
Do you care about fairness and saving energy?
Raise your voice to win $3,000!
The Gill Owen Essay Prize honours the memory of Dr Gill Owen, a tireless campaigner in the fields of energy efficiency and social equity. Through her work she highlighted the importance of energy affordability and energy savings for disadvantaged households.
This essay prize provides young Australians and permanent residents (35 years and under) with an opportunity to build on Gill's legacy. The writer of the winning essay will receive a cash prize of $3,000. Two runners-up will each receive $1,000 (one for an enrolled student and one for a non-student).
How do I enter?
Simply write and submit an essay between 700 and 1,500 words on the theme of energy efficiency and social equity, with reference to Dr Owen's work, research or publications. You are encouraged to discuss changes to policy which may improve the future outlook for energy efficiency and social equity.
Ensure you meet the criteria below before emailing your essay to Erika Wagner with the subject heading: Gill Owen Essay Prize entry. Entries close Friday 8 November 2019. Along with your essay, you must include the following:
- Your name
- Your phone number
- Your email address
- A copy of your student ID card (if applying in the student category)
What's the fine print?
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Authors must be Australian citizens or permanent residents.
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Previous winners and runners up of the Gill Owen Essay Prize are not eligible to win.
- As the purpose of the prize is to encourage emerging voices, essays must be written by authors aged 35 and under (i.e. date of birth after 8 November 1983).
- Employees of the partner organisations (ISF/UTS, AGL Energy, Uniting Communities, Association for Energy and Environmental Equity and Renew Economy) are ineligible to win a prize.
How will my essay be judged?
A panel of experts will judge essays based on:
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Clarity and style
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Originality and innovative thinking
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Relevance to the themes of energy efficiency and social equity
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Potential impact for positive change in relation energy efficiency and social equity
What's my deadline?
Entries close at 5pm on Friday 8 November.
"Making sure that people who might be worse off in our society can have access to energy, affordable energy is important to me in terms of creating a just society, so the opportunity to write about that and explore the issues there was very appealing"
Joel Dignam, 2018 Essay Prize winner
→ Looking for inspiration? Read the essays written by previous winners
Gill Owen International Scholarship
In addition to the Gill Owen Essay Prize, Energy Consumers Australia will be inviting applications for the Gill Owen International Scholarship. Read more.
Partners
The Gill Owen Essay Prize is proudly supported by: AGL Energy, Uniting Communities, the Association for Energy and Environmental Equity, Renew Economy (media partner) and The Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF) of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
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