The officers of the Hume Society and the editors of Hume Studies are pleased to announce the winner of the Fifth Hume Studies Essay Prize. The winning essay is a co-authored paper. The recipients of the prize for 2025 are Robert Ziegler and Travis Tanner, for their essay, “Shepherd Contra Hume on Ordinary Induction.”

Mr. Ziegler is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at the University of Virginia and Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. His work centers on the history of philosophy, particular on Leibniz, Shepherd, Suárez, and Augustine. Dr. Tanner received his Ph.D. in 2024 from the University of Virginia and currently teaches Philosophy and Religion at Austin Peay State University. He coedited The Cartesian Mind (Routledge: 2026), and his published work centers on Descartes, Hume, and Shepherd.

Dr. Tanner and Mr. Ziegler each receive $1000 US, and their paper will be published in Hume Studies 51:2 (November 2026) as the lead paper of a special panel on “David Hume and the Enlightenment: New Perspectives.” We send sincere congratulations to Travis and Robert for this recognition of their excellent work!

Thank you to all the scholars who submitted papers. We received seventeen submissions for the Fifth Prize, although several of those papers were declined in the routine review process. We are deeply grateful to the members of the Hume Studies Editorial Board who served on this year’s panel: Ruth Weintraub (panel chair), Rachel Cohon, and Todd Ryan.

The Hume Studies Essay Prize is an annual competition open to those ten or fewer years from the Ph.D., including those currently enrolled in a Ph.D. program. Here is information on how to submit to the Sixth Prize competition.