Essay Competition - Visions of Utopia

Philosophy Forums Society, Government, and Economics
1

Greetings,

This thread is to announce the 2006 ILP Essay Competition, on Visions of Utopia, which opens today

The Rules

There is a panel of three judges comprising tentative, Impenitent and myself. All decisions will be taken democratically and the decisions, once announced, are final.

Dates
The competition opens today, 10th July and will run for somewhat longer than the last comp to give you time to find references and back up your vision of Utopia with sound arguments. The closing date will be the 10th of August, which is a Thursday. This deadline is somewhat flexible to allow for the global time differences so don’t panic if you’re a few hours on the other side of midnight.

Only one submission per person, please.

As before, please do not show your submission to anyone else prior to the closing date. If there are any problems then please PM me or another judge.

What you have to do

  1. I recommend reading or re-reading some political philosophy linked to your essay. Here are links to a few online texts:

Plato’s Republic
classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html

Saint Augustine’s City of God
newadvent.org/fathers/1201.htm

More’s Utopia
gutenberg.org/etext/2130

JS Mill’s On Liberty
utilitarianism.com/ol/one.html

Marx’s Communist Manifesto
marx.thefreelibrary.com/Communist-Manifesto

  1. Write your essay - ideally we’re looking at 1500-2500 words but if you go over or under with good reason then you’ll probably not incur any penalty. Bear in mind that ANY manifesto (i.e. point of view) is acceptable as long as it is argued for/defended in an intelligent and sound manner.

  2. Send your essay to ilpcompetitions@yahoo.co.uk
    Make sure your name is either in your e-mail or on your essay, or both. We decided against anonymous submissions for this one.

The winning entries will be put up on Symposia and the winners will become part of the World Council when the ILP community eventually becomes that powerful.

How the papers will be judged

There are five criteria for judging:

Imagination - Put simply, how imaginative your vision of utopia seems to the panel.

Strength of arguments - how sound your arguments are

Persuasiveness of style - the power of your rhetoric and the structure of your manifesto

Consistency - This applies to both content and style and is an assessment of the essay’s overall quality.

Spelling and Grammar - Self explanatory, where applicable

So, best of luck to everyone who enters and I look forward to reading the entries. :smiley: :smiley:

2

07.10.06.1375

Hmmm… that might be interesting wouldn’t it SIATD? A utopian vision explained in a poetic format… something rather lengthly like that of Longfellow or Poe?

Come now and embrace the truth,
for nothing less can you refute!
Behold the might of an empire to rise,
rejecting the old within its wonderful pride… etc.

3

My mistake, I was reading the last comp announcement as I drafted this one, for consistency’s sake.

4

Imp as a judge.

That’s too bad… I would love to hear his definition of utopia :laughing: :laughing:

Hmm, perhaps I can make a rational argument for a socialist stoner society.

5

Can I start mine on definitions of utopia and branch out?

6

Oh, and how long does the contest run for?

7

Take any approach you like - write a manifesto, a broad essay, a strictly philosophical essay, a blend of fiction and analysis/argument - whatever you like.

Until 10th August.

8

Just to remind you all - we’re about one third of the way through the time for this comp so you should have finished your research (if you’re doing any) and be getting on with planning and drafting your manifesto.

9

Two thirds through, so if anyone is entering, now would be a good time to be writing.

:smiley:

10

Nah. I’'ll just write on the bus…

11

Last day today, due in tomorrow. I’m looking forward to reading the entries, if there are any… :astonished: :astonished: :astonished: :astonished:

12

Due in today, we’ve got the first entry already so crack on and get them in…

:smiley:

13

hey i sent mine on the 9th… did you get it?

14

Will you email the winner or just post it here? :smiley:

15

Or, I guess neither, thanks for playing. :imp:

16

My apologies. We only had two entries so they both win by default, and I’ll announce the actual winner by the end of the week. I’ve not been here much over the last couple of weeks so I’m sorry for the delay.

:smiley:

17

Everyone wins! If that’s not Utopia, I don’t know what is!