Official Rules of Essay Competition
“Advocacy for Young People of Kosovo”
ThinkYoung Essay Competition
Official Rules
1. ELIGIBILITY
Participants should be students and/or graduates between 19 and 25 years old at least holding Kosovo’s citizenship, proven by passport or ID card.
(Note about the minimum and maximum age: the participants should have turned 19 and should have not yet turned 26 when they complete the entry.)
2. CONTEST PERIOD
The Essay Competition opens on February 1, 2010 and closes at 11:59 pm on April 20, 2010.
3. RULES FOR THE COMPETITION
Essays
Each participant can send up to 2 essays on different topics handling up to two of the topics for consideration in this competition.
Deadline
The deadline for the completed entries is April 20, 2010.
(Please see chapter Selection Process about when an entry is considered to be completed.)
Language
The competition language is English.
Entry Format
Essays should be submitted in Times New Roman 12 pt. font size, double spaced, with regular margins. The topic and the subtopic(s) chosen for the essay should be written on the front page of the document.
The essay must contain at least 1000 words and must not exceed 1500 words in length (this excludes the proper citation of references and the bibliography).
All references must be properly cited otherwise the author will be considered a plagiarist and treated as such thus will be disqualified from the competition.
Address
Entries should be submitted electronically to:
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4. TOPICS FOR CONSIDERATION
Topic 1: Economy.
Subtopics: The Economy of Kosovo and the involvement of young people in the economy. How regional economic cooperation could affect Kosovo’s economy. Ways to attract foreign investors to Kosovo. Entrepreneurship among the young people. Ways to get Kosovo and Kosovo’s (young) people involved in the economy of the European Union.
Topic 2: Social exclusion/inclusion.
Subtopics: Unemployment and social exclusion in Kosovo. Ways to improve the inclusion of young unemployed people in Kosovo’s future. Empowering Kosovo’s youth for the European challenges.
Topic 3: Information society.
Subtopics: This year the Internet has been nominated for Nobel Peace Prize and has already been selected in the short list of candidates. What would be your arguments in favor of this candidacy with regard to the impact that the internet has had in your own personal life and in Kosovo's past and present.
Topic 4: Statehood and Governance.
Subtopics: Promoting Kosovo as a state in the world community. Arguments in favor of Kosovo’s independence. War and Peace in the Balkans. Role model of governance for Kosovo as a state. Role models of leadership for young people in Kosovo.
Topic 5: Culture.
Subtopics: Kosovo in the European culture. Cultural heritage in Kosovo. Albanian culture and its contribution to the European culture (especially to the Southeastern European culture). The religious and ethnic tolerance in Kosovo and how it could be promoted as a model of tolerance in the European Union.
Topic 6: European Union.
Subtopics: Historical perspective on the relations of Kosovo to Europe (the European Union). Pro and contras on the integration of Kosovo in the European Union. How does the EU policy towards Kosovo affect the life of young people? Why is visa liberalization an important topic for Kosovo and especially for Kosovo’s youth?
Participants can choose to send one essay or two essays on different topics.
While writing on a topic participants should handle the topic thoroughly and focus on at least one of the subtopics mentioned in the list.
5. SELECTION PROCESS
Completing the entry
The selection process starts in the moment that the entry is completed.
The entry is considered to be completed once the contestant
- has sent the essay,
- has filled out a form for the competition that will be sent to him/her by the organizing team,
- has sent an extended CV in English language including home address, e-mail address, telephone contact,
- has sent a document verifying that he/she is enrolled and/or has graduated at an accredited university or other accredited institution
in Kosovo or elsewhere. (This document should contain a stamp of the university. This document can also be a diploma of the
university and/or the student grade report.)
- has provided proof of Kosovo citizenship (passport or ID card).
The deadline for completing the entry is April 20, 2010.
The very first step is to send the essay. Once the essay has been received, the author will be contacted via e-mail and will be asked to send the required documents.
Only completed and qualified entries will be considered for the selection process.
Selection
The first stage in the selection process aims at providing a first filter for the entries of the competition. A good command of English language is a strong requirement.
The second stage in the selection process aims at selecting the 10 best entries of the competition. The jury members will judge on the entries from different perspectives and will accord points to the entries. The selection criteria will be published on February 4, 2010.
The final stage of the competition is to take place during the conference on May 3, in Prishtina. In this conference:
Based on the evaluation of the ten best entries from the jury members, Think Young will announce the ten winners of the competition who will be awarded with a paid trip to participate at the concluding activity of the project that will take place in Brussels in September.
Based on the evaluation of the jury members, on the CVs of the authors of the ten best essays and the interviews made with the prior to the conference in Prishtina, Think Young will select and announce the winner of the entire competition who will be awarded a 5 months paid internship at the ThinkYoung office in Brussels.
6. AWARDS
1st Prize Award
The first prize award is a paid internship of 5 months at Think Young office in Brussels. The accommodation for 5 months will be in addition paid by Think Young.
Other awards for the best entries
Our team is working on assuring a few other internship positions that will be awarded as 2nd prize, 3rd prize and so forth. The final selection for these positions will take place in cooperation with the organizations and enterprises that will provide these additional internship positions.
7. WINNERS
The list of ten winners of the essay competition as well as the first prize winner will be announced on the Think Young project website after the conference in Prishtina.
The winning essays will be published on the Think Young website.
8. GENERAL CONDITIONS AND LIMITATIONS
If due to the lack of funds ThinkYoung is not able to finance the implementation of the project as planned, it reserves the right to modify or to terminate the competition.
Actions such as plagiarism are strictly prohibited. Participants making unauthorized usage of the original work of other authors will be disqualified from the competition.
Decisions of the jury will not be subject of discussion.
ThinkYoung reserves the right to publish the winning essays on the ThinkYoung website and to use them for advertisement reasons towards potential sponsors and donors.
9. COMMUNICATION WITH THE PARTICIPANTS
Before asking any questions on the competition, please read this document thoroughly.
Inappropriate questions will be not answered.
Do not send more than one e-mail asking the same question.
Please give the organizers the time to answer in a thoughtful manner to your queries.
Send your questions to:
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