Deadline: February 21, 2014
The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), in collaboration with ELS Educational Services, Inc., (ELS) invites students, 18 years and older, who are enrolled in a course of study at a college or university, to participate in an essay contest on the theme “Many Languages, One World.” Winners will be invited to New York for a 5 day International Academic Impact Youth Forum, June 25-29, 2014. They will present their work in a Conference at the United Nations Headquarters on June 27, 2014. Airfare, room and board provided.
Eligibility and Requirements
- Entrants must be 18 years and older,
- They must be currently enrolled in a course of study at a college or university.
- Entries must be in one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations that is not the entrant’s mother tongue or language of instruction.
Essay Submission
- Submit an essay (2000 words or less) exploring how multilingual ability advances global citizenship and understanding. Your essay should reflect your academic, cultural, and national context.
- The essay should relate to ideas of global citizenship and understanding and to the role that linguistic abilities and felicity can play in fostering these. Entries, of up to 2000 words in length should be in an official language of the United Nations that is not the mother tongue of the entrant or the principal medium of instruction in his or her education. The official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
Prizes and Benefits
A panel of judges will decide upon a total of sixty student winners of the competition—ten 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 youth forum on the 10 principles of the United Nations Academic Impact, multilingualism and global citizenship at United Nations Headquarters, preceded by a preparatory students’ conference at Adelphi University on Long Island, New York. Programmes of touristic sightseeing and recreation will also be arranged by ELS Educational Services.
- ELS will pay for roundtrip economy class fares in carriers of its choosing between the entrants’ home city and New York, and be responsible for the entrants’ travel, room and meals from their arrival on June 25th until their departure on June 29th, 2014.
For more information, click here.
