This is a themed essay contest, of up to 3,000 words, for writers who are UK or European Union citizens. “The Hubert Butler Essay Prize is intended to encourage the art of essay-writing with a European dimension and to expand interest in Butler's work.” The subject for the 2026 essay prize is: ‘‘“Poetry makes nothing happen” (W.H.Auden). What impact can high culture make in the real world? The quotation in the essay title is taken from Auden’s elegy for Yeats, written in 1939, just before the outbreak of the Second World War.  In times of global conflict, there can be an acute awareness of the impotence of art.  What impact, if any, can high culture have in a world threatened by disaster?”
Value: €2,500
Deadline: 3 July 2026
Open for: UK or EU citizens
Details here.

Deadline: July 3rd, 2026