“Atlas Shrugged” Winner Pockets $10,000!

December 16, 2009 

IRVINE, CA--Elizabeth Hong, a med student at the University of Michigan, from Amherst, NY, is the first-place winner of the Ayn Rand Institute’s 2009 “Atlas Shrugged” essay contest, winning $10,000. With more than 4,000 submissions, 2009 was the most competitive year in the contest’s history, more than doubling entries received in 2008, the previous record. 

Open to 12th graders and both undergraduate- and graduate-level college students, the “Atlas Shrugged” essay contest requires contestants to write on one of several topics dealing with the characters and themes in the novel. The contest is designed to promote critical thinking and writing skills. Essays are judged on both style and content.

Ms. Hong’s essay compares two characters from the novel, Dagny Taggart and Lillian Rearden, and their approach to life and their basic motivation.

The contest also awards three 2nd-­place awards ($2,000), five 3rd-­place awards ($1,000), 20 finalists ($100) and 20 semifinalists ($50), for a total of $24,000 in prize money. A complete list of winners and a copy of the first-prize essay can be read online at ARI’s Web site.

Since 1999 about 13,000 college and high school students from around the world have entered ARI’s “Atlas Shrugged” essay contest.  For more information about the essay contests visit our website.

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