“The World in 2050” was a global futurist writing contest co-sponsored by ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' magazine and

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

in 2000. It carried a first prize of $20,000, which included publication of the winning piece in ''The Economist''’s annual flagship publication, “The World In”. Entries were accepted from around the world via a website set up for the purpose, worldin2050.com, and at various Royal Dutch Shell offices worldwide. The judging panel was chaired by Richard O’Brien, co-founder of Outsights, a

scenario planning Scenario planning, scenario thinking, scenario analysis, scenario prediction and the scenario method all describe a strategic planning method that some organizations use to make flexible long-term plans. It is in large part an adaptation and gen ...

consultancy, and included: * Bill Emmott, author and then-editor of ''

'' * Esther Dyson, an

angel investor An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible de ...

and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

* Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, then-chairman of

* Matt Ridley, a British scientist and member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

* Peter Warshall, an ecologist, activist and former editor of the

Whole Earth Catalog The ''Whole Earth Catalog'' (WEC) was an American counterculture magazine and product catalog published by author Stewart Brand several times a year between 1968 and 1972, and occasionally thereafter, until 1998. The magazine featured essays ...

and Whole

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

magazine Over 3,000 entries were submitted from 75 countries, and the $20,000 first prize was awarded to Bill Douglass, an American student. Two second prizes of $10,000 each and five $5,000 third prizes were also awarded.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World in 2050, The Writing contests Fiction set in 2050 The Economist Shell plc