The Lloyd Davies Philosophy Prize

The Lloyd Davies Prize in Philosophy was established in 2006.  The top prize will be £250 and there will be a second prize of £150. Essays of a high enough standard will be commended.  The winners’ essays may appear on the Oriel website, with the permissions of their authors.

The Purpose of the Prize:

  • To give students in Year 12 or the Lower 6th who are considering applying to a University an opportunity to write about a subject they are personally interested in.  This should enable them to develop their abilities for independent research and thought in Philosophy.
  • To support teachers of able pupils by providing interesting and challenging further work in Philosophy and by bringing such students into contact with Higher Education.
  • To encourage able students to consider applying to Oxford for Philosophy by giving them some experience of the type of work involved.
  • To recognise the achievement and effort of the best of those who apply through prizes and commendations and to give them the opportunity of receiving feedback from professional philosophers (the judges are only able to provide feedback on essays that receive a prize or a commendation).

Assessment Criteria:

Entrants should be in Year 12 (or equivalent) at their school or college.  The judges will look for originality of thought, a clear grasp of the issues, clarity in presentation and a critical approach to what has been read.  They will also look for a clear structure to the essay.

How to apply:

The essay should be no more that 3000 words in length and should be on one of the topics listed below.  Essays should be word processed and submitted by email in either PDF or RTF format to admissions@oriel.ox.ac.uk.  A font size of 12pt or greater should be used, and the page margins should be set to no less than 1 inch.  Entries must be sent with a completed entry form, which is downloadable here.  Please include a bibliography.

TITLES FOR 2012 ENTRIES:

  1. What is the difference between justice and fairness?  Which is more important?
  2. Can you know something without being certain of it?
  3. “In order to discover the ultimate nature of reality, one should do science, not philosophy.”  Is this true?
  4. “You cannot be held responsible for actions that you do not freely perform.”  Why not?

The deadline for application is 8th June 2012.  Results will be published by 28th June.

2011 winners:

The winner of the 2011 competition was Max Dalton for his essay 'Are liberty and equality compatible?' (First Prize). The second prize was awarded to Torben Schwartz, for his essay 'Could a machine be conscious?'.  Eleanor Sharman's essay on 'Are liberty and equality compatible?' received a commendation.  Congratulations!

There were 58 entries in 2011, with the question on liberty and equality being the most popular title. The standard of the essays was varied. The two prize winning essays and the commended essay, like many other essays, showed clarity in writing, relevance to the question, and a good argumentative structure. Max Dalton’s essay stood out ahead, being highly polished, comprehending, and penetrating. The explication of Nozick's argument is very clear, and the author's response to it very thoughtful – developing into an interesting discussion of property rights as a component of liberty.