Deadline: 21 February 2014
Open to:  full-time college or university students (18 years of age or older) from all over the world
Prize: the winners will be invited to New York to participate in a series of events June 25-29

Description

The United Nations Academic Impact is a program of the Outreach Division of the Department of Public Information. It is open to all institutions of higher education granting degrees or their equivalent, as well as bodies whose substantive responsibilities relate to the conduct of research. Its essential frame of reference is:

1. To bring into association with the United Nations, and with each other, institutions of higher learning throughout the world.
2. To provide a mechanism for such institutions to commit themselves to the fundamental precepts driving the United Nations mandate, in particular the realization of the universally determined Millennium Development Goals
3. To serve as a viable point of contact for ideas and proposals relevant to the United Nations mandate.
4. To promote the direct engagement of institutions of higher education in programs, projects and initiatives relevant to this mandate.

The United Nations Academic Impact is informed by a commitment to support and advance ten basic principles:

1. A commitment to the principles inherent in the United Nations Charter as values that education seeks to promote and help fulfill;
2. A commitment to human rights, among them freedom of inquiry, opinion and speech;
3. A commitment to educational opportunity for all people regardless of gender, race, religion or ethnicity;
4. A commitment to the opportunity for every interested individual to acquire the skills and knowledge necessary for the pursuit of higher education;
5. A commitment to building capacity in higher education systems across the world;
6. A commitment to encouraging global citizenship through education;
7. A commitment to advancing peace and conflict resolution through education;
8. A commitment to addressing issues of poverty through education;
9. A commitment to promoting sustainability through education;
10. A commitment to promoting inter-cultural dialogue and understanding, and the “unlearning” of intolerance, through education.

For more information: http://outreach.un.org/unai/

Essay Topic:

The essay should relate to ideas of global citizenship and understanding and to the role that multilingual ability can play in fostering these. The essay should reflect your academic, cultural, and national context.

Eligibility Guidelines

1. Full-time college or university students, 18 years of age or older, can participate in the contest.
2. An authorized faculty member or university administrator must sponsor your participation in the contest by completing the form under the tab: Faculty/University Reference Form. The university representative must attest that you are a full time student and that you are going to submit an essay in an official language of the United Nations that is not your first language or language of instruction in your primary or secondary education.
3. Once the reference has been received and confirmed, you will be sent an email with further instructions about how to enter the contest and upload your essay.

How to Enter

1. Write your essay, according to the eligibility rules and guidelines.
2. Show your essay to a Faculty Member or University Administrator who can attest to the fact that you have followed the contest rules. Have that Faculty Member or University Administrator complete the Reference Form in support of your participation in the contest.
3. Once the Reference Form has been received and verified by Many Languages, One World, you will receive further information, and a link where you can complete your application and upload your essay to the contest website.
4. Complete your application form. Be sure to include your national identity card number or passport number showing your name as it appears on your passport or official documents. Do not submit your photo.
5. Upload your essay to the contest website.

Selection Process

1. Step 1: A language specialist will read and score your essay according to a scoring rubric. After February 21 deadline all essays will be scored and the best essays will be passed to the next stage of the competition.
2. Step 2: These Finalists will be invited to complete a personal interview regarding their essay. This interview will be conducted at a location in your city and you must submit your photo identification. You will be asked a series of questions and your answers will be videotaped. You must sign a waiver allowing the judges to use the videotape to select Finalists. If a local interview cannot be organized, you will be interviewed online using SKYPE.
3. Step 3: The essays and video tapes will be reviewed by a panel of international judges based on the scoring of Step 1 and Step 2, which include written and spoken language proficiency and the originality and quality of thought in your essay and interview.

Notification

On or before March 15 ELS Educational Services, Inc. will notify the 10 Winners for each of the six languages. Winners will receive a letter of invitation to the Many Languages, One World Global Youth Forum from ELS Educational Services, Inc. At that time winners will also receive complete rules of participation for the Global Youth Forum. Winners are required to sign a statement promising to abide by all of these, and agreeing that they will be sent home immediately if they disobey any of them. Winners will also receive detailed instructions about visa application, e-ticketing for your round trip (non- refundable) air ticket*, arrival procedures and the agenda of the Youth Forum which will take place from June 25th-29th 2014.

*No e-ticket will be issued until the winner’s signed statement has been received by Many Languages, One World.

Contest Rules:

The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), in collaboration with ELS Educational Services, Inc., (ELS) invites students, 18 years of age or older, who are enrolled in a full-time course of study at a college or university, to participate in an essay contest on the theme “Many Languages, One World.”

The essay should relate to ideas of global citizenship and understanding and to the role that multilingual ability can play in fostering these. Entries of up to 2000 words in length must be in an official language of the United Nations that is not the entrant’s first language or language of instruction in his or her primary or secondary education. The official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Entries must be uploaded to the website ManyLanguagesOneWorld.ELS.edu by February 21, 2014. An institutional representative will have to attest that the entrant is a student of the institution, in good standing, and that the essay is in an official language of the United Nations that is not the entrant’s first language or language of instruction in his or her primary or secondary education and is the original, unaided work of the entrant.

A panel of judges will decide upon a total of sixty student winners of the competition—10 in each of the six languages. The winners will be invited to New York in 2014 to participate in a series of events between June 25 and June 29, 2014. These events will include a Global Youth Forum on the 10 principles of the United Nations Academic Impact, multilingualism and global citizenship at the United Nations Headquarters, preceded by a preparatory students’ conference. Sightseeing and recreation will also be arranged by ELS.

All winners will be given certificates of participation by ELS, signifying they have won the Student Essay Contest arranged in cooperation with the United Nations Academic Impact.

ELS will pay for roundtrip economy class fares in carriers of its choosing between the commercial airport nearest the winner’s home city and New York, and be responsible for the winner’s travel, room and meals from their arrival on June 25th until their departure on June 29th, 2014. No extensions of stay or early arrivals will be possible. Winners are responsible for all documentation relating to their journey, including passports and visas and the costs related to these, as well as appropriate medical insurance for their journey and stay in the United States.

It is your responsibility to obtain a passport and visa to enter the USA. You will be required to comply with the rules and regulations of participation in the event. Your e- ticket will only be issued to you after we receive copies of your passport and a signed copy of your acceptance of the terms and conditions of participation.

ELS Educational Services, Inc. will sponsor this event. Any student who violates the terms of participation will be expelled from the Youth Forum and will be sent home immediately.

While the entrants shall retain the rights to their essays, by participating in the contest they grant ELS and the UN a worldwide, exclusive, royalty-free, and irrevocable license to use the content of the essays in whole or in part. In addition, the winners grant ELS permission to photograph, record, and videotape all activities during the conference. These recordings and photographs will become the property of ELS for didactic use at their discretion, in all media, in perpetuity, to promote multilingualism and global understanding. The winners also grant the United Nations permission to photograph, record, and videotape all activities during the conference. These recordings and photographs will become the property of the United Nations.

For more details visit the official website HERE.