For the first time, the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature is opening attendance at its annual prize competition to all undergraduates, William R. Taylor '42, Chairman of the Board of Tutors, announced yesterday.

The Harvard competition for the Barrett Wendell prize will be held Wednesday, April 16, at 8:45 p.m. in the Eliot House junior common room; the Radcliffe contest, for the sophomore Oliver-Dabney prize, will start at 3:30 p.m. in the Ghirlandajo Room of Agassiz House. Free beer will be available at the Harvard event; Radcliffe is to serve tea to the audience.

Each of five contestants is required to read and defend a paper before a panel of faculty members. Topics for this year's competition include "Apology II: A Comparison of Socrates and J. Robert Oppenheimer" and "Henry VII: Bacon's From of Machiavellianism."