The Annual National Uehiro Oxford Prize in Practical Ethics is an annual competition held in the Spring. It is open to all Undergraduate and Post Graduate Students enrolled in UK universities.
Students are invited to enter by submitting an essay of up to 2000 words on any topic relevant to practical ethics.
Practical ethics is concerned with what we should do in any given situation. It reflects on personal, professional, policy, and social choices and structures and holds them up to scrutiny. It may balance or prioritise different values and interests.
Two undergraduate papers and two graduate papers will be shortlisted from those submitted to go forward to a public presentation and discussion, where the winner of each category will be selected.
The winner from each category will receive a prize of £500, and the runner up £200. Revised versions of the two winning essays will be considered for publication in the Journal of Practical Ethics.
How to take part
Stage 1: The Essay
Your essay of up to 2000 words may cover any topic relevant to practical ethics. The question to be addressed should be stated clearly in bold at the outset. References are permitted but not required. The essay can draw upon existing published work but must be sufficiently original for it to be eligible for consideration for publication in the Journal of Practical Ethics. The focus of the marking will be on the quality and originality of your argument.
How to submit your entry:
- Pre-prepare your submission for blind review by removing any identifying information from your manuscript.
- Provide a separate title sheet with the title of your essay, your name and contact details, email address and a word count.
- Please note that essays exceeding 2000 words may not be considered.
- Footnotes and references are not included in the word count, however footnotes should be kept to a minimum.
- Email both a pdf and Word version of your anonymised manuscript, plus the title sheet, to admin@uehiro.ox.ac.uk by the closing date.
Essays will be assessed based on quality and originality of argument, including:
- Persuasiveness of argument
- Critical acumen
- Clarity of structure and content
- Intelligent use of literature
- Understanding of the topic
- Originality
- Potential for impact beyond the academy
Scores and feedback will not be generally provided. Feedback will be provided to the winners if their papers are invited to be submitted to the Journal of Practical Ethics. Anti-plagiarism software will be employed by the assessors.
Stage 2: Presentation Event
Shortlisted authors will be invited to the public presentation event. Before a panel of judges and the audience, they will each be asked to give a presentation of 15 minutes (maximum), explaining the key ideas of their paper. This will be followed by a 5 minute Q&A with the audience. Each finalist will be allowed a strict maximum of 20 minutes overall.
The panel will make a final judgement on each presentation, based on the same criteria as those used to assess the original essays, taking also into account the presenter’s capacity for communication with the audience.
After the presentation we invite the audience to join the finalists and judges at a drinks reception, during which the panel will announce the winners. Following which the finalists are invited to join the judging panel at a celebration dinner to be held in one of the Oxford colleges.
Finalists from outside of Oxford may have their travel and accommodation provided to allow them to attend this event in person, to be confirmed upon application.
The deadline for applications is 23:00 on Sunday 2nd February 2025.
You can also find further information online (external link).
