The Biennial Pandeism Collegiate Writing Competition
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This biennial writing competition is open to all persons who are undergraduate and graduate collegiate students of philosophy, theology, religious studies, social sciences, arts, literature, applied sciences, or comparable disciplines, at any time during the period during which the contest is being held.
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Students who wish to enter this competition must submit an article presenting original thought in exploring implications of the modern theological theory of Pandeism (pantheistic Deism, belief in a Creator wholly becoming our Universe, proposed to be discernible by application of logic and reason). Papers written for course credit are acceptable. Submissions do not need to take a position in favor of or opposed to Pandeism as a theory, but must present original thought about its relative possibility, relation to other areas of theology, or implications for areas such as epistemology, ethics and morality, or science. Submissions must be a minimum of 3,000 words and a maximum of 6,000 words. Only one (1) article may be submitted by each student.
The deadline to enter the 2021 contest is Thursday, June 10, 2021, at 5:00 PM PST (8:00 PM EST). Articles are free to be submitted at any time prior to this deadline; no submissions will be reviewed until after the deadline had passed.
Submissions must be sent by email to Pandeism.Anthology@gmail.com, as Microsoft Word documents attached to an email identifying the name of the applicant, electronic and telephonic means of contacting the applicant, and the college or university attended by the applicant. There are no fees or other conditions for entry.
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One (1) grand prize winner will be honored by:
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publication of the winning article in Pandeism: An Anthology of Natural Spirit, a collection of articles by leading authors in various fields, to be published in 2022;
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two (2) print copies of Pandeism: An Anthology of Natural Spirit containing the winning submission; and
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a monetary prize in the amount of $250, to be conveyed in the form of an Amazon.com gift card.
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Transmission of the monetary prize may be provided electronically or by mail. The winner will be contacted to determine their preferred method of delivery.
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Entrants, as a condition of entry, grant Sponsors a perpetual right to republish any submission, in whole or part, and release Sponsors, any prize provider in this contest, and any related entities from liability for damages of any kind sustained through participation in this contest and/or use of any prize. Entrants further authorize Sponsors to republish their submission, in print or electronically. However, entrants retain ownership of their submission for all other purposes, and may republish them in any other venue or manner, at any time.
Sponsors will judge all entries, and the decisions of the judges are final. The judges may choose no grand prize winner for the competition if they find no submission that, in their estimation, merits this award. The winning entry will be announced on this website, and winners will be contacted directly through the email address that they have provided.
In addition to the grand prize winner, other submissions of high quality may be honored by publication in this or a future edition of Pandeism: An Anthology, as space permits. Competition sponsors may additionally choose to publish any submissions as part of a future anthology, or as part of a wholly electronic supplement to this or another printed publication.
Inquiries with respect to this contest may be directed to Pandeism.Anthology@gmail.com, or to the Twitter Pandeism account, @Pandeism.
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Past winners
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The winner of the 2017 Pandeism Collegiate Writing Competition was Scott Somerville of Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada, for his submission, "Fractal Divinity, the Purpose of Life, and Romanesco Broccoli." Scott's submission was published in Pandeism: An Anthology of the Creative Mind, in August 2019.
Our runner-up was Michael Minogue of the Illinois Institute of Technology of Chicago, Illinois, USA, for his submission, "The World of Ideas, Archetypes, and their Pandeistic Ontology"; Michael saw the publication of his submission as well.
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