The British Philosophy of Sport Association (BPSA) invites submissions to the 2024 McNamee Student Essay Prize in the Philosophy and Ethics of Sport. The Prize is named in honour of Prof. Mike McNamee (KU Leuven and Swansea University), founder of the BPSA.
Eligibility
Candidates must be enrolled in a university undergraduate or graduate level course at the time of submission. There is no geographical restriction on eligibility.
Submissions must be single-authored and the candidate’s own work, and they must address an issue in the Philosophy or Ethics of Sport.
IMPORTANT: the essay must be a new essay. Candidates are not allowed to submit essays previously submitted as coursework (turnitin system will check this is the case).
Criteria
Essays may address any topic in the Philosophy or Ethics of Sport.
In assessing submitted papers, the jury will place a strong emphasis on the following considerations:
- Originality of the essay topic and its treatment;
- Analytical rigour of the essay’s argument;
- Critical engagement with relevant philosophical literature
The jury reserves the right not to award a prize if submissions fail to achieve an appropriate standard. Candidates will not usually receive feedback on their submission.
To Enter
Submissions should be emailed in Word or PDF format to Dr Silvia Camporesi, Deputy Chair of the British Philosophy of Sport Association, with subject line ‘BPSA Essay Prize 2024’ by Monday July 15th, at midnight.
Candidates should submit two separate documents:
- Cover sheet that includes the candidate’s information (i.e. name, email address, university, and essay title); and
- Essay document that is anonymised so as not to reveal the identity of the candidate.
Essay Format
The word limit is 2500 words (excluding references).
Please use Harvard style of referencing. Please avoid footnotes/endnotes.
Prizes
Winner – £500 cash (by bank transfer)
Runner-up – £200 cash (by bank transfer)
Commendations x 3 – each of the three commended essays will receive £100 cash (by bank transfer)
The Winner and Runner-up will be invited to present their essays at a BPSA online work-in-progress seminar in the fall of 2024 and will be encouraged to submit their papers to the the Association’s journal Sport, Ethics and Philosophy: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rsep20/current
For any questions, get in touch with me, and have fun writing!
Dr Silvia Camporesi 