The Nine Dots Prize
We launch our fifth cycle with a new question in October 2024
Cycle Four Timeline
What is the Nine Dots Prize?
The Nine Dots Prize is a prize for creative thinking that tackles contemporary societal issues. Entrants are asked to respond to a question in 3,000 words, with the winner receiving US$100,000 to write a short book expanding on their ideas.
The aim of the Prize is to promote, encourage and engage innovative thinking to address problems facing the modern world. The name of the Prize references the nine dots puzzle – a lateral thinking puzzle which can only be solved by thinking outside the box.
The Prize was established in 2016 and has chosen four winners so far. Previous questions have considered issues around how politics is influenced by digital technologies, what home is, and how the relationships between young and old affect the world.
Our fifth Cycle will launch in October 2024 with a new question.
The aim of the Prize is to promote, encourage and engage innovative thinking to address problems facing the modern world. The name of the Prize references the nine dots puzzle – a lateral thinking puzzle which can only be solved by thinking outside the box.
The Prize was established in 2016 and has chosen four winners so far. Previous questions have considered issues around how politics is influenced by digital technologies, what home is, and how the relationships between young and old affect the world.
Our fifth Cycle will launch in October 2024 with a new question.
Latest from the Nine Dots Prize
Out now! Radically Legal: Berlin Constitutes the Future by Joanna Kusiak
We are proud and excited to share that Radically Legal: Berlin Constitutes the Future by the 2022/23 Nine Dots Prize winner, Joanna Kusiak, is now available in bookshops and online, published by Cambridge University Press. A PDF of the book is available for free via Open Access, or you can purchase a physical copy from […]
Read MoreExtracts from Joanna Kusiak’s winning entry
Joanna Kusiak won the fourth Nine Dots Prize with her entry to the question: ‘Why has the rule of law become so fragile?’ Here are three extracts from her 3,000 word entry: I In the morning of the day Gabor Steingart, one of Germany’s top economics journalists, interviews me for his news podcast, I am […]
Read MoreNine Dots Prize 2022/23 question announced: ‘Why has the rule of law become so fragile?’
The Nine Dots Prize has now revealed the question it will pose as part of a global problem-solving competition, offering US$100,000 and a book deal with Cambridge University Press for the winning response. The question for the 2023/2024 cycle is: ‘Why has the rule of law become so fragile?’ First launched in 2016 and now […]
Read MorePrevious Winners
Joanna Kusiak
Radically Legal: Berlin Constitutes the Future
Cambridge-based researcher and scholar-activist Joanna Kusiak has been announced as the winner of the 2022/23 Nine Dots Prize for her ‘exciting’ and ‘provocative’ response to our fourth questionView profile
Trish Lorenz
Soro Soke: The Young Disruptors of an African Megacity
Berlin-based journalist Trish Lorenz has been announced as the winner of the 2020/2021 Nine Dots Prize for her ‘compelling and well-evidenced’ response.View profile
Annie Zaidi
Bread, Cement, Cactus: A Memoir of Belonging and Dislocation
Annie Zaidi, a freelance writer whose work includes reportage, essays, short stories, poetry and plays, has been announced as the winner of the Nine Dots Prize 2018/19.View profile
James Williams
Stand Out of Our Light: Freedom and Resistance in the Attention Economy
35-year-old James Williams, a doctoral candidate researching design ethics at Oxford University, has been announced as the inaugural winner of the US$100,000 Nine Dots Prize. View profile
