The Public Policy & Governance Review (PPGR), in association with the School of Public Policy & Governance at the University of Toronto, presents the Sylvia Ostry Prize in Public Policy. The Ostry Prize is an annual essay competition in Honour of Dr. Sylvia Ostry. The Topic of the essay will change annually, but will always be international in scope. Graduate students, both at the master’s and doctoral levels, in policy-related disciplines across Canada and the United States are eligible to compete.

Top essay will be awarded $1000 CAD and publication in Volume 3, Issue 2 of the PPGR.

Sylvia Ostry Prize Submission Guidelines

• Essay must not exceed 3,000 words
• Submissions should include a cover letter with the author’s name, address, email address, daytime phone number, and a brief biography.
• All submissions must be unpublished
• Emailed as a .doc, .docx, .odt, or .rtf
• Citations should be in-text and formatted in the author-date system, according to the guidelines in The Chicago Manual of Style
• All figures, tables and charts must be submitted both in as entirely separate files
• All submissions are subject to editing and revision by the PPGR Editorial Board and will be published using a Creative Commons license.

The 2012 Ostry Prize deadline is March 23, 2012.

_______________________________

2012 Ostry Prize Topic: “The Role of Government in Modern Times”

“We are in a transition from a big state to a small state, and from a small society to a big society,” said Ma Hong, Director of the Shenzhen NGO Administration Bureau, China. From China to the UK, as seen through Prime Minister David Cameron, this sentiment has gained traction in recent times.

We ask graduate students to question this statement, explore its consequences, challenge its validity and pervasiveness, or defend it. We encourage broad interpretations of the topic, but focused essays.

_______________________________

For reference:

2011 Ostry Prize topic: “Opening Up: Is Sunlight the Best Disinfectant?”

In 1913, Louis Brandeis, later a US Supreme Court Justice, wrote that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,” referring to the ability of transparency and accountability to ensure good behaviour. Last year Barack Obama used the same phrase to argue that transparency would achieve results and restore faith in government.

From freedom of information requests, to open data, to WikiLeaks, there have never been more ways for citizens to see the workings and results of government. Many see the rise of transparency as an unequivocal gain; yet this is far from a universal view. At the same time, private organizations’ levels of transparency can range from the substantial disclosure required of publically traded companies to the secrecy of hedge fund credit-default swaps.

We are asking students to defend, expand, criticize, asses, re-evaluate, or expose the topic. We encourage broad interpretations of the topic, but focused essays.