Pick the right tool for your purpose — Go with an essay writer if you want to generate a full essay or choose the essay outliner if you want to create just the outline of the essay.
• Enter your specific conditions and preferences. Add essay topic, academic level, essay type, number of pages, and special instructions, if any.
• Click on “generate” and wait for the result
• Once you have the essay generated, you can review, edit, or refine it and then download it.
• Generates a large chunk of data up to 2000 words
• Output is provided within 90 seconds
• Provides a plethora of other tools like Citation generator, grammar checker, thesis statement generator, and more
• Comes with 10+ essay writing templates
• Subscription-based and not a free tool
• Human review is a mandate

2. Essaybot - Personalized AI writing

Essaybot is the product of a reputed online essay-writing service, MyPerfectWords. It is meant to enhance academic essay writing and streamline the tasks of students. Its user friendly website makes it an instant and hassle-free essay generation saving a lot of time and effort for students.

How does Essaybot work?

• Enter the essay title or topic
• Click on “start writing” and wait for it to generate a well-reasoned essay.
• The tools come for free
• No sign-up is required
• 100% unique and High-quality output
• Very limited features that lack advanced functionalities

3. FreeEssayWriter.net

FreeEssayWriter is an organization that provides essay-writing services to students worldwide. It has an AI essay typer tool — that helps you generate essays instantly. What sets this essay typer apart is its initiative to help students with their free essay writer providing the students with a 2-page free essay.

How does FreeEssayWriter.net work?

It works similarly to Essaybot, input the title or the topic of your essay and wait for it to generate the essay. They also have an option to edit and download a free version of the generated essay instantly.

• Provides high-quality essays and is considered to be one of the reliable and trusted sources of information
• Students can improve their writing skills and learn more about essays by referring to their free essay database or sources
• Priority customer support is available 24*7
• The site is not optimized for mobile devices
• The quality of the essay output could still be improved

4. MyEssayWriter

This AI essay writing tool is no exception in terms of generating a high-quality essay. You can generate essays for various topics depending on the background of your research study. Be it academic or non-academic essay writing, this tool comes in handy.

How does MyEssay Writer work?

Add your preferences and then click on generate. It will give you a high-quality and 100% unique essay crafted based on your requirements.

• The tool comes for free — no subscription is required
• Knows for its consistency in the quality and the tone of the essay output
• Also has a paid custom writing service that provides human-written essays
• Might not provide quality output for complex and technical-based keywords or topic

5. College Essay AI

College essay AI stands unique as an ai writing tool as it not only uses an AI-based algorithm to generate essays but it also backs up the output as it is reviewed and approved by a team of professional experts. It is the best AI essay writing tool for college and graduate students where the output adheres to the graduate students' essay writing guidelines.

How does the College Essay AI generator work?

• Input the required information — essay topic, academic level, number of pages, sources, and specific instructions, if any.
• Click on “generate essay” and wait for the output
• Conduct plagiarism and grammar check
• Download the essay
• High-level output for academic essay writing
• Pocket-friendly premium plans
• Doesn’t provide multiple sets of templates
• Not quite suitable for non-academic essay writing

6. Jasper AI

Jasper AI has been the oldest player in the game of AI content writing. Fast forward to now, its features have been magnified with the inception of natural language processing algorithms and that’s how they are helping students write their essays as well. However, Jasper is the best AI tool for non-academic writing projects like content writing or creative writing.

How does Jasper AI work?

• Choose a template — if you are about to write an essay, go with the “document”
• Add your preferences
• Click “compose” and get the output
• Generates the essays instantly
• Provides well-structured output according to the tone and style of your preferences
• Not quite suitable for academic writing essays

7. Textero AI

Textero AI provides a few writing tools for students that facilitate their various academic papers and writing projects. Its essay generator helps you generate ideas for a full-length essay based on the topic and also suggests new topic ideas or thesis statement ideas for your academic assignments.

How does Textero AI work?

