Deadline: March 16, 2018
The Kenan Moral Purpose Award is given for the best undergraduate student essay on the role a liberal arts education plays in students’ exploration of the personal and social purposes by which to orient their future and the intellectual, emotional, and moral commitments that make for a full life.
Established in honor of the Kenan Institute for Ethics’ 15th anniversary at Duke and subsequently expanded, the award represents a partnership with the Parr Center for Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. One winner from each school receives $1,000.
2018 Entry Guidelines
This contest is open to currently enrolled undergraduate students at both Duke and UNC (U.S. citizens or permanent residents). Essays of between 500-800 words should address either or both of the following questions:
- In what ways have your core beliefs and larger aims been tested, transformed, or confirmed during your time in college?
- How have you had to defend or challenge prevailing ideas, social norms or institutions and what lessons have you learned from doing so?
Students must submit their essay by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 16, 2018 by emailing a Word or PDF document to amber.diaz@duke.edu.
Past Winners
2017
Duke Grand Prize: Amulya Vadapalli, PPS ’19, Public Policy Studies – A Closed Mind
Duke Honorable Mention: Richard Phillips, PPS ’17, Public Policy Studies with Ethics Certificate – A Bridge for When Walls are Torn Down; Alexandra Zrenner, Trinity ’17, Economics and Mathematics – The Education of a Young Liberal
UNC Grand Prize: Brian Wong, ’19, Political Science via a joint degree program with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the National University of Singapore – For Liberty, and Love of Learning
2015
Sofia Manfredi (Trinity ’15) and Erik Augustine (UNC-CH ’15) for Passions and Jokes and Ethics Is Hard but Should Be Happy
2014
Lauren Carroll (T ’14) and Daniel Pigeon (UNC-CH ’15) for Split Loyalties and Mandatory Modesty
2013
Joy Liu’s (T ’14) Ambition and Elizabeth Henderson’s (UNC-CH ’13) On Open Mindedness
2012
Sophia Staal’s (T’ 15) Different Strokes and Darius Love’s (UNC-CH ’12) Little Fish, Big Pond
2011
Rae Dong’s (T’ 11) Purpose, Not Perfection and Bethany Horstmann’s (T’ 13) When Service Isn’t Enough, Building a New Understanding of Morality