The Irish Young Philosopher Awards (IYPA) is an annual celebration of innovative, interesting, and challenging philosophical thought by young people on the island of Ireland.

Each year, the IYPA initiative will invite primary, secondary, and undergraduate students to enter the Irish Young Philosopher Awards. Awards will be made at the IYPA Festival held in Dublin, to which all entrants are invited and where there will be separate awards for primary, secondary and third-level entries. The aim of the IYPA is to recognise clear, creative, imaginative and analytic thinking that challenges received wisdom.

The Undergraduate Awards form part of the The Undergraduate Awards form part of the Irish Young Philosopher Awards. All students registered to an undergraduate degree at a third-level institution on the island of Ireland are eligible to enter a project to the Undergraduate Award. Students can enter either as individuals or as groups. Entries must have two components:

• A VISUAL THINKING DISPLAY, which provides a visual ‘map’ of the relevant project
• An ESSAY, which provides a more detailed account of the thinking behind the project

Entries should be accompanied by a completed application form (see here), and there is a €10 entry fee. Awards will be made in May 2018 at the inaugural IYPA Festival in Dublin.

Philosophy explores important and often very general questions about the ultimate nature of reality, including questions about human experience, politics, religion, society, ethics, knowledge, language, and what exists. Philosophers might not agree on the answers to these questions, but reading philosophy can help us orient ourselves in the relevant debates and begin to think clearly about the relevant topics. Philosophy also serves the important function of leading us to question things we typically take for granted – in particular, received moral, religious, and political opinions. It is a fascinating and challenging subject that requires both rigorous and creative thinking.

Here are some examples of philosophical questions:

• Does human life have a distinct purpose?
• How can we be sure that the world as we perceive it resembles the world as it really is?
• Is there a relevant moral difference between humans and animals such that it is morally permissible to kill and eat animals for food?
• What exactly is involved in being a good citizen?
• Is nationalism ever morally acceptable?
• Can there be free will in a deterministic world?
• What makes it the case that I remain the same person over time?
• When someone dies, do they cease to exist?
• Does the fact that science is a human enterprise mean that scientific claims are in some sense ‘subjective’?
• Could there be such a thing as evil even if God does not exist?
• Is human consciousness part of the material world?
• Are there objective standards of beauty/musical quality, or are all such judgements relative?
• What is the nature of friendship?
• What is the nature of love?
• What is the nature of regret?
• Are there any objective truths, or is all truth merely relative?
• Are there objective facts about what is right and what is wrong, or are all ethical judgements merely relative?
• Why is there something rather than nothing?
• Could a machine in principle be granted the full rights and responsibilities of a human being?
• Can an action be morally wrong even when the person who undertakes the action has good intentions?
• Are mathematical truths such as that 2+2=4 truths about objective reality? And if so, what exactly are they about?

As you can see, philosophy covers a huge number of topics, and ranges over all sorts of very difficult questions. There are some great free philosophy resources on the internet which you can use to guide your philosophical thinking:

• The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
• The Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
• Philosophy Compass
• PhilPapers

Here is the basic guide to the steps you need to participate in the Awards:

1

First, decide whether you want to work alone or in a group (of no more than three).

2

Next, choose a philosophical question that interests you, or choose a topic that interests you and with which you would like to engage philosophically.

3

Complete the IYPA Application Form (available at www.youngphilosopherawards.ucd.ie) and submit it by Friday 9 March 2018. Be sure to make it clear that you wish to be considered for the Undergraduate Awards and list your third-level institution (a list of all eligible institutions in the Republic of Ireland can be found here, and in Northern Ireland here).

4

Once you have chosen your philosophical question or topic and submitted your Application Form, you will be ready to start investigating your question or topic by doing some research. Researching a question can involve reading relevant philosophical texts; reading other relevant texts; talking to people about your question; or just thinking through how you would answer the question (find a comfortable armchair!).

5

As you undertake your research, you should start to develop a plan of your project. You might start developing arguments which support a particular answer to your question – or, more likely, some arguments which support one answer, and some arguments which support a different answer. You might find that you are simply left with more questions. That’s perfectly fine – philosophy is not about coming down firmly on one side of a question or the other (at least, it doesn’t have to be). What we want to see is evidence that you’ve engaged in the sort of deep, systematic, critical thinking that characterises good philosophy.

6

Your project plan should provide you with a basis for designing your Visual Thinking Display and writing your essay:

• Your Visual Thinking Display should provide a clear, clean, simple, visually engaging ‘map’ of the thinking behind your project. Keep in mind that your display will function as an introduction to your research and your project, and so should be as accessible as possible.
• Your essay, in contrast, will be read by the IYPA judges (all of whom are professional philosophers), and should give a detailed account of your thinking (with references to the literature where appropriate). See here for an excellent guide to writing a good philosophy essay. The essay can also incorporate some visual elements, if they help to support your arguments. And remember, the judges will not be looking for mistakes in your essay or problems with your argument – they will be looking for evidence of clear, rigorous, creative and challenging thought.

7

Submit your essay here by Friday 13 April 2018.

8

Attend the IYPA Festival in Dublin in May 2018 (further details to follow at www.youngphilosopherawards.ucd.ie). The Festival will take place over one day, so it should not be necessary to stay in Dublin overnight. Entrants will be required to sign-in at the Festival location by XXX on the day of the Festival, and will have until XXX to prepare their Visual Thinking Display.

