APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN for the The Alpine Fellowship Writing Prize (£10,000 cash prize)
If you’re a writer, poet, academic, playwright or visual artist, then why not consider entering one of our prizes based on the theme? There are cash prizes and you’ll be invited to attend our symposium
Awarded for the best piece of writing on the theme of the Alpine Fellowship – Freedom
MORE ABOUT THE THEME
Freedom
The language of freedom fires rebellions even as it inspires institutions designed to build and preserve. Freedom announces obligations and binds us to promises that are often overlooked in favour of its caricature. At a moment in history when freedom is simultaneously feared, threatened and exalted, thinking about freedom is necessary. That is why the Alpine Fellowship in collaboration with the Hannah Arendt Centre at Bard College will be hosting the Symposium on Freedom.
We are interested in the following questions:
What types of freedom are there?
Are we political beings whose freedom is actualized together in a world shared with others?
What does it mean to be personally free? Is subjecting personal freedom to obligation necessary and helpful?
Is there a notion of freedom accessible beyond worldly constraints? Can inner freedom be developed by relating to one’s own experience in new ways?
What role does language have in shaping freedom?
If we accept freedom is a worldly and political imperative, how can we actualize freedom in the following areas?
Freedom of expression
Big tech and AI
Academia
Public health and government mandates
Human rights
What is artistic freedom and is it special in any way?
What social role do artists have in supporting and actualizing freedom?
Does the threat of public opprobrium have a limiting effect on artistic expression?
How could the notion of “a Zeitgeist” inform the discussion on freedom?
The winner will receive a £10,000 cash prize. A £3,000 cash prize will go to the second place, and £2,000 to the third place runner up. The winner and two runners up are invited to attend the symposium.
Rules:
Open to all nationalities and to anyone aged 18 and above.
All entries must be written in English.
Submissions must be standalone and cannot be extracts from a larger piece.
Poetry must be submitted to the Alpine Fellowship Poetry Prize. Poetry submissions to the Writing Prize will be considered ineligible.
Applicants can enter more than one prize in a single year, but it MUST be with different pieces of work. One piece of work can only be entered once.
All genres permitted.
A maximum of 2,500 words per entry
Limited to one entry per person
Text must not have been published, self-published or accepted for publication in print or online, or have won or been placed in another competition at any time (including the Alpine Fellowship Academic Writing Prize).
Due to the volume of applications the judges decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into following the results.
Submissions will be judged anonymously, so please ensure that your name does not appear anywhere on your work.
Work & Research in Germany: DAAD PRIME Fellowship 2026 for Postdoctoral Researchers
