The Philsoc Student Essay Prize

From the Hilary Term (Jan-April) 2012, Philsoc are sponsoring an essay competition to help promote a serious interest in philosophy and to encourage students participating in OUDCE's online courses and weekly attended classes on philosophical topics. Every term each philosophy tutor will select the best 750-1,000 word essay submitted as part of normal coursework and, provided it is well written and shows a good grasp of philosophical argument, will enter it in the competition.

Each term the outright winner and two runners-up will receive diplomas and prizes of book tokens (£25, £15 and £10), but perhaps more important their essays will be published here on the Philsoc website, and the year's three winning essays will appear in Philsoc's annual Review. In addition, all three placeholders will be awarded one year's free membership of Philsoc.

There can be twenty or more qualifying OUDCE philosophy courses in a term, so to achieve any of the first three prizes will be an achievement to be proud of. The essays will be marked by philosophically well-qualified members of the Philosophical Society, who will only know the title of the authors' courses, not the identity of the essayists. The judges do reserve the right not to award a prize in the unlikely event that no essay is considered worthy of it. Since entry to the Prize competition is automatic for 'best essays' marked by course tutors and these are part of normal coursework, nothing more is required of prospective entrants than to comply with course requirements in terms of essay length, timely submission etc.

Information for OUDCE philosophy course tutors (online and weekly classes):

If you are running an OUDCE philosophy course (online or weekly) this term, the Philsoc Committee should be grateful if you would:

1. Announce the essay prize to your class at the beginning of the course and give each student a copy of the details of the competiton ( http://oxfordphilsoc.org/Documents/StudentPrize/Info.doc) or refer them to this website.
2. Not later than 2 weeks after course end, from the essays submitted as part of normal coursework, choose the best essay to submit for the prize. If you judge no essay to be worthy of the prize, you are, of course, entitled to submit nothing. If your class size is 13 or above, you may submit up to two essays.
3. Email entries, or send as hard copy, to Philsoc's Hon Secretary, Peter Gibson, accompanied by the submission form (http://oxfordphilsoc.org/Documents/StudentPrize/SubmissionForm.doc) not later than 2 weeks after the course ends. Given the spread of the end dates of the different online and weekly courses, the following are the final deadlines for the submission process, which may be significantly later than the mentioned 2 weeks deadline:
    
   Hilary 2012: 4th May.
   Trinity 2012: 10th August.
   Michaelmaes 2012: tbd
    
   However, please try to keep the 2 weeks deadline. If submissions arrive as early as possible judges can start grading, which will reduce the time from course end to decision making, so the winning students can enjoy their prizes earlier.

Many thanks for your cooperation!

The Philsoc Committee

Announcement of Prize winners:

Prize winners will if possible be announced and the winning essay published on this website no later than:
 
Hilary 2012: mid June
Trinity 2012: mid September
Michaelmaes 2012: tbd