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. There is a first prize of €1,500 and two second prizes of €500.
Deadline for entries 04 July 2025
The subject for the 2025 Essay prize is: ‘Men must endure / Their going hence, even as their coming hither’ - King Lear. Have we no more active rights over life, birth and death?
The attitude of passive acceptance of birth and death, preached by Edgar to his father in King Lear, has been variously challenged in the modern period. The nature of human rights in the matter have been hotly contested: the right to life of the unborn child as against women’s reproductive rights, the principle of the sanctity of all human life clashing with the right to a chosen, dignified death. The title for this year’s Hubert Butler Essay Prize invites reflection on the ethical questions raised by such debates.
Entrants are encouraged to explore Hubert Butler’s writings before starting their essay.
Please click here to visit the Hubert Butler Essay Prize website and for details on the prize and how to enter.
For further information please email Dr Conor Daly at <DALYC27@tcd.ie>.