Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest

Registered undergraduate students at accredited four-year colleges or universities in the United States during the Spring 2026 semester are eligible to enter the 2026 contest.

Students who are studying abroad during the Spring 2026 semester are eligible, as long as they are registered as full-time students at their home school in the U.S.

Students are NOT eligible to enter if:

• They are not yet attending college (includes not attending during the Spring 2026 semester) or are in high school.
• They attend two-year programs or schools.
• They are enrolled in an associate degree or community college program.
• They are part-time students.
• They finished their undergraduate studies before the Spring 2026 semester.
• They are in a doctorate, masters, or any graduate program.
• They are attending an unaccredited school as acknowledged by the National Student Clearinghouse.
• They are full-time students at a school outside of the U.S & not study abroad programs.

If you are not eligible this year, you may be eligible in the following years. New application forms and guidelines are posted every fall.

Essay Theme: Silence, Conscience, and Responsibility

• Is silence an act of compassion or complicity?
• When does silence protect dignity and when does it betray it?
• When silence becomes complicit, what is your moral responsibility?
• Do we owe the world our voice or does the world sometimes need our silence to heal?
• Reflect on a time, in your life or in the world, when silence itself became an ethical choice.
• What did that moment teach you about conscience, courage, and responsibility?

Engage us. Enlighten us. Explore the ethics of any question that moves you, whether drawn from the tension between silence and speech, or from any other moral challenge, close to home or across the world. We are eager to learn from you.

What are the essay guidelines?

• In 2,500 to 3,500 words, you are encouraged to raise questions, single out issues and identify dilemmas based on the essay prompt provided.
• Essays may be written in the formal or informal voice, but most importantly, an individual voice should be evident.
• Essay must be the original, unpublished work. It may be a paper that was turned in for class.
• Only one essay per student per year may be submitted.
• Essay should be titled, typed in 12-point font easily readable font (such as Times New Roman), double-spaced with 1″ margins, and numbered pages.
• Submissions will be judged anonymously. Hence, no name or identifying references (i.e. your name, school, or professor) should appear on the title page or in the document. Our office will put a code on your essay.
• We will not tolerate in an essay submission any expression of hatred to any racial, ethnic, gender, or faith-based group. Any submissions that include such statements, as determined in our sole discretion, will result in immediate disqualification of the essay from the contest.