The 2026 competition
Choose one question from one category. Each prompt asks you to connect technical, economic, or institutional knowledge with ethical and humanistic judgment. We are interested in your reasoning, not in a predetermined conclusion.
Examine the moral responsibility, human values, and political choices hidden inside technical progress.
Should engineers be held morally responsible for the foreseeable social uses of the technologies they design?
When, if ever, is it justifiable to slow scientific progress in order to protect human dignity?
Does a society become less free when its most important decisions are increasingly delegated to algorithms?
Test the assumptions that guide expert judgment, ambition, rationality, and responsibility.
Is intellectual achievement admirable if it is pursued mainly for status?
Do experts have a greater moral duty than ordinary citizens to prevent harm?
Can a decision be rational if it ignores values that cannot be measured?
Ask what profit, innovation, and market success owe to people beyond the transaction.
Is a profitable company successful if the value it creates depends on weakening human attention or autonomy?
Should markets reward innovation when its social costs fall on people who never chose to participate?
Do businesses have obligations to future generations that shareholders cannot enforce?
Consider how expertise, institutions, and ideals of efficiency shape collective life.
When should democratic governments override expert advice?
Does meritocracy reduce inequality, or merely make inequality easier to justify?
What does society lose when efficiency becomes the main measure of institutional success?
Entry rules
1,000–1,500 words in English, excluding footnotes and bibliography. Submit one text-searchable PDF, no larger than 10 MB, and remove your name, school, and other identifying details from the file.
All work must be original. Generative AI may not be used to research, draft, rewrite, translate, or edit the essay. Cite sources using Chicago Notes and Bibliography, 17th edition. Ordinary non-generative spellcheck is permitted.
$30 USD through secure Stripe card checkout. Fees are non-refundable after an essay is submitted, except if the competition is cancelled by the organiser.
Formatting checklist
Use a readable 11- or 12-point font, 1.5 or double spacing, page numbers, and standard A4 or US Letter margins. The essay title may appear on the first page, but the student’s name, school, city, email, and acknowledgements must not appear anywhere in the PDF.
Footnotes should contain citations rather than extended argument. Include a bibliography at the end. Essays that exceed 1,500 words, contain identifying details, or cannot be opened may be ruled ineligible.
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