Ethics Olympiad


An Ethics Olympiad is a popular extracurricular activity in which teams of school students gather to deal with ethical issues.
In 2013 the Ethics Olympiad was created by Matthew Wills the then Head of Philosophy and Ethics at Hale School in Perth Western Australia based on a similar competition in the US called an US Ethics Bowl. A moderator asks teams questions that pose an ethical problem on topics ranging from professional ethics to social and political topics, and are then scored by a judge or judges on their responses both to the question and one another. Between 2013 and 2019 the Ethics Olympiad was run online between schools in the various Australian States and between schools in the US and schools in Australia.
Since 2019, the Ethics Olympiad has been conducted in capital cities in Australia and New Zealand. Schools enter a team of 5 students or two teams of 5 students. Team scores are collated over three heats and then the top two schools play-off for the Gold and Silver medal while the third-placed team receives the Bronze medal.