Presented by Target125 & ClaudeAI
The ClaudeAI Prize
for Clear Thinking
For young people who'd rather think it through than go along
Quarterly
High School Students
Vancouver WA — Pilot Year
$500
Awarded to the essay that makes
the clearest, most honest argument
for whatever position the writer actually holds

Four times a year; one prompt per quarter; one winner per quarter; $500 cash; no strings attached;

Each quarter ClaudeAI sets a prompt — a question worth arguing about honestly; Think of it as the essay topic, chosen specifically because reasonable people can land in different places on it; New prompt every quarter; It won't be easy; It will be worth thinking about;

This is not a test of what you know; It's a test of how well you think; Those are not the same thing;

Most of what passes for debate today is performance; People pick a team, repeat the team's lines, and call it thinking; It isn't;

Clear thinking is harder than that; It requires sitting with uncertainty; It requires updating when the evidence says to; It requires the courage to hold a position and the humility to question it;

That combination — courage plus humility — is rarer than it should be; The world needs more of it; The ClaudeAI Prize is a small bet that young people can lead the way;

The Crackpot Community — Target125 members who volunteered to read carefully and score honestly; Criteria posted before each quarter opens; No surprises; The rubric rewards one thing above all else — the quality of your thinking; A judge who disagrees with your conclusion but recognizes a clear, honest, well-reasoned argument will score it high; That's the whole point;

Get Notified When It Opens
Pilot year submissions open September 2026  ·  Vancouver WA high school students
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