Contest Requirements

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences invites you to participate in our annual liberal arts education essay contest during the academic year 2023-2024. The contest is open to all currently enrolled Butler undergraduates who have completed two or more semesters at Butler or another post-secondary liberal arts institution, and the student who writes the winning essay will win a $1000 prize. Past essay contest winners are not permitted to enter the contest. The winning essay will be posted on the Liberal Arts and Sciences website.

The submitted essays will be judged by a committee of Butler University faculty drawn from various disciplines.

The prompt for this year’s essay is: New Ways to See the World: The Value of a Liberal Arts Education

A liberal arts education is intended to diversify your worldview, expand your perspective, and to prepare you with a broad range of knowledge. This education should grant you the flexibility and intellectual skills to deal with the complexity of our ever-changing world. Is there a specific moment from your experience at Butler in which your liberal arts education encouraged you to change how you think about your community, your social responsibility, or your place in the world?

Contest Requirements

Limit yourself to 1,000 words and submit your essay as an attachment by March 17, 2024 to las@butler.edu. Essays over 1,000 words will not be considered. The format of your paper should conform to the following standards:

  • Single spaced
  • One-inch margins
  • Twelve point font
  • Conventional book-print fonts, such as Times, New Times Roman, Lucinda Bright, etc. No novelty fonts.
  • Give your essay a title (no more than one line please)
  • Title your attachment Lastname_FirstNameLAScontest.doc.
  • Make sure that your email includes contact information (name, address, phone number, email address). Do not include your name or contact information within the file, as these essays will be blind-reviewed.

Your submission will almost certainly be richer if you avail yourself of the resources and commentaries posted at the LAS Faculty Perspectives webpage linked below. You are not expected necessarily to agree with these commentaries or to quote from them, but reading them will certainly help deepen and vary your thinking about the topic. Please note that by submitting an entry, you are giving us permission to post your essay on the Liberal Arts and Sciences website.