Announcing the $5,000 Inflection Points Writing Prize
Plus—paid subscriptions, DGR event in Melbourne, and more
Hello! It’s Jonathan here, the Editor-in-Chief of Inflection Points.
The first six months of this publication have been more successful than our team could have ever imagined. That I’m writing this to more than 2,500 total subscribers is on its own a fact worth celebrating.
In our first six months, we have published 14 essays devoted to building a bigger, better Australia. Those essays have in turn received coverage across the ABC, the Australian, the Financial Review, and the Sydney Morning Herald. In turn, we have had the honour of connecting our writers behind the scenes with the stakeholders that matter to the issues they write about.
And Issue 04, out one week from today, promises to be our best yet. We have a set of brilliant writers putting forth new and challenging ideas, and we are expecting it to make quite a splash—so stay tuned.
Today, though, I’m emailing to announce three other things:
The inaugural Inflection Points Writing Prize
The introduction of paid Inflection Points subscriptions
Our upcoming Melbourne event with Effective Altruism Australia
The inaugural Inflection Points Writing Prize
The Inflection Points Writing Prize is a $5,000 cash prize, which will be awarded to the best new piece of Australian writing about the big problems our nation faces, and the solutions that may be within our grasp.
Entries to this prize should be focused on a specific issue that fits into at least one of the Inflection Points focus points: state capacity, infrastructure and housing, productivity growth, and human flourishing.
Writers should go beyond merely identifying a problem, and work to interrogate solutions. We are interested in writing that engages with how the barriers to progress can be overcome, or have been overcome in the past.
Entries are open until the 30th of June. Criteria, conditions, and an early pitching process are available on our website.
Why a prize?
There is much Australian writing about the problems we face as a nation. There is less about the potential—and historically successful—solutions.
We founded Inflection Points to create a platform for long-form writing about Australia and the institutions that drive its success. Our publication exists to deepen engagement with our nation in its own right—not in comparison to others—and to in turn build a national shorthand for the unique ways Australia functions.
We at Inflection Points believe that Australia is full of great writers—but that there is a lack of diverse platforms to publish and nurture those writers to reach their full potential. Our magazine aims to play a positive role in enabling our nation and its media environment to flourish for years to come. This Prize is one small part of that mission.
Introducing paid Inflection Points subscriptions
Inflection Points is incredibly proud to punch above its weight. After publishing three impactful issues, we feel confident in our ability to continue growing our impact for years to come, as we play our role in building a bigger, better Australia.
We believe in our mission, and we know our subscribers do too. And so we are introducing paid subscriptions for those who want to support this mission directly.
Ensuring full, open access to Inflection Points is crucial to our theory of change. This is why Inflection Points will not be moving any content behind a paywall. At this stage, subscribers will be supporting us to continue our mission of publishing high-quality Australian writing.
Soon, we will be unlocking subscriber-only opportunities, including commission requests and ask-us-anything podcasts. For the long-foreseeable future, though, our core product will remain free.
Melbourne event: Fixing Australian Philanthropy: Why DGR Reform Matters
A live Inflection Points podcast, co-hosted with Effective Altruism Australia.
Australia gives billions of dollars to charity each year. But the rules governing where those dollars can go are outdated, inconsistent, and often misaligned with impact.
Join Inflection Points and Effective Altruism Australia (EAA) at the Wheeler Centre for a live podcast recording, examining how Australia’s Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) system restricts philanthropic impact—and what could be unlocked if it were reformed.
And that’s all from us! Thank you for subscribing, and we’ll see you in a week—for Issue 04 of Inflection Points.
– Jonathan O’Brien
on behalf of the Inflection Points team