• Click on “Essay Generator” located on the LHS (Left-hand Side)
• Input the title and description based on which you want to generate the essay
• Pick the right citation style
• Click “generate” and wait for the output
• It also provides other tools like an outline generator, and summary generator and has an AI research assistant that answers all your questions relevant to the research
• The output is 100% unique and plagiarism and error-free
• Might fail to provide an essay focussed on complex or technical topics

8. Quillbot

Though Quillbot is essentially built for paraphrasing and summarizing tasks. It comes as a rescue when you have to revamp, improvise, or refine your already-composed essay. Its co-writer helps you transform your thoughts and ideas and make them more coherent by rephrasing them. You can easily customize your text based on the customization options available.

How does Quillbot Paraphraser work?

• Import or copy the content
• Click on “Paraphrase” “Summarize” or “Suggest text” based on your requirement
• Make the required customizations and save the document.
• Offers a plethora of tools required for students
• Both free and premium plans are available
• Enhances vocabulary and language skills
• Limited customization options with the free plan
• Only supports the English language

9. SciSpace Paraphraser

SciSpace is the best AI tool that helps you fine-tune your essay. If you feel your essay writing needs AI suggestions to improve the language, vocabulary, writing styles, and tone of your essay, SciSpace is at your rescue. It has more customized options than Quillbot and improves your essay by rephrasing it according to the required or preferred writing style, and tone. This is a very good alternative to Quillbot.

How does SciSpace Paraphrasing work?

• Simply paste the content to the screen
• Choose the length and variation properly
• Select the language
• Click “Paraphrase”
• Has 22 custom tones and all of them are available even on the free plan
• Supports 75+ languages
• Comes with an AI-detection report for English paraphrase output
• Delay in the output

10. ChatGPT

It would be unfair if we talk about AI tools and do not enlist ChatGPT. When it comes to automated essay writing tasks, ChatGPT is not trivial. With proper prompts, you can automate the essay writing process and generate a well-crafted and coherent essay. However, the quality and the accuracy cannot be trusted as the model hallucinates and doesn’t include sources.

How does ChatGPT work?

• Create a prompt based on your requirement
• Ask ChatGPT to write an essay about your topic, specify conditions and preferences
• Click enter and wait for the essay
• Comes for free
• Cannot rely on the output as the model hallucinates
• Lacks the upgraded features that other essay-writing tools have

Concluding!

Writing essays can be a real struggle. But, the inception of the best AI essay-generation tools makes the entire writing process a lot easier and smoother. However, you should be extra vigilant while relying on these tools and consciously use them only as a technological aid. Because over-reliance on these AI tools could diminish student's writing skills and the user can become more gripped by the tools. So, use it wisely without affecting your knowledge and skills.

You can explore the above tools whenever you need any help with essay writing, and reap the benefits of them without compromising on the quality of your writing.

And! If you're stuck exploring multiple research papers or want to conduct a comprehensive literature review , you know which tool to use? Yes, it's SciSpace Literature Review, our AI-powered workspace, which is meant to make your research workflow easier. Plus, it also comes with SciSpace Copilot , our AI research assistant that answers any question that you may have about the research paper.

If you haven't used it yet, you can use it here !

Choosing the best AI for writing long-form essays depends on your requirements. Here are the top 5 tools that help you create long-form and college essays —

1. Free Essay Writer AI

2. College Essay AI

3. My Essay Writer

4. Textero AI

5. Perfect Essay Writer

The Perfect Essay Writer AI and Textero AI are the two best AI essay generators that help you write the best essays.

ChatGPT is not specifically built to assist you with essay writing, however, you can use the tool to create college essays and long-form essays. It’s important to review, fact-check the essay, and refer to the sources properly.

Essaybot is a free AI essay generator tool that helps you create a well-reasoned essay with just a click.

Unless your university permits it, using AI essay generators or writing tools to write your essay can be considered as plagiarism.

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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.

Gig workers are writing essays for AI to learn from

• Companies are hiring highly educated gig workers to write training content for AI models .
• The shift toward more sophisticated trainers comes as tech giants scramble for new data sources.
• AI could run out of data to learn from by 2026, one research institute has warned. 

