Submission checklist
Use this checklist to make sure your essay is ready for submission.
Ensure that your essay includes citations to all external sources you used.
Save your essay as a PDF file.
Do not include your name anywhere in the essay. For example, do not include your name in the header or below the title.
Do include your name in the file name, e.g., “Bob Smith Eon Essay”.
Estimating chances of winning
Some statistics from last year’s contest.
In 2022, Eon Essay Contest received about 1,500 entries. Of these, only about 1,000 responded to the essay prompts. The rest were off-topic essays that students had written for another scholarship application or homework assignment.
Essays were graded on a scale from 0 to 40. Essays could receive a maximum of 10 points for each of the following categories:
1) Knowledge;
2) Writing style;
3) Originality of ideas; and
4) Depth and sophistication of analysis.
Less than 100 essays received a score of 30 or above. These well-written essays were likely to follow the tips outlined here and here. Simplifying greatly, if you submitted a well-written essay last year, you could guess that you had a 1% chance of winning the top prize, which is an expected value of $150. (This is simplified because the winners were not chosen randomly, and more prizes were on offer besides the top prize.)
Hopefully this helps potential entrants decide whether to enter the contest. Of course, while money is a factor, it is not the only consideration when potential entrants decide how to spend their spare time. Another, often more important factor, is the learning opportunity on offer. All entrants to this contest are exposed to the important ideas discussed in The Precipice. If you find the book summary intriguing, this contest may be just the motivation you need to find the book at a local library and start reading it.
Did you answer the prompt?
One of the most common mistakes entrants made in their essays last year was not answering the prompt fully. To help you check that you have done this, we’ve created the following checklist for you.
One of the most common mistakes entrants make in their essays is not answering the prompt fully. To help you check that you have done this, we’ve created the following checklist for you.
13-18 Age Bracket
Pick a technology (e.g., AI) and a position (e.g., marketing executive). Pick only one of each. You do not need to address multiple technologies or positions, and your analysis will be unfocused and shallow if you try.
Describe an approach that will address existential risks stemming from the technology. Focus your approach on the most important risks. While the technology you pick can be fictional, the approach you discuss should be realistic, and take into account likely real-world opportunities and constraints.
Identify risks that will make implementing your approach difficult
(For an excellent essay) Identify ways to mitigate the above risks
19-21 Age Bracket
Pick one group and existential risk(s) it impacts. You do not need to discuss multiple groups, and your analysis will be unfocused and shallow if you try.
Describe what said group could be doing differently
Identify incentives that could make said group act differently
(For an excellent essay) Identify inter- and intra- group dynamics that could help or hinder the group
22-24 Age Bracket
Pick a missing piece
Identify what conclusion that missing piece is related to
Discuss how that conclusion would change if the missing piece was considered
A too-short essay (i.e., under 500 words) is extremely unlikely to be able to fully address the prompts.
One question that entrants often ask is “What type of essay should I write? Narrative? Argumentative?” You should write whatever type of essay will fully answer the prompt; we will not disqualify any essays based on their type. Past winners have written essays that are mostly argumentative and expository, but if you are a good writer, you don’t need to restrict yourself to that type.
If you have already submitted an essay, but want to edit it, you can resubmit your essay. Use the “Check this box if you are resubmitting an essay you submitted earlier this year” box on the entry form.
Tips for using sources
Two of the criteria on which essays are graded are “knowledge of The Precipice” and “originality of ideas.” The first requires you to use a specific source, The Precipice, while the second encourages you to use other sources, including your ideas. Here are some tips for how you can use these sources well.
Two of the criteria on which essays are graded are “knowledge of The Precipice” and “originality of ideas.” The first requires you to use a specific source, The Precipice, while the second requires you to use other sources, including your ideas. Here are some tips for how you can use these sources well:
The Precipice
Make sure you read the entire book. (You can skip the appendices, although you are welcome to read them if you’d like.) Once you are done, you should be familiar with concepts such as existential risk, long-term future, AGI, and the long reflection.
Choose a topic for your essay that will allow you to demonstrate an understanding of ideas from the book. For example, for the 13-18 age bracket, if you pick “anti-gravity shoes” as your transformative technology, you’ll probably have a hard time discussing ideas related to existential risk, while if you choose something like “gene-editing technology,” you’ll be able to discuss those ideas more naturally.
Discuss concepts from the book that are related to your essay. Your discussion should indicate to the graders that you (1) understand what the concept means and (2) how the concept relates to your essay topic.
Keep in mind that there might be multiple ideas from the book that are relevant to your essay. You won’t have enough space to discuss all of them, but you should try to discuss the most relevant ones.
External ideas
Incorporate external ideas into your essay. Your thoughts are one form of external ideas, and references to external sources (e.g., other books, newspaper articles, research papers, websites) are another. Use both.
For example, you may use external sources that you’ve come across during your coursework.
When you refer to external sources, provide citations. You may provide citations in any format that you are comfortable with. (As Judge Richard Posner said, “no serious reader pays attention to citation format; all the reader cares about is that the citation enable him or her to find the cited material.”) Citations are not included in the word count, so you should cite generously. Citations can be in-text or included as footnotes or endnotes.
You should also cite unusual sources that you might not cite for a school essay. Did a tweet make you think? A TikTok? A conversation with ChatGPT? Add it to the citations. We are curious about how entrants get inspired.
Draw connections between external ideas and ideas from the book. These ideas might agree with each other, expand upon each other, or disagree with each other. In all cases, your analysis should demonstrate an understanding of how the ideas relate to each other.
If you have already submitted an essay, but want to edit it, you can resubmit your essay. Just check off the “I am resubmitting this essay” box on the entry form.