Summit essay contest launched
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The Summits of the Americas Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) in coordination with the National Secretariat for the Fifth Summit of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago today announced the launch of the "Summit of the Americas Essay Contest", within the framework of the Fifth Summit of the Americas that will be held in Trinidad and Tobago on April 17-19, 2009.
The Essay Contest, directed to undergraduate or graduate students of the OAS Member States, will encourage students of the hemisphere to focus on the themes addressed in the Draft Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain presented by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago: Securing our Citizen's Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability, to be adopted at the Fifth Summit of the Americas.
The objective of this initiative is to raise awareness of the Summits of the Americas Process among youth, stimulating analytical ideas from university students regarding the key issues of the region, as well as encouraging the participation of different actors in the process in the formulation of ideas and recommendations about the central topics of the Fifth Summit.
Essays will analyze the principal areas engaged in this theme:
a) human prosperity;
b) environmental sustainability;
c) energy security;
d) strengthening democratic governance and
e) strengthening the Summits Process.
These topics include some of the key priorities of the region, around which the leaders of the hemisphere will center their attention in efforts to make commitments that will improve the wellbeing of the citizens of the Americas. The Contest will motivate the youth of the Americas to analyze the region's challenges and formulate innovative solutions.
Essays will be accepted in the four OAS official languages (English, Spanish, French, or Portuguese).
A qualified jury comprised by academics, high level specialists and experts of the member institutions of the Joint Summit Working Group, will evaluate the essays and determine the winners. The authors of up to the 7 best essays (ensuring geographical equity) will be awarded a plane ticket in economy class from their city of origin to the Fifth Summit of the Americas. The winners will participate as observers in the Summit and have their prize-winning essays published on the Summits of the Americas Secretariat website (www.summit-americas.org) and distributed to OAS Member States during the Summit.
To assess your eligibility and participate in the Essay Contest, please review carefully the "Terms and conditions" (attached). The deadline for submission of essays is December 15, 2008. For additional information, please visit the Summits of the Americas Information Network at www.summit-americas.org.
Terms and Documents
THIRD ESSAY CONTEST
FIFTH SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS
1. ORGANIZERS
The organizerss of the “Summit of the Americas Essay Contest”, within the framework of the Fifth Summit of the Americas that will be held in Trinidad and Tobago on April 17-19, 2009, are the Summits of the Americas Secretariat of the Organization of the American States (OAS) and the National Secretariat for the Fifth Summit of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago (the “Summits Secretariat” and the “National Secretariat”).
2. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
This contest is open to anyone enrolled as a student in an undergraduate or graduate course at any recognized college or university of the OAS Member States (Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, The Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela).
This contest is not open to employees or contractors of the Summits Secretariat and the National Secretariat or their direct family members. Participants will be required to provide proof of enrolment as a student in an undergraduate or graduate course at any recognized college or university of the OAS Member States.
3. ESSAY TOPICS
The essays must be developed on the theme of the Fifth Summit “Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability”. Essays may address any of the sub-topics pertaining to the Summit theme:
· Promoting Human Prosperity
· Promoting Energy Security
· Promoting Environmental Sustainability
· Strengthening Public Security
· Strengthening Democratic Governance
· Strengthening the Summit of the Americas, Follow-up and Implementation Effectiveness
Sources of important information regarding the topic and sub-topics can be found on the following site: www.summits-americas.org.
4. ESSAY PRESENTATION AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
In order to be considered by the international jury, all essays must meet the following criteria:
* Original work and authored individually. By submitting an article, authors attest, acknowledge and warrant that it is an original work created by the applicant and that no other party has any right, title, claim or interest in it.
* Written in one of the OAS official languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese or French
* Written in Microsoft Word format, no longer than 1500 words, double-spaced in 11-point Times New Roman font and accompanied by an abstract of no more than 200 words.
* Work must not infringe any party’s intellectual property rights
* Essay must be submitted electronically as an attachment to summitcso@oas.org
* Only one essay per author will be considered
In addition, all emails accompanying the essay submission must include the following information:
* Full name of the author (first name and surname)
* Name of author’s academic institution and complete address (including country and zip code, if applicable)
* Contact details of academic supervisor or advisor
* Title of essay
* Author’s telephone number (including country code)
* Author’s e-mail address
* Author’s proof of enrolment as a student in an undergraduate or graduate program at any recognized college or university located in an OAS Member State
Furthermore, all essays must be submitted before 5pm Eastern Standard Time (Washington, D.C. time) on December 15, 2008. It is the responsibility of the participants to ensure that the essay arrives on time to the Summits of the Americas Secretariat. Essays received after the deadline will not be considered. The international jury will make a final decision of the winning essays on February 13, 2009. The decision of the jury will be incontestable.