As artificial intelligence models run out of data to train themselves on, AI companies are increasingly turning to actual humans to write training content.

For years, companies have used gig workers to help train AI models on simple tasks like photo identification , data annotation, and labelling. But the rapidly advancing technology now requires more advanced people to train it.

Companies such as Scale AI and Surge AI are hiring part-timers with graduate degrees to write essays and creative prompts for the bots to gobble up, The New York Times reported . Scale AI, for example, posted a job last year looking for people with Master's degrees or PhDs, who are fluent in either English, Hindi, or Japanese and have professional writing experience in fields like poetry, journalism, and publishing.

Related stories

Their mission? To help AI bots "become better writers," Scale AI wrote in the posting.

And an army of workers are needed to do this kind of work. Scale AI has as many as tens of thousands of contractors working on its platform at a time, per the Times.

"What really makes the A.I. useful to its users is the human layer of data, and that really needs to be done by smart humans and skilled humans and humans with a particular degree of expertise and a creative bent," Willow Primack, the vice president of data operations at Scale AI, told the New York Times. "We have been focusing on contractors, particularly within North America, as a result."

The shift toward more sophisticated gig trainers comes as tech giants scramble to find new data to train their technology on. That's because the programs learn so incredibly fast that they're already running out of available resources to learn from. The vast trove of online information — everything from scientific papers to news articles to Wikipedia pages — is drying up.

Epoch, an AI research institute, has warned that AI could run out of data by 2026.

So, companies are finding more and more creative ways to make sure their systems never stop learning. Google has considered accessing its customers' data in Google Docs , Sheets, and Slides while Meta even thought about buying publishing house Simon & Schuster to harvest its book collection, Business Insider previously reported.

Watch: Nearly 50,000 tech workers have been laid off — but there's a hack to avoid layoffs

• Main content

What are you writing about today?

Write better essays, in less time, with your ai writing assistant.

54 Writing Contests in April 2024 — No entry fees

Erica Verrillo

Curiosity Never Killed the Writer

T his April there are more than four dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes this month range from $100,000 to publication. None charge entry fees.

Some of these contests have age and geographical restrictions, so read the instructions carefully.

If you want to get a jump on next month’s contests go to Free Contests . Many of these contests are offered annually, so even if the deadline has passed, you can prepare for next year.

Mike Resnick Memorial Award: Best Unpublished Science Fiction Short Story by a New Author. Restrictions : Open to an author who has not had any work published (including short stories, novelettes, novellas, and novels in paper, digital or audio form) that has been paid a per-word rate of 6 cents a word or more or received a payment for any single work of fiction totaling more than $50. Genre : Science fiction short story, up to 7,499 words. Prize : $250.00 and publication. Deadline : April 1, 2024.

EACWP Flash Fiction Contest . Restrictions : The contest is open to any participant living in Europe (including countries culturally linked to Europe such as Russia, Turkey, and Israel). Eleven different European languages will be leading this year’s competition: English, Spanish, Catalan, Portuguese, French, German, Dutch, Finnish, Swedish, Hebrew and Czech. Genre : Flash fiction. Length: 100 words. The topic is “Incorrect.” Prize : €600 top prize. Deadline : April 1, 2024.

The Great American Think-Off . Genre : Essay on the theme: “Is freedom of speech worth the cost?” Entrants should take a strong stand agreeing or disagreeing with this topic, basing their arguments on personal experience and observations rather than philosophical abstraction. Essay should be no more than 750 words. Prize : One of four $500 cash prizes. Deadline : April 1, 2024.

Gwenn A. Nusbaum / WWBA Scholarship . Restrictions : Open to poets at the beginning of their careers, ages 25–35 years. Prize : $1800 scholarship. Deadline : April 1, 2024.

