Previous Years

2019

In 2019, the question was:

What single policy would give everyone in society, whatever their background, a real opportunity to succeed on their own merit?

The winners of the £50,000 first prize were Peter Ainsworth and Dr Tom McKenzie, who submitted a jointly authored proposal: “EDegg: The EDucation, Enterprise and Giving-back Grant – A nest egg of opportunity for all”.

Download the winning entry

You can read about the other 2019 prize winners here

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2019 Judging Panel

(From left to right)

• Richard Koch, author, speaker, investor, and a former management consultant and entrepreneur
• Professor Syed Kamall, Academic and Research Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs and Professor of International Relations and Politics at St Mary’s University, Twickenham
• Mark Littlewood,, Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs and the IEA’s Ralph Harris Fellow
• Kate Andrews, Associate Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs

2018

In 2018, the Chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Judges was Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg. The question he set was:

What market-based, popular policy would you recommend to alleviate the UK’s housing shortage, and to rejuvenate our property-owning democracy?

The winner of the £50,000 first prize was Ben Clements, with his proposal for a Land Purchase Act, a market-based policy that centres on how swathes of public land can be made available for people to build homes according to their own choice and preference.

Download the winning entry

The IEA paper, Raising the Roof, was published in July 2019 and will make an important contribution to the public debate on the UK’s housing crisis.
It will form part of a new book of the same name, which will also contain the pick of the 2018 entries (due for publication in autumn 2019).

Download Raising the Roof

2018 Judging Panel

(From left to right)

• Jacob Rees-Mogg MP,  Conservative Member of Parliament for North East Somerset
• Richard Koch, author, speaker, investor, and a former management consultant and entrepreneur
• Mark Littlewood, Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs and the IEA’s Ralph Harris Fellow

2017

2017 was the inaugural year of the Richard Koch Breakthrough Prize and the question was set by Richard Koch himself. The question he set was:

What novel policy suggestion would improve economic prosperity and social outcomes in developed countries, as well as improve economic freedom?

The winners of the £50,000 first prize were Mark Feldner and Mathew Bonnon, who submitted a jointly authored proposal on Fiscal Liberalisation.

Download the winning entry

Break

2017 Judging Panel

(From left to right)

• Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, Member of Parliament for Chingford and Woodford Green, former Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, former Leader of the Opposition
• Professor Philip Booth, Professor of Finance, Public Policy and Ethics at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham and Academic and Research Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs
• Jeremy Browne, Special Representative for the City of London to the EU
• Dr Steve Davies, Head of Education at the Institute of Economic Affairs
• Richard Turnball, Director of the Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics
• Baroness Alison Wolf, Sir Roy Griffiths Professor of Public Sector Management
• Professor Abigail Hall Blanco, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Tampa