Hinternet Essay Prize Competition

$10,000 USD for the Winning Essay!

When we first announced our inaugural Essay Prize Competition on March 21, we were operating under the assumption that the amount of money involved would be sufficient to cause word of the contest to spread on its own. We have seen little evidence, so far, that we were correct in this assumption.

Perhaps this was because we announced it on a Friday evening, at that hour of the work-week when unscrupulous congresspeople slip their “pork” into bills that then slip into law. Perhaps it was because our readers assume, not irrationally, that by the time we reach the deadline of September 1, 2025, the US greenback will be worth about 0.000000001 2008 Zimbabwean dollars, or roughly the same in 1923 German Papiermarks. We cannot guarantee that this is not how things will turn out, but we will remind you that today a 1923 Papiermark is a treasured collector’s item among notaphilists. Or perhaps again it was because readers are so used to our horseplay here at The Hinternet that they cannot tell when we are really being serious — thus a variation on the “boy who cried wolf” problem. We insist, as to this latter possibility, that anyone who really reads what we write will always be able to distinguish between the two registers at which we operate, and that it is therefore not at all our fault when you are confused. This is a widely forgotten fact today, but just as true as ever: readers have responsibilities too.

So, we have already made it perfectly clear, but are reiterating here, that we are running a real old-fashioned Enlightenment-style Essay Prize Competition. Here is our straightforward summary of what this involves:

Reviving a venerable tradition from the Enlightenment era, The Hinternet is launching an essay prize contest. The inaugural competition asks:

“How might current and emerging technologies best be mobilized to secure perpetual peace?”

There is a $10,000 USD prize for the winner.

The contest invites bold, independent, and engaging ideas from specialists and non-specialists alike. While acknowledging the historical connection between technological progress and warfare, the contest seeks proposals that explore how such advancements might instead contribute to lasting peace without excessive compromises to human freedom. Submissions are due by September 1, 2025, with the winner announced in October. Essays may be anywhere between 2,000 and 10,000 words.

Please contact editor@the-hinternet.com for more information, or to submit your essay.

The purpose of today’s short missive is simply to request of you, no, to beg you, treasured readers, to take this announcement seriously and to help us get the word out. We want to award this money to an essay that is actually worth $10,000, or more, to the extent that monetary value can be assigned to ideas and arguments. We want to see work that actually has some chance of changing the world.

Many people have asked, so we may as well make this clear: we are not giving away our own money —we don’t have that much between us to give away!—, but are funding this competition through a generous donation from a benefactor and friend of The Hinternet, who wants to see our publication grow, as much as we do, into a proper cultural force. So it’s win-win-win: we get exposure, the winner gets money, and the world (maybe!) gets perpetual peace. But you need to help us with the first part of this formula in order for it all to work.

To read the full description of the contest, go here:

And please don’t forget to support our work by upgrading to a paid subscription. It means a lot to us!

Finally, the single best way you can help our publication to grow is by sharing our work with your own network!

Sincerely,

—The Hinternet