April 2026 Newsletter: European Olympiad Results and a $10k Grant from the Future of Life Institute
April brings results, new competitions, and a few important updates. We recap our first-ever European Ethics Olympiad, share a deadline extension for Global AI Debates, and open the Marc Sanders Foundation Case Writing Prize. Read on for everything you need to know this month.
Global AI Debates: Still Time to Enter
Registration for the 2026 Spring Global AI Debates is now open until April 10th. Speeches and essays are due April 15th. If your students have not yet registered, this is your window.
The competition is co-organized by MPI, TKEthics, and DebateUS, with judges from MIT, OpenAI, Perplexity, and the UC Berkeley Debate Society.
$10,000 Grant from the Future of Life Institute
The Future of Life Institute, co-founded by Dr. Max Tegmark of MIT, has awarded Global AI Debates a $10,000 grant. FLI is one of the world's leading organizations working on AI safety and existential risk. Their support funds a $1,500 prize pool, subsidizes registration for students from under-resourced schools, and expands access worldwide.
Prize pool breakdown:
$600: Essay & Debate champion (top team)
$300: Primary School Speech winner (ages 7–10)
$300: Middle School Speech winner (ages 11–13)
$300: High School Speech winner (ages 14–18)
A $100 bonus prize goes to the top participant from any Urban Debate League in each division. Top essays and speeches will be published on the Future of Life Institute website.
Topics
Primary Speech (ages 7–10): Schools should use AI teachers (5 min)
Middle School Speech (ages 11–13): AI will be bad for the media ecosystem (7 min)
High School Speech (ages 14–18): We support the FLI Superintelligence Statement (7 min)
Essay + Debate (any age): We support the FLI Superintelligence Statement (1,500-word essay, Pro or Con)
Key Dates
Apr 10: Registration closes (extended deadline)
Apr 15: Essays and speeches due
Apr 20: Finalists announced
Apr 25: Speech Finals + Essay/Debate Finals — 6:00 PM ET (Zoom)
This Season's Topic
"We call for a prohibition on the development of superintelligence, not lifted before there is (1) broad scientific consensus that it will be done safely and controllably, and (2) strong public buy-in."
Read the full statement at superintelligence-statement.org. High School Speech and Essay + Debate entries both engage directly with this question.
Results: 2026 Senior European Ethics Olympiad
On March 19th, MPI held its first-ever Senior European Ethics Olympiad. We are thrilled with how the day went and incredibly proud of every team that took part. This year's competition was especially significant: we welcomed teams from Morocco for the first time, bringing a genuinely international dimension to the European region.
The cases were demanding, the discussions were rigorous, and the judges were consistently impressed by the quality of reasoning on display. Congratulations to all seven teams who competed with such seriousness and skill.
We are also delighted to announce that we will send two teams to the International Final on July 23rd, hosted from Australia. We will be in touch with the second-place team shortly to confirm their spot.
Gold: Christ's Hospital — 53.0
Silver: De Beauvoir — 52.0
Bronze: Reed's School — 51.88
Exeter College — 51.67
Descartes — 50.33
St Leonards School, St Andrews — 50.17
Elgin Academy — 49.0
Final standings based on average score across all four rounds. We will be in contact with the gold and silver teams regarding the 2026 International Final on July 23rd (hosted from Australia).
Now Open: Marc Sanders Foundation Case Writing Prize
The Marc Sanders Foundation Case Prize awards outstanding student-written ethics cases that explore the intersection of technology and ethics. Winning submissions may be included in future TKEthics Invitational case sets. For past case sets, visit modusponensinstitute.com/case-sets.
Prize Details
$1,000 USD awarded to the student's school to support ethics and philosophy education
$500 USD awarded to the student author(s)
MPI reserves the right to divide prizes among up to three winning entries.
How to Submit
Cases must be 300–600 words with three discussion questions beneath the case. Citations are welcome. Multiple cases can be submitted per entry. Submissions close in July.
Coming Up in 2026
August 29 — TKEthics Novice Competition: We will host a dedicated Novice Competition on August 29th, using the same case set as the TKEthics Fall Invitational. This is a strong entry point for teams new to the format.
August 29 — TKEthics Invitational Grand Final: Teams who qualified through prior invitationals will compete for the international title.
Fall 2026 — TKEthics Fall Invitational: The TKEthics Fall Invitational returns in fall 2026.
Fall 2026 — Global AI Debates: A fall edition of the Global AI Debates is in the works.
Fall 2026 — Middle School Pan American Olympiad: Our middle school Pan American competition returns this fall. As always, top teams qualify for the International Final.
Know a School That Should Be Here?
If you know any Title 1 or low-resource school that would benefit from training in Ethics Olympiad, philosophy, or Global AI Debates, please reach out. We offer grant-supported access and coaching partnerships. No school should miss out for financial reasons.
Contact: info@modusponensinstitute.com
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