Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest
Scholarship Sponsored by Elie Wiesel Foundation
Eligibility
- Who can enter: Registered undergraduate students enrolled full time at accredited, four-year colleges or universities in the United States during the Spring 2026 semester may submit an entry to the 2026 contest.
- Study abroad: If you will be studying abroad in Spring 2026 you remain eligible provided you are officially registered full time at your U.S. home institution.
Who is not eligible (these applicants cannot enter):
- Anyone not enrolled in college during the Spring 2026 semester, including high school students.
- Students attending two-year institutions.
- Students enrolled in associate degree or community college programs.
- Part-time students.
- Individuals who completed their undergraduate degree prior to the Spring 2026 semester.
- Students currently enrolled in graduate-level study (master’s, doctoral, or other graduate programs).
- Students attending institutions that are not accredited, as determined by the National Student Clearinghouse.
- Full-time students enrolled at schools outside the United States (except U.S. students who qualify as study abroad).
If you are ineligible for this year’s contest, you may qualify in future years; new application materials and instructions are published each fall.
Essay Theme — Silence, Conscience, and Responsibility
Consider the ethical dimensions of silence and speech. Possible lines of inquiry include:
- Is remaining silent an act of compassion or of complicity?
- In what situations does silence preserve dignity, and when does it undermine it?
- When silence becomes a form of complicity, what moral responsibilities follow?
- Do we owe the world our voice, or are there times when withholding speech is necessary for healing?
- Describe an instance—personal or public—when choosing silence was itself an ethical decision.
- What did that experience reveal to you about conscience, courage, and responsibility?
We invite you to probe these questions or any related moral dilemma that moves you. Engage, illuminate, and analyze—whether your focus is the tension between silence and speech or another ethical issue.
Submission Guidelines
- Length: Essays must be between 2,500 and 3,500 words and should develop questions, identify dilemmas, and focus on issues inspired by the prompt.
- Voice: You may write in a formal or informal register, but your individual voice should be clear.
- Originality: Submissions must be original and unpublished. A piece previously submitted for a class is acceptable.
- Limit: Only one essay per student per year.
- Formatting: Include a title. Type the essay in a 12-point, easily readable font (for example, Times New Roman), double-spaced, with 1" margins and numbered pages.
- Anonymity: Entries are judged anonymously. Do not include your name, school, instructor, or other identifying information anywhere in the document or on the title page; the contest office will assign a code to your submission.
- Prohibited content: Submissions that contain expressions of hatred toward any racial, ethnic, gender, or faith group will be disqualified. Determinations of such content will be made at the contest office’s sole discretion and will result in immediate disqualification.
We look forward to reading thoughtful, well-argued essays that wrestle with the moral complexities of silence and speech.