The Marguerite and Lamar Smith Fellowship for Writers . Carson McCullers Center for Writers and Musicians awards fellowships for writers to spend time in McCullers’ childhood home in Columbus, Georgia. The fellowships are intended to afford the writers in residence uninterrupted time to dedicate to their work, free from the distractions of daily life and other professional responsibilities. Award : Stipend of $5000 to cover costs of transportation, food and other incidentals. Fellowship recipients will be required to introduce or advance their work through reading or workshop/forum presentations. The Fellow will work with the McCullers Center Director to plan a presentation near the end of the residency. Deadline : April 1, 2024.

PEN America’s U.S. Writers Aid Initiative . Restrictions : Applicants must be professional writers based in the United States, and be able to demonstrate that this one-time grant will be meaningful in helping address a short-term emergency situation. Prize : Grant, amount not specified. Deadline : April 1, 2024.

Wergle Flomp Humor Poetry Contest . This contest seeks today’s best humor poems, published and unpublished. Please enter one poem only, 250 lines max. Prize : $3,500 in prizes, including a top prize of $2,000, and publication on Winning Writers. Deadline : April 1, 2024.

The Maya Angelou Book Award was founded in 2020 to honor the legacy of Missouri-born author Maya Angelou by celebrating contemporary authors whose work has demonstrated a commitment to social justice in America and/or the world. Restrictions : Entrants must be U.S. Citizens and reside within the United States. Entrants must be at least 18 years of age. Prize : $10,000. Deadline : April 1, 2024.

Hurston/Wright Crossover Award . Restrictions : Open to unpublished, Black writers who are 18 years and older. Genre : Literary nonfiction. Submissions may be stand-alone essays or excerpts from a book in progress. Prize : $2000. Deadline : April 2, 2024.

Fabula Press Short Story Contest . Genre : Short Story. Word Count: Not less than 2500 words, and not more than 7000 words. Prize : First Prize: US$500 Second Prize: US$250 Third Prize: US$100. In addition, all authors selected for publication will be paid an honourarium of US$75. Deadline : April 3, 2024.

Creative Capital Award . Restrictions : Entrants must be US citizens or permanent residents, aged 25+, with 5+ years’ professional writing experience, and not be full-time students. Genre : Visual arts, performing arts, literature, technology, and film. Grant : Up to $50,000. Deadline : April 4, 2024.

Bacopa Literary Review . Genres : Fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry. Prizes : First ($200) and Runner-Up ($160) prizes in each genre. All published will receive $20 and a copy of the print journal. After publication, Bacopa will be promoted online. Deadline : April 4, 2024.

Booker International Prize . The Booker International Prize for fiction translated into English is awarded annually by the Booker Prize Foundation to the author of the best (in the opinion of the judges) eligible novel or collection of short stories. Prize : £50,000 divided equally between the author and the translator. There will be a prize of £2,000 each of the shortlisted titles divided equally between the author and the translator. Deadline : For books published between April 1 and Sept 30, 2024 the entry form is due by April 4, 2024.

Furious Fiction . Genre : Flash fiction. “On the first Friday of every month, a new set of story prompts will be revealed. You will have 55 hours to submit your best 500-word (or fewer) story.” Prize : $500AUD. Deadline : April 7, 2024. Opens on April 5 .

Chief Minister’s Northern Territory History Book Award 2024 . Restrictions : You must be an Australian citizen or permanent resident to enter. Genre : The Chief Minister’s Northern Territory History Book Award recognises the most significant historical book about the Northern Territory published in the previous 12 months. To apply, your book must be a work on Northern Territory history, written in English or one of the First Nations languages of the Northern Territory, available for general sale, and published between 1 January and 31 December 2023. Prize : Recognition. Deadline : April 8, 2024.

Betty L. Yu and Jin C. Yu Creative Writing Prizes . Restrictions : Open to writers of Taiwanese heritage (or writers with other significant connections to Taiwan), or have subject matter otherwise relevant to the Taiwanese or Taiwanese American experience. Submissions will be considered in four categories: Middle School (enrolled in 6th-8th grade as of the deadline), High School (enrolled in high school as of the deadline), College (enrolled in community college or as an undergraduate as of the deadline), Adult (in any stage of life beyond college). Genre : Any literary genre including fiction, poetry, personal essays or other creative non-fiction. Prize : Grand Prize Winner: $500 — one selection per age category. Finalist: $200 — three selections per age category. Honorable Mention: $75 — at judge’s discretion per age category. Deadline : April 13, 2024.