• VISUAL THINKING DISPLAY
  Your Visual Thinking Display should provide a simple, eye-catching overview of your project. The precise format of the display is up to you – for example, it could consist of a ‘mind-map’ (see here); an ‘argument map’ (see here); or a poster (see here). Note that you must bring the material required to construct your display to the IYPA Festival, where you will have at least an hour to prepare for the Festival proper (displays must be ready by 1pm). Your Festival display area will be A0 sized, and you can use as much of this space as you wish, but your display must be at least A1 sized.
• ESSAY
  Word-limit: There is a strict maximum word-count of 2,000 words (including footnotes but excluding references), but no minimum word-count.

  FORMATTING:
  
  Essays must be written in double-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font; have numbered pages; have footnotes rather than endnotes; and have a full bibliography. There is no set citation style, but whichever style is chosen, it should be used consistently throughout. Essays should be fully anonymous: the author’s name should not appear anywhere on the essay, and there should be no material in the essay which would serve to identify the author. The essay should have a clear introduction and conclusion, and contain original thinking on the chosen question or topic.

  SUBMISSION: All essays should be submitted along with a Cover Sheet (available here), on which the essay title and contact details of the author should be recorded.

  PLAGIARISM: All submissions will be checked for plagiarism, and any submission containing plagiarism will be automatically disqualified with no opportunity for appeal.

1. Who can enter the Undergraduate Awards?
   Anyone registered to an undergraduate degree in a third-level institution on the island of Ireland can enter. For a complete list of third-level institutions in the Republic of Ireland see here, and for a complete list of third-level institutions in Northern Ireland see here.
2. Do I need to apply through my institution?
   No; you can apply directly to the Awards, but you must list the third-level institution to which you are currently registered on your application.
3. How exactly do I apply?
   First, fill out and submit the Application Form here by Friday 9 March 2018. Then all you need to do is submit your essay here by Friday 13 April 2018.
4. How much does it cost to apply?
   There is a €10 entry fee for all applications.
5. Where and when will the IYPA Festival take place?
   The Festival will take place in Dublin in May 2018.
6. Can I attend the Festival?
   Of course! All entrants are invited to the Festival, where their projects will be displayed. You can read more about the Festival here. All entrants must arrive at the Festival location for registration by 12 noon on the day of the Festival.
7. Who do I contact if I have any further questions?
   You can email youngphilosopherawards@ucd.ie with any questions you have about the Awards.

1. Who can enter the Undergraduate Awards?
   Anyone registered to an undergraduate degree in a third-level institution on the island of Ireland can enter. For a complete list of third-level institutions in the Republic of Ireland see here, and for a complete list of third-level institutions in Northern Ireland see here.
2. Do I need to apply through my institution?
   No; you can apply directly to the Awards, but you must list the third-level institution to which you are currently registered on your application.
3. How exactly do I apply?
   First, fill out and submit the Application Form here by Friday 9 March 2018. Then all you need to do is submit your essay here by Friday 13 April 2018.
4. How much does it cost to apply?
   There is a €10 entry fee for all applications.
5. Where and when will the IYPA Festival take place?
   The Festival will take place in Dublin in May 2018.
6. Can I attend the Festival?
   Of course! All entrants are invited to the Festival, where their projects will be displayed. You can read more about the Festival here. All entrants must arrive at the Festival location for registration by 12 noon on the day of the Festival.
7. Who do I contact if I have any further questions?
   You can email youngphilosopherawards@ucd.ie with any questions you have about the Awards.

All Undergraduate Awards entrants are welcome to attend the IYPA Festival– so if you have submitted your application (Deadline: Friday 9 March 2018) and your Essay (Deadline: Friday 13 April 2018), you should attend!All Undergraduate Awards entrants are welcome to attend the IYPA Festival– so if you have submitted your application (Deadline: Friday 9 March 2018) and your Essay (Deadline: Friday 13 April 2018), you should attend!

1. First, you need to have your Visual Thinking Display ready.
   As mentioned above, your project display area at the Festival will be A0-sized, and your display must be at least A1 sized. You should try to arrive at the Festival location as early as possible, and must arrive no later than XXX (when registration closes) – displays must be ready by XXX. You must also remember to bring whatever materials you need in order to construct your display on the day – including whatever is needed to affix your materials to the display board, e.g. sticky tape or blu-tac.
2. You should also be prepared to talk about your project.
   So you should practice introducing your question or topic to a general audience, explaining why it is important and worth thinking about, and explaining how you have answered the question or thought about the topic.
3. It is a good idea to think about further questions arising from your project.
   How might the work you’ve started be continued? What sorts of connections can be drawn between your project and other possible projects? Which questions occurred to you but did not fall within the scope of your project? How does your project “disrupt” traditional thinking?
4. Talk to as many people as possible about your project, and get feedback.
   What sorts of questions do people typically ask about your project? If you talk about your project with friends and family, you will be prepared for the sorts of questions that people might have. But remember also that the aim of the Festival is not to try to ‘take down’ people’s projects with difficult questions! The aim is to share and encourage interesting, challenging and creative thought. So don’t worry about ‘having all the answers’.