The Annual Alexander Phillips Arête Contest and Award
By: Odin Halvorson
Tags: Politics, Publication, Philosophy, Contests, Awards

What is arete?

Arête is the Greek word for all-around excellence, in all dimensions of life, and of a sort in which duty to self and duty to others go hand in glove. To further realize arête, one must have a certain amount of innocence, of faith, in yourself and your fellow humans that there is a shared aspiration, imbued with social conscience, to excel to new heights, together and alone, autonomous and connected all at once.

What is the topic this year?

“When to let go, and when to be in control.”

When is the time ripe to take a hands-on approach to a circumstance? When is it better to stand back and seeks space, time, and a broader or more cohesive understanding? Whatever this topic sparks in you, run with it! We’re excited to see what emerges.

How long is the reading and selection period?

Due to the volunteer nature of the project, the reading period can take a while, especially if the volume of submissions is high. Please have patience when submitting — if you do not hear back from us within two months after submitting a piece, please follow-up.

Simultaneous Submissions?

We can not accept simultaneous submissions for this. We want to pick the best pieces and this can take time, so we respectfully ask that you submit a piece you are comfortable letting rest for a while while our team of judges makes their decision.

Note: As this is an award, we never accept multiple submissions. Multiple submissions from the same person will be deleted unread.

Are there any other requirements for submission?

Essays should be carefully edited and no more than 1500 words. Up to three pages of poetry may be submitted — poetry should show understanding of form and substance as well as content. Videos should not exceed five minutes in length. Paintings or graphic art should either be scanned at high quality or else captured via high quality photography.

Who can submit work?

Anyone. Any person, anywhere on the planet, is welcome to submit to this award contest. The goal is to help realize and foster the connections all humans share. If you feel that you have something especially powerful, moving, insightful to share, something with the sort of quality that really shines with the spirit of arête, then that’s the work we want to see and we hope you’ll submit it to us.

What languages do you accept?

We accept pieces in any language as long as they are accompanied by an English translation. For videos, this could take the form of subtitles — of course, this only applies if speech or the written word is necessary to understand the concepts explored in the piece. Some more inventive method of providing a translation can also be used as long as it allows the central themes and concepts to be shared.

Who retains rights?

You do. Participants do not give up ownership of any material submitted. Democracy Cafe only retains publication rights of submitted work for the purposes of posting winning pieces on the various publication branches of Socrates Cafe/Democracy Cafe and in related promotional materials for the Arete Award.

More about the Alexander Phillips Arete Award

Dr. Christopher Phillips, founder of Democracy Café, author of numerous books on philosophy and social matters, founded the Arete Award in 2018 as a memorial to his father, Alexander Phillips. Though Alexander’s life tragically ended in 2011, his legacy lives on in his son and in the moving and insightful work of those who participate in the yearly Alexander Phillips Arete Award.

Note from Dr. Phillips — With enormous thanks to Odin Halverson for his deft editing, revisions, and additions, and to Kate Small for helping me come up with just the right question for this year’s award competition.