Celebrating excellence in interpreting Philosophy for/with Children

As with any educational movement, ICPIC’s strength and growth depends not only on our work in the field, but on our capacity to report on significant innovations, raise questions, seek connections, develop and test theories, investigate assumptions and assess our educational practices. Scholars and practitioners engaged in the field of philosophical inquiry with children and youth often construct new knowledge and perspectives that sustain and challenge our work in this field. Since 2002 ICPIC has conducted a biennial essay competition to encourage emerging scholars to contribute to that work.

The Award

• The author of the winning essay will receive $200 USD.
• The author will be invited to present the essay at a special session of the next ICPIC Biennial Conference, at which a member of the essay award committee will also offer commentary on the essay. (Attendance at the conference is highly encouraged but is not required for participation in the essay competition.)
• ICPIC will pay the author’s registration fee for the conference if that fee is not paid by the author’s employer.
• The winning essay will be published in the ICPIC Journal Childhood and Philosophy, where it will be noted that the essay won the ICPIC Biennial Essay Award.

Competition Criteria

The award committee and its chair are selected from the ICPIC Research Committee, who are charged to judge the essay that best achieves the following broad criteria:

• Demonstrates innovation, such as: developing a new or reconstructed theory, evaluating significant new practices, raising and addressing significant new questions
• Demonstrates knowledge of relevant disciplinary research literature including, but not limited to research literature in Philosophy for/with Children (see Philosophy for Children topics in PhilPapers.org)
• Demonstrates proper use of philosophical and/or empirical (quantitative, qualitative, action and/or post-qualitative) research methods

NOTE: Relevance of the essay topic to the theme of the ICPIC Biennial Conference is encouraged but is not a criterion for judging the winning essay.

Eligibility

• The author is a member of ICPIC. [NOTE: To encourage submissions from students ICPIC offers a free, one-year membership to all students who submit an essay that meets the above requirements.]
• The author either has not held a position at a university or research institute, or is within the first five years of holding such a position.
• The essay has not already been published or submitted for publication elsewhere.
• The author agrees that, should they win the competition, the essay will be published in the ICPIC Journal Childhood and Philosophy.
• Essays may be jointly-written.
• There is no age limitation.

Submission

• Essays must be submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word file, with 12-point Times font and 1.5 line spacing, by November 30th of the year of the competition (2018, 2020, 2013, etc.).
• Essays should be formatted in the academic citation style appropriate to the type of research conducted, e.g. APA, MLA, Chicago.
• Essays must include, on a separate page, the author’s name, contact information, city and country of residence, and a statement that the author meets the first four eligibility criteria listed above. The ICPIC Essay Award Committee Chair will remove this page before sending the essay to the Committee for blind review. If possible, the essay should not include details that otherwise identify the author.
• Essays are limited to a maximum of 7,000 words, including notes and bibliography.
• Essays may be submitted in the applicant’s native language but, if that language is not English, they must be accompanied by English translations.

NOTE: If the author is unable to provide an English translation, the ICPIC Essay Award Committee Chair will endeavor to secure a translation for purposes of review by Award Committee members who are not able to read the paper in its original language.
See the previous winners and read their essays on Our Projects page.