2025 Essay Competition

In collaboration with the Journal of Social Ontology, ISOS runs a biennial essay prize for junior scholars. The winner has the honor of being one of the invited keynote speakers at the annual Social Ontology conference, which in 2025 will be held in Dublin. The winner's conference expenses will be paid by ISOS. Moreover, the author's paper will be published in the Journal of Social Ontology and the author will receive a €500 award.

The competition is open to people who are either PhD-candidates or have received their PhD no longer than five years prior to the closing date of the competition. It is administered by a subcommittee of the Journal of Social Ontology, and the winner is chosen on the basis of multiple anonymous reviews by internal and external selectors.

The essays should be submitted to the journal via essayprize.isos.philosophy@univie.ac.at and labelled as entries to the essay competition. Authors are asked to state their affiliation, (expected) date of receipt of their PhD, and the names of their committee members in the email. The closing date for receipt of submissions is 31 December 2024.

2022 Essay Competition Winner!

The International Social Ontology Society is pleased to announce the winner of the 2022 ISOS essay competition for junior scholars. The 2022 award goes to Jade Fletcher. The title of her winning paper is ‘Canberra Planning for Gender Kinds'. You can read the published version here.

Our congratulations to Jade for her outstanding essay.

2020 Essay Competition Winner!

The International Social Ontology Society is pleased to announce the winner of the 2020 ISOS essay competition for junior scholars. The 2020 award goes to Tuomas Vesterinen. The title of his winning paper is ‘Identifying the Explanatory Domain of the Looping Effect: Congruent and Incongruent Feedback Mechanisms of Interactive Kinds’. You can read the published version here.

Our congratulations to Tuomas for his outstanding essay.

2016 Essay Competition Winner!

The International Social Ontology Society is pleased to announce the winner of the 2016 ISOS essay competition for junior scholars. The 2020 award goes to Leonie Smith. The title of his winning paper is ‘The Curious Cse of Ronald McDonald's Claim to Rights: An Ontological Account of Differences in Group and Individual Person Rights’. You can read the published version here.

Our congratulations to Leonie for her outstanding essay.