Fully Funded Conference in USA

Information

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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

Essay Topic:

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.

Eligibility Guidelines

1. Full-time college or university students, 18 years of age or older by 31 March 2016, can participate in the contest.
2. A University Faculty Member or Authorized Representative must recommend you for participation in the contest by completing the form under the tab: Faculty Member/University Administrator Reference Form. The university representative must attest that you are a full time student in good standing and that you are submitting an essay in an official language of the United Nations that is not your first language or principal language of instruction in your primary or secondary education. S/He must also attest that the essay you are submitting is your own, unaided work.
3. Functional knowledge of English is required for participation in the preparatory conference.

Entry Process

1. Write your essay according to the contest rules and eligibility guidelines.
2. Share your essay with the University Faculty Member or Authorized Representative who recommended you so that s/he can attest to the fact that you have followed the contest rules.
3. Have that Faculty Member or University Administrator complete the Faculty Member/University Administrator Reference Form in support of your participation in the contest.
4. After the Faculty Reference form is submitted, the Faculty Member will receive an email from Many Languages, One World requesting confirmation of the reference.
5. Make sure that your Faculty member looks for this email and clicks on the confirmation link. They may need to check their spam or junk mail folder. If your Faculty member does not confirm their recommendation, you will not be able to submit an entry.
6. Once the Reference Form has been received and confirmed by Many Languages, One World, you will receive an email with further information, and a link where you can complete your Student Entry Form and upload your essay to the contest website.
7. The Student Entry Form must be completed in its entirety, and in English. If your entry form is incomplete, you will be disqualified. Be sure to include your government-issued identity card number or passport number, and submit your full name as it appears on your official documents or passport. Do not submit your photo.
8. At the bottom of the Student Entry form you will find the link to upload your essay to the contest website.
9. The essay must be submitted/uploaded in MS WORD format. Please title your essay as follows:LastName_FirstName-LanguageofEssay (ie, Smith_Jane-Arabic). Do not include a cover page with personal information, as the essays will be evaluated anonymously.
10. Only essays submitted through this link will be accepted. You can only submit one essay.
11. Essays must be received by 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time on Thursday 31 March, 2016 in order to qualify. Do not wait until the deadline date to submit. Give yourself time to ensure that your essay will be received successfully.

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.

Selection Process

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.

Notification

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.