Pegasus Award for Poetry Criticism . Genre : This prize seeks to honor the best book-length works of criticism published in the US in the prior calendar year, including biographies, essay collections, and critical editions that consider the subject of poetry or poets. Prize : $10,000. Deadline : April 15, 2024.

Dancing Poetry Festival . Genre : Poetry. Prize : $100 top prize. Deadline : April 15, 2024.

53-Word Story Contest . Genre : Flash fiction of exactly 53 words. See prompt . Prize : Publication and a free book. Deadline : April 15, 2024.

Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships . Restrictions : Applicants must reside in the U.S. or be U.S. citizens. Applicants must be at least 21 years of age and no older than 31 years of age as of April 30, 2024. Genre : Poetry. Prize : $27,000. Deadline : April 15, 2024. Please register for the online portal by April 8, 2024 if you intend to apply.

The F. Sean Hodge Prize for Poetry in Medicine . Restrictions : Open to current medical students, residents, or fellows or physicians who have completed post-graduate training. Genre : Poetry. Prize : $250. Deadline : April 15, 2024.

Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction . Restrictions : The writer must be Canadian, and an entry must be the writer’s first or second published book of any type or genre and must have a Canadian locale and/or significance. Genre : Print books and ebooks of creative non-fiction published in the previous calendar year. Prize : C$10,000.00. Deadline : April 15, 2024.

The Anonymous Was A Woman Environmental Art Grants (AWAW EAG) . Genre : Environmental art projects led by women-identifying artists in the United States and U.S. Territories. Prize : A total of $300,000 in funding — up to $20,000 per project. Deadline : April 16, 2024.

Casa Africa: Purorrelato . Genre : Micro-stories related to Africa. Length: 1500 characters max. The micro-stories can be submitted in Spanish, English, French or Portuguese. Prize : First award: 750 euros, Second award: 375 euros, Third award: 225 euros. Deadline : April 16, 2024.

Arvon Award . Restrictions : Open to writers living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months. Genre : Full-length work of fiction, poetry or narrative non-fiction work in progress. Prize : Arvon course. Deadline : April 17, 2024.

Northern Promise TLC Awards . Restrictions : Open to people who may have faced barriers to seeing their work progress for financial reasons or issues connected to disability, ethnicity and/or sexuality. living in the North of England at the time of entering and planning to remain here for at least another 12 months. Genre : Full-length work of fiction, poetry, narrative non-fiction, or children’s book in progress. Prize : In-depth editorial report on their work in progress. In addition to the Free Read, writers will receive £500 and access to the Northern Writers’ Awards Network. Deadline : April 17, 2024.

Scotiabank Giller Prize . Restrictions : Open to books published in Canada in English. Books must be published in Canada in English between March 1, 2024, and April 30, 2024 to be eligible for the 2024 Prize. Must be nominated by publisher. Genre : Fiction. Full-length novel or collection of short stories published in English, either originally, or in translation. Prize : $100,000 to the winner and $10,000 to each of the finalists. Deadline : April 19, 2024.

Write the World Competition . Restrictions : Young writers ages 13–19.5. Genre : Nonfiction essay about the planet we call home. Prize : Best Entry: $100; Runner up: $50. Deadline : April 22, 2024. (Note: This is a monthly contest)

Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grant . Restrictions : Open to US citizens and residents only. Genre : Creative nonfiction. Whiting welcomes submissions for works of history, cultural or political reportage, biography, memoir, the sciences, philosophy, criticism, food or travel writing, and personal essays, among other categories. Writers must be completing a book of creative nonfiction that is currently under contract with a publisher. Prize : $40,000. Deadline : April 23, 2024.