The organizers reserve the right at any time to cancel or modify the competition (including altering the prize) if, in their sole discretion, the competition is not capable of being conducted as specified.
For additional information, please contact the Summits of the Americas Secretariat at:
Summits of the Americas Secretariat- Essay Contest
Organization of American States
19th Street & Constitution Ave, NW
Washington, D.C. 20006, USA
Telephone: (202) 458-3456
Fax: (202) 458-3665
Email: summitcso@oas.org
Web Page: www.summit-americas.org
5. EVALUTION CRITERIA AND PANEL
The Summits of the Americas Secretariat will work in collaboration with other OAS Departments, and the National Secretariat of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, to identify qualified and competent individuals from among academics, specialists, hemispheric diplomats, and OAS high level officials, to compose a qualified bilingual (English/Spanish) jury that will evaluate the essays and determine the winners.
The competition judges will review essays according to the following criteria:
* Relevance of the essay content with the theme of the Fifth Summit: “Securing Our Citizens’ Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability”
* Originality
* Recommendations and proposed solutions to the thematic challenges
* Essay structure (introduction, body, and conclusion), punctuation and spelling
* Proper use of grammar, syntax, quality and precision of vocabulary
* Essay should demonstrate the student's reflection and understanding of the topic
* Development of recommendations and conclusions consistent with presented proposals
* Ability to produce critical and creative thinking and capacity to support points of view and conclusions
* Use of examples and reliable resources to explain ideas
* Knowledge and understanding of the theme, variables and concepts related to it
* Essay should not have been previously published, nor have been submitted in previous contests
* Include standardized citations and a bibliography (these are not included in the word count)
* The essay will be disqualified if it relies solely on Internet research, or if it plagiarizes ideas – i.e. uses someone else’s ideas or text as one’s own
The decision of the jury will be incontestable. The jury reserves the right to award prizes only to those essays which meet the criteria; therefore, in the case that less than five essays meet the standard criteria, the panel may choose not to award up to five prizes. In addition, in the case of absolute discrepancy of opinions among the panel members, the Summits of the Americas Secretariat will make the final decision. Finally, the jury may award honorable mentions for those essays which will not receive the grand prize of attending the Fifth Summit but will still be published on the Summits of the Americas website.
6. PRIZES
The authors of up to the 7 best essays (ensuring geographical equity) will be awarded a plane ticket in economy class from their city of origin to the Fifth Summit of the Americas, which will take place on April 17-19 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Lodging and per diem expenses will also be covered. Paperwork and costs for passports or entry visas that may be required are the sole responsibility of the winners.
The winners will participate as observers in the Summit and will have access to public activities taking place.
7. MISCELLANEOUS
The National Secretariat for the Fifth Summit of the Government of Trinidad and Tobago will facilitate an appropriate occasion for presentation of the essays at the Fifth Summits and the OAS Secretary General and a high ranking government official from the Trinidad and Tobago Government will hand out complimentary awards and recognition certificates to the essay winners.
Winners will also be able to attend and participate in the “Young Americas Forum”, organized by the Young Americas Business Trust (YABT) in collaboration with the OAS and the National Secretariat, to be held immediately prior to the Summit, on April 15-16, 2009 (tentative dates).
The prize-winning essays will be published on the Summits of the Americas Secretariat website (www.summit-americas.org) and the National Secretariat’s website for the Fifth Summit of the Americas (http://fifthsummitoftheamericas.org/home/) and be distributed to OAS Member States during the Summit.
Depending on the quality of essays submitted, other essays may be listed as “specially commended” and published on the Summits of the Americas Secretariat website and the National Secretariat’s Fifth Summit website.
By entering into this contest, participants hereby certify that the information provided is true and understand that any false information presented in your application, or in its annexes, will result in the disqualification of the application to participate in this.
By entering into this contest, participants grant the Summits of the Americas Secretariat of the OAS a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual transferable licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play and make available to the public the submitted essays in whole or part, including for internal purposes or for institutional purposes.
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