How to Enter
The Hubert Butler Essay Prize is intended to encourage the art of essay-writing with a European dimension and to expand interest in Butler's work. There is a first prize of €1,500 and two second prizes of €500.
The subject for the 2025 essay prize is:
‘Men must endure / Their going hence, even as their coming hither’ – King Lear. Have we no more active rights over life, birth and death?
Deadline: 4 July 2025
Criteria for entry
The author must be over 18, and be a UK or European Union citizen.
Conditions of entry
Essays submitted should be in English and of no more than 3,000 words in length (inclusive of quotations).
Entries should be double-spaced, and saved as either a .pdf or .rtf file.
The author's name should not be on the essay, as these are judged blind, so should be on the title/cover page only.
The judges' decision is final. The judges reserve the right not to award the prize, should no entry reach a sufficiently high standard.
Please download and complete the entry form and submit it with your essay.
ENTRY FORM
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