Organizer Information
The Existential Hope Meme Prize is run by the Foresight Institute, a San Francisco–based 501(c)(3) nonprofit research organization founded in 1986 by Christine Peterson and K. Eric Drexler. Foresight Institute's mission is to discover and promote the upsides, and help avoid the dangers of nanotechnology, AI, biotechnology, and other transformative technologies, pursued through grants, fellowships, events, and prizes rather than in-house laboratories. Existential Hope is one of the Institute's programs, focused specifically on cultivating grounded, positive visions of the future — through prizes, a worldbuilding course, podcasts, and animations — as a counterweight to purely risk-focused narratives about emerging technology.
Title & Description
$10,000 Existential Hope Meme Prize
This is an open call for short, shareable media that depicts a realistic, hopeful vision of the future. Entrants create a single piece of short-form media — a meme, a short video, or a short written format — and submit it for a chance to win a $10,000 prize. The organizers describe the goal as showing "a realistic future worth wanting," whether that takes the form of humanity overcoming a major risk, a technology that meaningfully improves daily life, or a picture of global cooperation.
Theme
A grounded, positive future. The source specifies this as showing a realistic future worth wanting — such as humanity overcoming a significant risk, a technology that makes life radically better, or a vision of global cooperation.
Categories
- AI
- Video/Film
- Multimedia
- Graphic
- Writing
- Digital
- Technology
Eligibility
- Open to individuals, teams, and organizations worldwide
- No stated restriction on discipline, career stage, or nationality
- Applicants under 18 require parental or guardian permission
- Use of AI tools in creating the submission is explicitly allowed
Program Benefits & Awards
- $10,000 cash prize for the winning entry
- Feature and promotion of the winning (and other credited) submissions by the organizers as part of contest-related promotion
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 1 November 2026
- Winner Announcement: Mid-November (2026)
Location
Online
Additional Details
- Entrants must first create their piece of media and post it publicly on any social platform (optionally tagged #xhopememeprize) before registering it via the submission form.
- Multiple entries are allowed, but each must be registered separately.
- Submitted posts must remain publicly accessible from submission through the entire judging period.
- Paid promotion or advertising to boost an entry's visibility is not allowed.
- Submitted work must be the entrant's own; use of others' work requires permission.
- No hateful, harmful, or discriminatory content is permitted.
- Entrants retain ownership of their submissions but grant the organizers permission to feature the work (with credit) in contest-related promotion.
- Judging criteria are clarity & appeal, optimism & accuracy, creativity, and meme potential.
- Selection process: the Existential Hope team first selects a shortlist of finalists, and the winner is then chosen from among the finalists by a vote from the Foresight community.
- A gallery of the previous year's finalists and winner is available on the organizer's site for entrants seeking inspiration.
- Questions can be directed to existentialhope@foresight.org.