Think Essay Prize Winner Announced

The Royal Institute of Philosophy is delighted to announce the winner of the 2024 Think Essay Prize.

The winner of the competition is Claudia Wong from Cheltenham Ladies’ College with her essay titled: ‘Is It Morally Wrong to Eat Meat?’. This essay will be published in the next issue of Think.

Dr Stephen Law, Editor of Think and Chair of the Judging Panel, writes:

The essay was exceptionally clear, well-structured, and to the point. It defended the view that killing animals for food is morally objectionable, and addressed two main objections to that view: that animals need not be harmed (and in fact may benefit from being brought into existence for meat production), and that animal welfare is unimportant, because, for example, we have no duties towards animals per se, but only indirect duties towards humans (which requires e.g. that we not be cruel to animals because this might lead us to be cruel to humans). Claudia Wong’s essay made some very incisive points along the way, and was a model of good, clear philosophical writing.

Thank you once again to every single applicant. We greatly enjoyed reading all your essays. We also owe a big thank you to the very many schools with students who submitted essays – we appreciate your support.

Given the competition produced so many submissions, we sought the help of a number of judges who were involved from the first stage of selection. Our thanks to all of them for delivering a very thorough and professional review process.

More information on the Prize, longlist, and shortlist can be found here.