Essay Competition Winners

Essay Competition Winners
This Competition is presented in partnership with the Paradox Science Institute.

Deadlines

Terms Used

June 10, 2025 - Contest Announced

June 23, 2025 - Open to Submissions

September 29, 2025 (10 AM US Eastern Time) - Deadline for Submissions

October 21, 2025 (10 AM US Eastern Time) - Essay Rating Deadline

October 22 – November 28, 2025 - Expert Judges' Evaluation Period

By December 15, 2025 - Prize Winners Announced; All Entrant/Commentator Names Revealed

Everyone who submits an entry to the Competition through the submission form will be regarded as a Competition Entrant; however only those whose essays are deemed eligible and posted to the site will be regarded as "Essay Authors." Each eligible essay will be read and rated (scored between 1 and 10) by at least two Expert Readers (chosen by FQxI). FQxI Members and other Essay Authors will also have the ability to score essays. Essay Author Finalists will be those achieving the highest scores and/or those recommended by the Expert Readers. Essays can also be "liked" and commented on by the public.

For further clarity, see below for definitions of types of Competition participant:

  • Competition Entrant: Anyone who enters the Competition by submitting an entry through the submission form.

  • Essay Author: All Competition Entrants who receive a confirmation of eligibility from FQxI. Essay Authors have essays posted in the Competition. All Essay Authors will be anonymous, with names and bios withheld until the winners are announced.

  • FQxI Members: Scientists and outreach specialists FQxI has invited to be Members. A current list of FQxI Members is available here.

  • Expert Reader: Two or more people, selected by FQxI, to read and rate eligible essays. This review will happen during the general voting period to ensure all essays are read. Expert Readers provide FQxI with more than one fair assessment of each essay in case of any rating fraud.

  • Competition Evaluator: This includes Essay Authors, FQxI Members, and Expert Readers. These three groups can rate essays on a scale of 1 to 10 during the general voting period ending October 21, 2025, at 10 AM US Eastern Time.

  • Public Reader: Anyone who is not a Competition Evaluator. Public Readers can comment on (when logged in) and rate essays by clicking the thumb icon to "Like" an essay.

  • Essay Author Finalist: This includes Essay Authors with the top Competition Evaluator scores, and Expert Readers' recommendations. These groups are only eligible to be Essay Author Finalists if they have, at a minimum, rated the three essays assigned upon confirmation of eligibility.

  • Expert Judge: This panel evaluates Essay Author Finalists between October 22 and November 28, 2025, after the general voting period ends. They will meet after this period to review and select the Prize Winners based on the Evaluation Criteria shared on the Competition Rules page.


FQxI Competition: What Is “Fundamental”

First Prize
Fundamental?
by Emily Christine Adlam
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Second Prize
The Politics of Fundamentality
by Alyssa Ney
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Second Prize
Of Lego and Layers (and Fundamentalism)
by Dean Rickles
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Second Prize
Against Fundamentalism
by Matthew Saul Leifer
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Third Prize
Fundamentality, Explanation, and the Unity of Science
by Gregory Derry
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Third Prize
When do we stop digging? Conditions on a fundamental theory of physics
by Karen Crowther
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Third Prize
The Case for Strong Emergence
by Sabine Hossenfelder
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Third Prize
Mad-Dog Everettianism: Quantum Mechanics at Its Most Minimal
by Sean M. Carroll
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Fourth Prize
Bell's Theory of Beables and the Concept of `Universe'
by Ian Durham
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Fourth Prize
Fundamental is Non-Random
by Ken Wharton
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Fourth Prize
Fundamentality Here, Fundamentality There, Fundamentality Everywhere
by Marc Séguin
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Fourth Prize
Mind before matter: reversing the arrow of fundamentality
by Markus P Mueller
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Fourth Prize
Things, Laws, and the Human Mind
by Tejinder Pal Singh
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Student Author Prize
'Fundamentality' as a Linguistic Paradigm (and Linguistics as a Fundamental Paradigm)
by Aditya Dwarkesh
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”
Creative Writing Prize
Socrates, Atoms, and Being: A Dialogue
by Mozibur Rahman Ullah
Competition Theme
What Is “Fundamental”