SUBMISSIONS: INTO THE BLACK
The contest is open to U.S. citizens 18 years of age and older, and the deadline for submissions is November 1, 2017.
You could win $12,000 by writing a short story about the economics of the future.
What might a world look like where all of our most basic needs are met? In 5,000 words or less, we want you to explore the impacts of a basic income on individual lives and on society at large.
To be clear, we are not expecting you to draft economic policy, but hope to ignite debate around new economies with stories that offer nuanced critique and evidence of impact extrapolated beyond the power of predictive models.
Writers may want to address how this economic policy could shift relationships of power, or if economic liberation is even possible without first addressing racial and gender justice.
Writers may consider universality (i.e., whether this benefit applies to everyone), investigate community impact, and even give this economic idea a new name.
There are only a few criteria these stories must meet to be eligible, based on how the concept of a universal basic income should be represented in them:
• Unconditional Funds — No one should be able to tell a recipient how to spend the money.
• Basic Needs — The money should be enough to cover one’s basic needs.
After that, a panel of judges including journalists, economists, authors, as well as io9 senior staff writer Evan Narcisse will select the winning entry, which will be published right here on io9 in January 2018.
The writer who earns the grand prize will be awarded $12,000, or more precisely $1,000 a month—as a sort of basic income itself—throughout 2018.
Do some research on Universal Basic Income (it's fascinating reading) and then get thee to thy word processor and create the future.
The Economic Security Project is a two-year fund to support exploration and experimentation with unconditional cash stipends. We are funding projects like academic research, state and local basic income campaigns, and cultural projects around economic security.
The Economic Security Project is co-chaired by future of work instigator Natalie Foster, Facebook Co-founder Chris Hughes, and Roosevelt Institute Fellow Dorian Warren.
Replies