Our friends at the Atlas Economic Research Foundation are offering prizes for the best essays on sound money by students and young faculty and policy analysts:

The Atlas Economic Research Foundation invites you to participate in its Sound Money Essay Contest, which has a deadline of November 24th, 2009.

The contest is open to students, young faculty, and policy writers who are interested in the cause of sound money. It aims to engage you in thinking about sound money principles with relevance to today’s economic challenges.

The overall winner will receive a cash prize of $5000. Two additional prizes of $1000 each will be given to outstanding essays written by junior faculty, graduate students, or policy writers. And three additional prizes of $500 each will be given to outstanding essays written by undergraduate students.

Essay topics include:

· “Money and the Free Society: Can Money Exist Outside of the State?”

· “The Ethical Implications of Monetary Manipulation”

· “Monetary Policy and the Rule of Law in the United States”

To be eligible, you must be a legal resident of the U.S. or engaged as a full-time student or faculty in the U.S. You must also be no more than 35 years old on the date of the contest deadline (November 24, 2009). Atlas welcomes involvement of older and non‑U.S. scholars in its discussions and ongoing work on sound money, but this essay contest is targeted to the audience described above.

For a list of reference materials and writing guidelines, please visit the Atlas website.

And for Cato research on sound money, check here.