Harper-Wood Creative Writing & Travel Award for English Poetry and Literature . Restrictions : Open to any student who has graduated from any university in the UK, Ireland, the Commonwealth or the USA. Genre: The Award Holder is expected to engage in a course of study or research, and produce a piece of original fiction, drama or poetry. Prize : £18,600 is provided to cover accommodation and living expenses during the course of the year. Deadline : April 24, 2024.

Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors . Created by the Missouri Humanities Council, the Warrior Arts Alliance, and Southeast Missouri State University Press, this series of anthologies preserves and shares military service perspectives of our soldiers and veterans of all conflicts and of their families. It is not only an outlet for artistic expression but also a document of the unique aspects of wartime in our nation’s history. Genres : Poetry, Short Fiction, Essay, Photography, Interview with a Warrior. Prize : $250 and publication. Deadline : April 26, 2024.

The Sophie Coe Prize . Genre : Informative article or essay on any aspect of food history relating to any period, place, people or culture Prize : £1,500 top prize. Deadline : April 26, 2024.

#GWstorieseverywhere . Genre : Micro fiction. Your story must be no longer than 25 words, with a max of 280 characters, including spaces and the hashtag. See themes . Prize : Free Gotham class. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Witcraft Monthly Humour Competition . Genre : Humor with the emphasis on wit, word play, absurdity and inspired nonsense. Prize : First prize A$50, second prize A$20, third prize A$10, payable via Paypal only. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Friends of Falun Gong, Poetry Contest . Genre : Poem. Submit one or two poems of no more than 50 lines each. Poems must encompass at least one of the following themes: Advocate for Falun Gong practitioner’s fundamental human rights. Expose the crimes against Falun Gong perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party. Share in the beauty, peacefulness and good nature of Falun Gong. Prizes : $500, $250, $100. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

The Letter Review Prize . Genre : Short Fiction (up to 5000 words), Poetry, and Unpublished Books. Prize : The top 2–4 winners share equally in the prize pool of $1000 USD. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize . Restrictions : Titles must be published in Canada and written by Canadians. No self-published works. Genre : Fiction. Prize : $60,000 will be awarded to a novel or short-story collection published between February 27, 2024 and April 29, 2024. Prizes of $5,000 will be awarded to each of the finalists. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction . Genre : Literary non-fiction. Restrictions : Titles must be published in Canada and written by Canadians. Prize : $60,000 will be awarded to a literary nonfiction book published between February 27, 2024 and April 29, 2024. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Writers’ Trust Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ Emerging Writers . Restrictions : Open to Canadian LGBTQ+ writers. Genre : Debut book for books published between February 27, 2024 and April 29, 2024. Prize : $10,000. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Sleeping Bear Press: Own Voices, Own Stories Award . Restrictions : Contest is open to new authors who identify as BIPOC and/or LGBTQ+. Applicants must be United States residents and at least 18 years of age. Genre : Short fiction. Submissions should be for ages four through ten and may be fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Text must come in at under 1,300 words. Prize : Grand Prize winners will receive a $2,000 cash prize, in addition to a publishing contract with advance and royalties standard for new Sleeping Bear Press authors. Honor Award winners will receive a $500 cash prize as well as one consulting session with a Sleeping Bear Press editor. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Baen Fantasy Adventure Award . Genre : Adventure fantasy, 8K words max. Prize : Winner will be published as the featured story on the Baen Books main website and paid at industry-standard rates for professional story submittals. The author will also receive a handsome engraved award and a prize package containing $500 of free Baen Books. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Toronto Book Awards . Genres : All genres accepted. Restrictions : Submission “must evoke the city itself, that is, contain some clear Toronto content (this may be reflected in the themes, settings, subjects, etc.). Authors do not necessarily have to reside in Toronto. Ebooks, textbooks and self-published works are not eligible. Prize : A total of $15,000 CD will be awarded. Each shortlisted author (usually 4–6) receives C$1,000 and the winning author is awarded the remainder. Deadline : April 30, 2024. (For books published between May 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024)

