<p>@ FreakE: You can still do the Fountainhead, We The Living, and the Past Participants essay contests this year, as well as future Atlas Shrugged contests, if you like Rand’s style or ideas.</p>
<p>I read the prompts for next year and was so inspired I already started planning out my essay, lol. I love writing about Atlas Shrugged because it is so attuned to my own values & beliefs. /nerd</p>
<p>I was a semi-finalist last year. I thought my essay was good, but not great (I am about as Type A as you can get lol). What has me intrigued this year is the fact that there were essentially half the submissions compared to last year, and yet they are still judging papers. This could mean a number of things, like the caliber of the essays was extremely high, or because of other things, perhaps even the holiday, there simply wasn’t enough time to look at all of the papers and make the appropriate determinations.</p>
<p>All I know is that I received my notifcation on November 17th last year, which was more than a week before the notification deadline…I am intrigued to say the least that they are going beyond the originally stated notification deadline. Once again, good luck to you all!</p>
<p>How do you know how many submissions there were this year??</p>
<p>Next year’s prompts are very interesting 
I’ll probably write my essay for the 2011 competition over Winter Break and then set a reminder to submit it for next year. I missed the one for this year because I thought the deadline was later than it was…fail :|</p>
<p>How many entries were there this year (anyone who received notification)?</p>
<p>Why were there half as many entries this year?</p>
<p>So I was OP, and I’m sorry that I completely left for so long. I got an email a few days ago that told me that while I was not a winner, they would send me a free book by Rand. </p>
<p>It was strange that the most selfish people would give me a free book. The point that I got from the book was that being selfish is good for the individual and the society. The ability to be selfish comes from realizing that you have merit.</p>
<p>Obviously, they did not think that I have merit since I did not win, so why reward me?</p>
<p>Just kidding. While I did write an essay after reading the book, it’s so fun to mock Ayn Rand. I wasn’t making up the part about the free book, though. Did anyone else get that email?</p>
<p>ha, i did. not planning on accepting that offer, though. i was sick and tired of ayn rand halfway through Atlas Shrugged, and i’ve never totally agreed with Objectivism except for her capitalism philosophies which i wrote my essay on. i thought my essay was all right, but i’m not disappointed i didn’t make it.</p>
<p>a few months ago i read deeper into Kant, who Rand called “an evil, evil man” and opposes throughout all her books glorifying Objectivism. then i read up on lots of scholarly papers by people who disagree with Rand (who after all formulated a philosophy without ever having studied philosophy herself, and misunderstood many of the things she criticized about Kant). </p>
<p>home.sprynet.com/~owl1/rand.htm is the best refutation of Objectivism that i’ve read so far!
and yes, i think the free book offer is funny.</p>
<p>To ‘getacar’ and ‘morningbenders’. The fact that you find the Ayn Rand Institute giving you a free book to be “strange” (I assume you think that said action is contradictory to objectivist philosophy) shows that, despite reading Atlas Shrugged, (arguably the most complete and coherent capsulation by Ayn Rand of Objectivism), you clearly do not understand at least large quantities of Objectivism. Perhaps that is why neither of you finished highly in the contest. I do however, commend you for your efforts.</p>
<p>both of us were actually joking… 
but, of course, if giving to people without merit is within one’s value system (along with spreading Objectivist philosophy which is obviously the main reason), and is done not just in the traditional sense of altruism, it does make sense</p>
<p>Although I have not read your essay, I would argue that your effort, regardless of outcome in this context, had merit, and that, (in conjunction with the Institute’s goal of spreading knowledge of Objectivist theory) is cause enough to send you a copy. I don’t understand what you mean about altruism though</p>
<p>well, about the altruism bit, i was talking about the egoistic principle that if one gives at all, it should not be out of meeting the abstract concept of the greater good which, Ayn Rand argues, sacrifices the individual in the process–but rather, it should be done wholeheartedly for oneself, being part of one’s moral value system.</p>
<p>You know, I was not trying to offend the Rand Foundation or anything. But I still haven’t gotten my free book in the mail yet… :)</p>