AILACT ESSAY PRIZE announcement AILACT ESSAY PRIZE 2007 The Association for Informal Logic and Critical Thinking invites applications for its fourth annual AILACT Essay Prize. The value of the AILACT Essay Prize is US$500. The prize may, in extraordinary circumstances, be divided among entries judged to be of about equal merit. Additionally, AILACT intends to publish this winning essay in one of a continuing series of volumes containing the winning essays as well as some of the best essays from various years. Essays related to the teaching or theory of informal logic or critical thinking will be considered for the prize. An essay may be unpublished, forthcoming or previously published. There are no restrictions on authorship. Published papers must have appeared on or after 1 January 2007. Essays should be in the neighborhood of 3500-6000 words. The essays will be assessed on the basis of, in no particular order: their originality, their scholarship, if applicable (papers that ignore the relevant literature will tend to go to the bottom of the pile), their argument (needless to say?), their style (lucid, delightful-to-read papers will tend to rise to the top), and their importance to the field (measured by how high they register on the “Everyone should read this paper-and soon!” scale). The jury members for the 2007 AILACT Essay Prize, approved by the AILACT Board of Directors, are Michael Scriven (chair), David Hitchcock, and Harvey Siegel. The verdict of the jury is final. To submit a paper, attach an electronic file to an e-mail with AILACT ESSAY ENTRY on the “Subject” line, and send it to the chair at edgepress@aol.com . Please send the paper ready for blind-reviewing (the author not identified on the paper or file containing the paper, and self-identifying references removed from the text, notes and References). Be sure to include your name and a mailing address in your covering note. The deadline for receipt of papers to be considered for the 2007 AILACT Essay Prize is 1 September 2007. The winner will be announced by 1 December 2007. AILACT will publicize the name of the winner. For information about AILACT, see our Web site: http://ailact.mcmaster.ca/