Essay Competition 2009 Frequently Asked Questions

Essay Competition 2009
Frequently Asked Questions
Submissions, eligibility, formal requirements:
1. What is the deadline for submissions?
The deadline for submissions is February 22, 2009, midnight (CET – for example, the time of Paris, France). Work submitted after the
deadline will not be considered.
2. How do I submit?
The submission process is very simple and entirely online-based. Essays and photos are submitted directly via the Essay Competition website,
and the videos – via YouTube. All participants, including those who submit videos, must fill in an online submission form. Submissions sent
via email or regular mail will not be considered. More about submitting a video
Attention: if you submit more than one piece of work, please use the same form to attach all your submissions, and press ‘Submit’ at the end.
3. Who is eligible for the essay competition?
The essay competition is open for nationals of ALL countries of the world, students and non-students alike, aged 18-25 on June 15, 2009.
Students enrolled in Ph.D. courses are, however, not eligible to participate.
4. I am just under 18 or just over 25 – can I still participate?
The competition is intended for youth aged 18-25. If you between the ages of 18 and 25 on June 15, 2009, you are eligible. No exceptions
will be granted.
5. In which language shall I submit my work?
The essay can be written in any of the three languages: English, French or Spanish. If you are selected as a finalist, you will be asked to
make a presentation of your paper – in the same language that the essay was written in or in English. The photo description and any
commentary in the video also must be in one of those three languages.
6. What is the length and format of the submissions?
The essay must not exceed 4,000 words. The following elements do NOT count into the number of pages or words: summary, content page,
title page (if you provide one). Moreover, graphs and tables do NOT count into the number of words. Essays can be submitted as MS Word
documents (.doc) or in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf). Photos can be submitted as .jpg files of maximum 2.5 MB. Videos may not be longer than 2
minutes. More about submitting a video
7. Am I allowed to include graphs and tables in my essay?
Yes, you are welcome (but not obliged to) to include relevant graphs and tables. Their content will not count into the number of words in your
essay. Please make sure that you explain what each graph or table represents.
8. What is a summary of the essay? What is a description of a video or photo?
You are asked to write a summary to go with your essay, which cannot exceed 250 words. The summary should explain the aim, the
methodology, the reasoning and the main conclusions of your essay. The summary is important, as pre-selection of the essays will be based
on the assessment of these only. That means that a good essay without a summary or with a poorly written summary will not be graded
highly.
If you submit a photo, you are required to submit a description of 150 words maximum explaining what the photo represents and how it is
relevant to the topic.
You may submit a description of your video, but you do not have to do it, if you think that the voice commentary in the video is sufficient.
9. What are the evaluation criteria for the submissions?
Essays will be graded for their structure and coherence, originality and creativity and the use of thoughtful and concrete proposals/ examples.
Photos and videos will be evaluated on the basis of their relevance to the topic, originality and creativity.
We realize that English, French or Spanish will be foreign languages to many participants; therefore language mistakes will not be penalized,
as long as the content is understandable.
We realize that participants may not have the technical skills or the equipment to produce photos and videos, therefore technical quality of
the submission will not be evaluated, as long as the image is clearly visible and sound (in video) is audible.
10. Is it allowed to mention my name in my submission?
You must not mention your name anywhere in the essay, on the photo or in the video. Your submission will be linked to your email address
and therefore there is no need to sign it with your name. The review process in entirely anonymous. Authors of videos are encouraged to
create their YouTube account with a nickname and not their name.
11. Is it allowed for two or more people to work on the same essay, photo or video?
No. The submission must be individual work.
12. How to submit a video?
To submit your video, you will need to complete the following steps.
13. What should I include in the video?
You are free to shoot your video as you choose, as long as it relates to one or both topic questions. Voice or written commentary is not
obligatory, if you think that your video is self-explanatory, but we would recommend that you include one or the