ARI Essay Contest in NY Times

Sandra Salmans has an article titled “Essays on the Edge” in the Education Life section of the Sunday, January 18th issue of The New York Times. “Writing for dollars: be selfish, be freethinking, or just be,” says the subtitle, as Salmans surveys “the more intriguing, lucrative or unlikely competitions” for scholarship money.

The very first scholarship cited is “For Capitalist Pigs”:

The virtue of selfishness is richly rewarded by the Ayn Rand Institute, an educational foundation devoted to promoting the author’s philosophy of Objectivism, which endorses reason, self-interest and capitalism over altruism or environmentalism. A top prize of $10,000 goes to the best essay by a high school junior or senior who demonstrates “an outstanding grasp of the philosophic and psychological meaning of The Fountainhead.” Appropriately, it’s a no-strings-attached cash award. College students can win up to $5,000 for the best essay on the meaning of Atlas Shrugged.

The article is accompanied by a nice photo of Rand with the caption: “Ayn Rand created a philosophy. An ‘outstanding’ grasp of it is worth $10,000.”