In 2015-2016 an international essay contest on “Religious Freedom in Southeast Asia and the West” was jointly organized by the Institute for Global Engagement and the Leimena Institute, and supported by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The contest was open to any citizen of a Southeast Asian country, and the deadline for receiving submissions was July 1, 2016. Twenty-nine entries were received, and each was carefully evaluated by a panel of five judges: Jakob Tobing (Leimena Institute), Eugene Tan (Singapore Management University), Paul Marshall (Leimena Institute and Hudson Institute), Robert Joustra (Redeemer University College), and Dennis Hoover (Institute for Global Engagement). First-place essays will be published in a future issue of IGE's The Review of Faith & International Affairs.

The judges have now completed their work and we are pleased to announce the winners:

Professional:

Student:

The panel of judges was particularly encouraged by the level of student interest in the contest, and gave four additional student essays an “Honorable Mention” designation:

QUESTIONS AND INQUIRIES: Please forward all questions and inquiries to belicias@leimena.org.