Upcoming Deadlines

Koch Internship Program – Fall

Application Deadline: TODAY, August 9, 2010
Eligibility: Current college student, graduate student, or recent graduate. Available to work 20-35 hours per week during the program.
How to apply: Get your resume ready and apply here.
Details: The Koch Internship Program is a paid internship offered in the summer, fall, and spring for young professionals who want to become effective advocates for individual liberty, free markets, and economic freedom.  During the program, each intern works at a non-profit 501(c)(3) partner organization and gains valuable experience advancing the ideas of individual liberty and economic freedom in the non-profit sector.

The Objective Standard Essay Contest

Entry Deadline: August 15, 2010
Eligibility: Anyone ages 18 to 35, excluding TOS contributors. Students and non-students alike are encouraged to enter.
How to Enter: Essays must be submitted either electronically to essay@theobjectivestandard.com or via snail mail to The Objective Standard, P.O. Box 5274, Glen Allen, VA 23058.
Prizes:
First Prize: $2,000 plus publication in TOS
Second Prize: $750
Third Prize: $300
Topic for 2010: The Moral Foundation of Capitalism
Few people who advocate capitalism know fully what this social system is, and even fewer are able to defend it on moral grounds. What is capitalism? What are its distinguishing characteristics? On what moral principles do they depend? And why are so few people able to name and uphold these principles?

Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest

Entry Deadline: September 17, 2010
Eligibility: 12th Graders, College Undergraduates, and Graduate Students
How to Enter: Submit your essay online or follow the instructions available here.
Prizes:
First Prize: $10,000
3 Second Prizes: $2,000
5 Third Prizes: $1,000
20 Finalists: $100
20 Semifinalists: $50
Select ONE of the following three topics:
1. According to John Galt, selfishness is both moral and practical. Explain what he means by this and how events of the story illustrate and dramatize his point.
2. Explain the meaning and wider significance of the following quote: “The words ‘to make money’ hold the essence of human morality.” According to the story of Atlas Shrugged, what ideas underlie the opposing maxims that “money is the root of all evil” and that “money is the root of all good”?
3. Capitalism’s defenders usually appeal to the “public good.” Contrast their approach to capitalism to Ayn Rand’s approach in Atlas Shrugged.