Sponsoring Institution: The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity

Type: Essay contest

Eligibility: You must be a full time junior or senior at a four year college or university in the United States.

Application Deadline: December

Highlight: Ethics, be kind, be nice to everyone and you will have developed some foundational pieces for a good moral compass. The concept of ethics and morals extends into pretty much everything, involving far more nuanced navigation and decision-making and ultimately becoming much more complex.  The Prize in Ethics essay competition acknowledges the inextricable tie between education and ethics and invites undergrad students to write an essay in response to a fairly broad prompt asking students to think about “What Challengews Awaken Their Conscience?”“Is it the conflicts in American society? An international crisis? Maybe a difficult choice you faced or a hard decision you had to make?” You could write about something in a global, national, Community, or personal context.  The choice is yours based on what speaks to you. Prizes for this essay contest include $10,000 for the first prize, $5000 for the second prize, $3000 for the third prize and $1000 for honorable mentions. Detailed guidelines for this essay contest can be found here. This essay contest has a huge library of past winners that is easy for you to check out. I would definitely recommend the first placed essay of 2015 by Alexandra Stewart titled the Ethics of Transcendence, but really there are so many good essays on the winners page, it is hard not to be sucked down the rabbit hole!  So what are you waiting for? Take a look into your own life and reflect on the ethical dilemmas that move you to write… and  then, while you’re at it just press  submit !