Seeking Entries Worldwide:
The Ethical Consumer
Essay Prize
(£1,500 top prize | international)
Deadline: 5 October 2012
2012 is the International Year of Co-operatives. It is also a year when capitalism itself is in crisis. Scientists and academics point to increasingly dangerous levels of climate change and habitat destruction, Europe and America are facing their worst economic problems for a generation, and social movements around the world - such as 'occupy' - are calling for sweeping reforms.
Do co-operatives offer an alternative model of social organisation which could address some of these key issues? Or do they simply offer another way of organising businesses within a predominantly capitalist economy? What changes need to happen for co-operatives to become the dominant business model?
These web-pages and essay prize are designed to encourage co-operators around the world to write, think and share ideas on this subject in a common space during a year when co-operatives are already higher up in people's consciousness.
Essay Prize Terms and Conditions
1. By submitting an essay to the competition, entrants confirm that they are the sole author of the essay and that it is an original work.
2. Entries must be in English but may be from contributors anywhere in the world.
3. Essays must be of no more than 6,000 words (including footnotes and tables) and supplied as a word document attached to an email sent to rob [at] ethicalconsumer.org. The accompanying email must contain the full name and address of the author and a word count for the essay. We will acknowledge receipt of your entry within 7 days.
4. The prizes are as follows:
- 1st Prize - £1,500
- 2nd and 3rd Prizes - £500
- 4th and 5th prizes - £200
5. Please use footnotes and not endnotes. References in the style of the APA please.6. Entrants grant Ethical Consumer, Co-operatives UK and New Internationalist Publications a non-exclusive license to reproduce the entry or extracts from the entry in partner publications.
6. It is anticipated that the essay prizes will be announced and awarded at the Co-operatives United World Festival in Manchester (Oct 29th to Nov 3rd). If the winner is unable to attend, the prize will be accepted on their behalf by a member of one of the partner organisations.
7. Ethical Consumer, Co-operatives UK and New Internationalist Publications reserve the right to use the name and photographs of the prize winners for publicity and marketing purposes, unless the prizewinner specifically notifies the partners otherwise.
8. The deadline for entries is 12.00 noon on Friday October 5th 2012.
9. The award of the prizes will be decided by a panel of judges selected from partner organisations and currently include Ed Mayo from Co-operatives UK and Rob Harrison from Ethical Consumer. Judges will read versions of the essays from which the authors names have been removed. The award of the prizes lies solely within the discretion of the judges and the judges decisions are final.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For submissions: via the online entry page (to open July 16th)
Website: http://www.ethicalconsumer.org