Hosted by the Center for Political and Economic Thought at Saint Vincent College, the Douglas B. Rogers Conditions of a Free Society Essay Competition is open to all full-time undergraduate students currently registered in any field of study at a four-year college or university in the United States or Canada.
The competition is designed to honor the memory of the late Douglas B. Rogers (Ph.D., George Mason University), a young scholar of great promise who died tragically, and to encourage scholarly discussion of individual freedom, limited constitutional government, free market economics, and the philosophical and moral foundations of America and the West.
More specifically, submissions should address the following prompt by Frédéric Bastiat: “The state is the great fiction by which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else.”
The first place winner will receive $2,000 and an invitation to attend an awards dinner and lecture by Dr. John Taylor of Stanford University, to be held on March 20, 2013 at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Second and third place winners will receive invitations to said awards dinner and $1,000 and $500 respectively. Winners choosing to attend the awards dinner will be responsible for their own travel.
Essays should be a minimum of 3,000 words. There is no maximum length. Submissions should be sent in Microsoft Word format to marybeth.mcconahey@email.stvincent.edu by January 10, 2013. Winners will be notified in February.