"Every year, UNA-USA sponsors a high school essay contest open to all high school students. The grand prize is a scholarship of $1,500, as well as airfare and accommodations for the winner and one parent or guardian to attend UNA-USA's Member's Day, held at the United Nations Headquarters. Please click here for more information.
Congratulations to Jordan Wong from Scripps Ranch High School for being UNASD's chapter winner!
2010: MDG8: A Global Partnership for Development
The world has changed vastly since the days of the UN's founding. In the aftermath of World War II, the UN was created to ensure peace between nations. Today, the UN takes on a host of global issues beyond peace and security, such as human rights, health, poverty, environmental sustainability and economic development. During the past 60 years, the UN also has been witness to significant geopolitical change throughout the world. Historic events ranging from decolonization to the fall of the iron curtain to the rise of the global economy mean that the UN is operating in a very different world than it was six decades ago.
Since 1986, the National High School Essay Contest on the United Nations has inspired students to engage global issues and the work of the UN through scholarship and critical thinking. Each year, the United Nations Association of the USA publishes a topic and question of particular importance to the international community. Students then conduct research and write a response to the question, based not only on the information they have found, but also on their own views and opinion. It is vital to engage high school students in learning about the UN's role, especially as it becomes ever more apparent that all people must think of themselves as citizens not only of a particular town or country, but of the world as well.
This year's National High School Essay Contest on the United Nations focuses on Millennium Development Goal Eight, and asks students to tackle the challenge of promoting development through international partnership. Students will write a letter to the President of the United States answering the following questions:
1. How can the U.S. build an international system that promotes good governance, development, and poverty reduction?
2. How can the U.S. promote sustainable development and economic growth in developing countries?
Contest Rules
1. How to Enter: Please electronically submit your essay with the completed online application form at www.unausaessaycontest.com. All application forms must include an electronic participant signature, as well as Parental Consent if the applicant is under the age of 18, and must be submitted online by January 5, 2010.
2. Your Essay: Your essay should be no longer than 1,500 words, typed and double spaced with your name, permanent address, permanent phone number, email address, school name, and year in school (as of January 2010) on the top of each page. If more than one page is used, each page must be numbered. Students must produce their own work, using information from other sources where appropriate. All references must be clearly marked and can appear as parenthetical citations, endnotes or footnotes. Materials used for research that are not cited in the student's essay should be listed in a bibliography page at the end.
3. Eligibility: The UNA-USA National High School Essay Contest is open to all US students in grades 9 - 12. Immediate family members of employees of UNA-USA (children and siblings) and persons living in the same households as such individuals are ineligible.
4. Prizes: One first place winner will receive a scholarship of $1,500, as well as airfare and accommodations for him/herself and one parent or guardian to attend UNA-USA's Member's Day, held at the United Nations Headquarters in March 2010, as an honored guest. There, the winner will receive his or her award in a formal ceremony before UNAUSA's members. One second place winner will receive a scholarship in the amount of $1,000. One third place winner will receive a scholarship in the amount of $500. The UNA-San Diego Chapter winner will receive an award of $100 to be presented at a UNASD awards function.
5. Selection:
Preliminary round: All eligible Application Submissions received by the above deadline will be reviewed by a qualified panel of local UNA-USA Chapter Members whose decisions as to the selection of Semi-Finalists are final. Semi-Finalists will be selected and forwarded to UNA-USA headquarters for review and selection of Finalists by January 30, 2010.
Second round: Qualified judges of the UNA-USA staff will evaluate the Application Submissions of the Semi-Finalists using the National Judging Criteria. From these evaluations, the first, second and third place national winners will be selected on or about February 27, 2010.