The Covenant College Philosophy Club is pleased to announce the first Mountaintop Thoughts Essay Contest, to be held at Covenant College on April 18, 2015.
We are seeking short essays (750-1000 words) presenting an argument for a philosophically interesting thesis. The goal is to challenge students to write about an important topic with clarity and brevity without sacrificing quality of argument. Essay topics do not have to be within the confines of traditional philosophy, so we hope to attract students from a wide variety of majors. By inviting short essays, we hope to make it less daunting and time-consuming for students who are already very busy. In fact, taking a previously written essay and removing all of the non-argument fluff to get it below 1000 words would be a great way to submit an essay. You don’t even have to worry about writing an exciting introduction--we are actually recommending that you make your thesis the first sentence of your essay and jump right into the argument from there.
Essays will be accepted until 11:59 PM on April 10. Finalists will be announced April 15, and will be invited to present on April 18, 9 AM – 12 PM (location TBD). All finalist essays will be published on the Mountaintop Thoughts website. From the group of finalists, four winners will be selected by a voting process, and each winner will receive a prize.
Any person without a graduate degree is eligible to enter. Email essays as attachments, in either Word or PDF format, to Program Chair Sarah Withers (sarah.withers@covenant.edu) with the subject line “Essay Contest Submission.” Prepare essay for blind review by removing any identifying information from the document, like your name, your school’s name, a reference to a particular class, etc. Any words over the 1,000 word limit will be cut off.
For official contest rules and updates, visit covenantphiloclub.wordpress.com/essaycontest2015 . If you have any questions, feel free to ask Brian Van Dyke or Sarah Withers, in person or by email.