Erbacce-prize for Poetry (UK) Genre : Poetry collection. Prize : Winner will be given a publishing contract with erbacce press who will publish a perfect-bound collection of the winner’s book. “We will pay all costs including the legal registering of the book and supplying copies to the major libraries. The book will be sold through our sales/shop pages and the poet will be paid 20% royalties.” Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Canadian Youth . Restrictions : Open to Canadian citizens or residents attending junior high or high school. Genre : Poetry. Prize : C$400 in each of two age categories: Junior (grades 7–9) and Senior (grades 10–12). Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Author of Tomorrow . Restrictions : Open to children and youth up to age 21. Genre : Adventure writing. Prize : 11 and Under | 500 words | Prize: £100 plus £150 book tokens for your school; 12–15 years | 1,500–5,000 words | Prize: £100 plus £150 book tokens for your school; 16–21 years | 1,500–5,000 words. Prize : £1,000. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

E-waste Scholarship . Restrictions : You must be a high school freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior or a current or entering college or graduate school student of any level. Home schooled students are also eligible. There is no age limit. You must also be a U.S. citizen or legal resident. Genre : 500- to 1,000-word essay about e-waste. Prize : $1000 scholarship. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Miami Book Fair’s Emerging Writer Fellowship . Genre : Fiction, nonfiction, poetry. “EWF supports developing writers who demonstrate exceptional talent and promise by providing them with time, space, and an intellectually and culturally rich artistic community. The program’s goal is to actively support these writers — who are working to complete a book-length project within a year — and help them launch their literary careers. Emerging Writer fellows are granted professional experience in arts administration, teaching creative writing, and other opportunities; a $50,000 stipend; and strong literary community support to allow for 12 glorious months of uninterrupted time to craft their works.” Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Preservation Foundation Essay Contest for Unpublished Writers . Restrictions : The contest is open to writers whose creative writing has never produced revenues of over $250 in any single year. Genre : Animal Nonfiction. “Stories should be factual and true accounts of an encounter or encounters by the author with a wild animal or animals. These include, but are not limited to, birds, fish, butterflies, snails, lions, bears, turtles, wombats, etc., as long as it is not a pet.” Prize : First prize is $200. Runners-up will receive $100. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Claudia Ann Seaman Awards For Young Writers . Restrictions : High school students. Genre : Stories and poems. Prize : $200. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

CNO Naval History Essay Contest . Genre : Scholarly essay on naval history. Prize : First Prize: $5,000. Second Prize:$2,500. Third Prize: $1,500. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

The Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction . Genre : A book-length work of imaginative fiction written by a single author published in the U.S. in English or in translation to English. (In the case of a translated work winning the Prize, the cash prize will be equally divided between author and translator) Publication date between April 1, 2023 and March 31, 2024. Prize : $25,000. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge . Genre : Poetry responding to visual art. (See site) Prize : $100 and publication. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Furphy Literary Award . Genre : Short stories up to 5000 words, Theme: Australian Life in all its diversity. Prize : First prize of $15,000 in the open category (2nd prize — $ 3,000, 3rd prize — $2,000. A junior & youth category with a prize pool of $1800 will seek entries for short stories and poetry. Deadline : April 30, 2024.

Substack runs a monthly short story competition. Their mission is to “revive the art of the short story, support artists, and produce something wonderful.” Genre : Short story. Length: 6000- 10,000 words. Prize : $100 plus 50% of subscription revenue to be sent by Paypal, Zelle, or check. Deadline : April 30, 2024. Reprints are ok so long as you still have the rights to distribute.

Like this article? For more articles about the publishing world, useful tips on how to get an agent, agents who are looking for clients, how to market and promote your work, building your online platform, how to get reviews, self-publishing, as well as publishers accepting manuscripts directly from writers (no agent required) visit Publishing and Other Forms of Insanity .

Written by Erica Verrillo

Helping writers get published and bolstering their flagging spirits at http://publishedtodeath.blogspot.com/

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