Cycle Five 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, how the relationships between young and old affect the world, and why the rule of law has become so fragile.
Our fifth Cycle launched in October 2024 with the question 'Is data failing us?'.
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, how the relationships between young and old affect the world, and why the rule of law has become so fragile.
Our fifth Cycle launched in October 2024 with the question 'Is data failing us?'.
Latest from the Nine Dots Prize
Transcript of Nine Dots Prize podcast 5: Where can you find inspiration?
Jane Tinkler Hello, and welcome to this podcast for anyone considering applying for the Nine Dots Prize. I’m Jane Tinkler, Senior Manager for the Prize. And we’re looking for entries that will really stand out and engage readers. So we’ve asked three successful writers to share some of their ideas, experience and advice. In this […]
Read MoreTranscript of Nine Dots Prize podcast 6: How to make your ideas sing
Jane Tinkler Hello and welcome to this podcast – where we’ll be finding out about the skill which every writer wants to achieve – how to make your ideas really enthral and inspire the reader. I’m Jane Tinkler, Senior Manager for the Nine Dots Prize and we hope that the ideas of our three […]
Read MoreTranscript of Nine Dots Prize podcast 8: ‘Endings’
Nine Dots Prize podcast: Endings (2024/2) Jane Tinkler Welcome to this podcast from The Nine Dots prize, the sixth we have released now. I’m Jane Tinkler, Senior Manager for the prize, and we hope that this podcast will help inspire and support anyone interested in applying for the prize, or just generally interested in […]
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
