Students > Essay Contests > Atlas Shrugged
✓ Open to all high school, college, and graduate students worldwide.
Annual Grand Prize
Winter Entry Deadline
Book Length
Fill out the contact form below, and we’ll email you with more information about this year’s contest—including instructions on how to enter.
We’ll email you more information about this year’s contest—including instructions on how to enter. In the meantime, please let us know at essays@aynrand.org if you have any questions. We’re happy to help.
The astounding story of a man who said that he would stop the motor of the world—and did.
Tremendous in scope, breathtaking in its suspense, Atlas Shrugged is unlike any other book you have ever read. It is a mystery story, not about the murder of a man’s body, but about the murder—and rebirth—of man’s spirit.
Every three months there is a new seasonal entry round, with its own unique essay prompt. You may compete in any or all of these entry rounds.
The top three essays from each season will be awarded a cash prize. The first-place essay from each season will advance to compete for the annual grand prize.
The first-place essay from each season will be eligible to contend for the annual first-place title, with the opportunity to secure a grand prize of $25,000.
Each entry round features a unique topic designed to provoke a deeper understanding of the book’s central themes and characters.
Essays must be written in English only and be between 800 and 1,600 words in length.
Questions? Write to us at essays@aynrand.org.
Over the course of the novel, Hank Rearden struggles to resolve a dramatic internal conflict. What are the conflicting premises or ideas in his soul, and how does he eventually resolve this conflict? In what way does Rearden’s conflict represent the conflict within the best of American businessmen, and a central conflict in American culture? Judging from how Rearden resolves his conflict, how do you think the author might propose resolving the cultural conflict?
The story of the Twentieth Century Motor Company is about how a private business and its employees voluntarily decide to adopt a supposedly moral plan. What are the ideas, especially the moral ideas, that lead to the company’s destruction? How can we see these ideas at work in business, culture, or politics today? Explain how you think their consequences will be similar to, and/or different from those suffered by the Twentieth Century Motor Company.
3 per year
3 per year
2 per year
1 per year
3rd Place
2nd Place
1st Place
Annual Grand Prize
$25,000
1 per year
$3,000
2 per year
$2,000
3 per year
Essays are judged on whether the student is able to justify and argue for his or her view, not on whether the Institute agrees with the view the student expresses.
Our graders look for writing that is clear, articulate, and logically organized. Essays should stay on topic, address all parts of the selected prompt, and interrelate the ideas and events in the novel.
Winning essays must demonstrate an outstanding grasp of the philosophic meaning of Atlas Shrugged.
Atlas Shrugged is a mystery novel like no other. You enter a world where scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, and inventors are inexplicably vanishing—where the world is crumbling.
And what you discover, by the end, is an uplifting vision of life, an inspiring cast of heroes, and a challenging new way to think about life’s most important issues.
Learn more and request a free digital copy of the book today.
Curious to know what makes for a winning essay in the Atlas Shrugged contest? Check out some of the essays written by our most recent grand-prize winners.
To varying degrees, they all display an excellent grasp of the philosophic meaning of Atlas Shrugged.
Click here to see the full list of 2022 contest winners.
2022
Jacob Fisher
Graduate Student
Stanford University
Stanford, California
United States
2021
Mariah Williams
Graduate Student
Regis University
Denver, Colorado
United States
2020
Nathaniel Shippee
Graduate Student
University of Illinois
Chicago, Illinois
United States
2019
Samuel Weaver
Graduate Student
St. John’s College
Annapolis, Maryland
United States
2018
Patrick Mayles
Graduate student
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Bogota
Colombia
2017
Christina Jeong
College Student
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana
United States
Other than endorsing perfect punctuation and grammar in English, the Ayn Rand Institute offers no advice or feedback for essays submitted to its contests. However, we do recommend the following resources as ways to improve the content of your essays.
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We’ll send you periodic reminders about the contest deadlines, as well as helpful resources to ensure you get the most out of your experience reading and writing about Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
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Atlas Shrugged is a mystery novel like no other. You enter a world where scientists, entrepreneurs, artists, and inventors are inexplicably vanishing—where the world is crumbling.
What you discover, by the end, is an uplifting vision of life, an inspiring cast of heroes, and a challenging new way to think about life’s most important issues.
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