The United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI), in collaboration with ELS Educational Services, Inc., (ELS) invites students, 18 years and older, who are enrolled in a full-time course of study at a university, to participate in the Many Languages, One World Essay Contest.

ESSAY TOPIC: 
The essay should discuss global citizenship and cultural understanding and the role that multilingual ability can play in fostering these. The essay should reflect the student’s personal, academic, cultural and national context.

WORD LIMIT AND LANGUAGE:
Entries, of up to 2,000 words in length must be written in an official language of the United Nations that is NOT the first language of the Entrant or the principal language of instruction during his or her primary or secondary education. The official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

REFERENCE: 
A Faculty Member or other Authorised Representative of the institution is required to complete a Reference Form attesting that the Entrant is a current full-time student of the institution in good standing, that the essay is written in a language that is not the Entrant’s first language or the principal language of instruction during the Entrant’s primary or secondary education, and that the entry is the Entrant's original, unaided work. 

SELECTION PROCESS AND PROGRAMME:
A total of 60 contest Winners will be selected through a rigorous three-stage process. Ten winners will be selected from Entrants in each of the 6 official United Nations languages. These Winners will be invited to New York to participate in a series of events during the week of July 25-31, 2016. These events will include a Global Youth Forum on “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” in the context of multilingualism, cultural diversity and global citizenship at United Nations Headquarters, preceded by a preparatory conference sponsored and arranged by ELS Educational Services, Inc.

During the preparatory conference, winners will work with their language group to prepare plans of action which could be undertaken by student and local communities towards the realisation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. These plans will be presented at the Global Youth Forum at United Nations Headquarters. Please note that Winners will not be reading or presenting the text of their essays at this event.

BENEFITS: 
ELS will pay for roundtrip economy class airfares in carriers of its choosing between the airport nearest to the Winners’ home city and New York, and be responsible for the Winners’ travel, room and meals for the duration of the conference (6-7 days). Sightseeing and tourism opportunities will also be arranged by ELS. No extensions of stay or early arrivals will be possible. Winners are responsible for all documentation relating to their journey, including passports and visas and the costs related to these, as well as appropriate medical insurance for their journey and temporary stay in the United States. ELS will provide each winning student with a basic travel and accident insurance policy, for which the premium will be paid by ELS.

All winners attending the conference will be given certificates of participation by ELS, signifying they have participated in the Global Youth Forum arranged in cooperation with the United Nations Academic Impact.

DEADLINE:
Entries must be uploaded in MS Word format to the website ManyLanguagesOneWorld.ELS.edu by 11:59 pm Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, 31 March, 2016. 

(12:59am, Friday 1 April, 2016, Port-of-Spain)

For more information, please see: https://www.els.edu/en/ManyLanguagesOneWorld

Interested applicants can contact the following person for more information/clarification: 

Ms. Patti Mohan – Grants Coordinator, International Office and Grant Funding at 642-8888 Ext 46122, patti.mohan@utt.edu.tt.