The Institute of Economic Affairs is delighted to announce the shortlist for the Richard Koch Breakthrough Prize. The prize – an essay competition focused this year on housing – was launched in July 2018.

The first prize of £50,000 will be awarded to the best and boldest entry outlining a ‘free-market breakthrough’ policy to solve the UK housing crisis. Three ‘highly commended’ prizes will also be awarded, along with several student prizes.

In total 335 entries were received. The majority of entries were UK based, but there were also entries from Canada, Australia, Venezuela, the United States, South Africa, Barbados, as well as several European countries.

Submissions were received from individuals, groups, academia, corporate bodies such as consultancy firms, house-building businesses, estate agents, construction firms, think-tanks, journalists and more.

On the judging panel are Jacob Rees-Mogg, Conservative MP for North East Somerset, Mark Littlewood, Director General at the Institute of Economic Affairs and Richard Koch.

Richard – who is also supporting the Breakthrough Prize – is a British author, speaker, investor, and a former management consultant and entrepreneur. He has written over twenty books on business and ideas, including The 80/20 Principle, which is about how to apply the Pareto principle in management and life.

Final thirteen shortlist:

Stephen Ashmead (Strategy & Insight Researcher)

Elliott Banks & Matthew Dent (Parliamentary caseworker & assistant respectively)

Ben Clements (Analyst)

Charles Shaw & Daniel Pycock (Head of Sales & Researcher respectively)

David Elford (Retired)

Jeffrey Evans (Retired)

Dr Gintas Vilkelis (Entrepreneur)

Chris Watling (CEO and market strategist)

Calvin Chan (Student)

Christian Payne (Student)

Thomas Schaffner (Student)

Rohan Chaturvedi (School Student)

William Watts & Luke McWatters (School Students)

Commenting on the release of the shortlist, Mark Littlewood, Director General at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:

“Free-market policies hold the key to solving the housing crisis in the UK. With the cost of living still extraordinarily high for working families, tackling the shortage of housing to ensure it is affordable will go a long way to ease this burden. These final entries will be crucial in providing a pragmatic solution to make owning a home possible for millions of people around the country.” 
Notes to editors:

1.    This year’s Breakthrough Prize gives serious consideration to solving the housing crisis in the UK. Competitors were asked to propose a single policy initiative which would:

•    Increase the number of houses built so as to markedly reduce the housing shortage in this country (this can be reduced through increased rental or ownership).
•    Increase the number and proportion of property owners in the UK
•    Be politically possible

Submissions were requested of between 2,000 and 3,000 words.

For more detailed information about the remit and entry criteria please visit www.breakthroughprize.org.uk

2.    To arrange an interview about the IEA Breakthrough Prize, please contact Nerissa Chesterfield, Head of Communications on 020 7799 8920 or 07791 390 268 or nchesterfield@iea.org.uk

3.    The Prize will be announced at an awards dinner at a Central London location on 23rd October 2018. For more information please contact Nerissa Chesterfield, as above.

4.    The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems and seeks to provide analysis in order to improve the public understanding of economics.

The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.