Participants have three prompts to choose from. You will choose one and develop the executive summary of a policy brief that details a strategy to foster innovation while reducing the most harmful risks.

Your submission will take the form of an executive summary (additional guidelines below), spanning a maximum of two pages. In your submission, include:

  1. Your policy recommendation
  2. Relevant data or evidence relevant to the problem and your recommendation
  3. Projected implementation, impact, and challenges of your recommendation

[Clarification as of 1/29: For the first round, participants will develop only the executive summary, which they will then develop into a full policy brief and present to judges in-person in Berkeley, CA on March 1, 2026 if selected for the final round.]

The submission deadline is February 01, 2025 at 11:59 PM PST. Submissions will be graded on the following:

  1. Completeness: Does your recommendation meet the minimum requirements?
  2. Groundedness: Is your recommendation based on quality sources?
  3. Originality: Does your recommendation present a new and creative approach?
  4. Feasibility: Is your recommendation likely to improve the current situation and provide a sustainable (i.e. resilient to technological development) approach to mitigating the problem?

Additionally, please make sure your policy brief follows these formatting requirements:

  1. 1-inch page margins
  2. 12-inch Times New Roman font
  3. 1.15 line spacing
  4. Maximum of two pages in length [Note: Citations and references do not count toward this.]
  5. Anonymous: make sure that your policy brief PDF document does not include your name or email anywhere. This will help ensure fairness in judging.