When: 25-31 July, 2016
Where: United Nations Headquarters in New York City, USA
Deadline: Thursday, 31 March, 2016 at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time (EST)
Cost: FREE (Fully funded) Airfare, Room and Meals will be provided by ELS Educational Services, Inc.
Award for: 60 Students
Official website: http://www.els.edu/en/ManyLanguagesOneWorld
Write an original essay (2,000 words or less) discussing global citizenship and cultural understanding and the role that multilingual ability can play in fostering these. The essay should reflect your personal, academic, cultural and national context. The essay must be written in an official language of the United Nations that is not your first language or the principal language of instruction during your primary or secondary education. The official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. The essay must be your own, unaided work. For complete contest rules and information on how to enter, please visit Contest Rules and Frequently Asked Questions.
Please Note: If the contest directors learn that you have violated any of the rules, or that you have neglected to cite sources, or have used any translation service or software to write your essay, you will be immediately disqualified.
Step 1: Two panels of judges will read and evaluate essays on the quality of ideas expressed and their fluency of language. These two scores will be combined, and the top essayists will pass to the interview stage of the competition.
Step 2: The top essayists will be invited to complete a personal interview regarding their essay with a member of our international panel of judges. This interview will be conducted in the language of the essay, online via SKYPE video call. You will be expected to show your government-issued identification or your passport at the beginning of the interview, to verify your identity.
Step 3: Winners will be selected based on the scoring of Step 1 and Step 2. Selection criteria includes the originality and quality of thought and the written and spoken language proficiency in the essay and interview.
Please do not send inquiries regarding your individual status as an entrant. We will not send notification until after the winners have been chosen and confirmed their attendance at the Global Youth Forum.
A total of 60 Winners will be chosen: 10 Winners for each of the six official UN languages. In mid-May, ELS Educational Services, Inc. will begin notifying Finalists for interviews. ELS Educational Services, Inc. will send Winners a letter of invitation to the 2016 Global Youth Forum and ELS Preparatory Conference. At that time, Winners will also receive complete rules of participation for the ELS Preparatory Conference. Winners are required to sign a statement promising to abide by all of these, and acknowledging that they will be sent home immediately, at their expense, if they disobey any of them.* Winners will also receive detailed instructions about visa application, e-ticketing for the round trip (non-refundable) air ticket, arrival procedures and the tentative agenda of Conference, which will take place from 25-31 July 2016.
*No e-ticket will be issued until the Winner’s signed statement has been received by Many Languages, One World.