2012.05.02

Student Writing Contest

The United Nations Academic Impact (http://outreach.un.org/unai) and the Brookings Institution in Washington DC are launching a global contest for university students, inviting them to imagine a speech that would be made by the Secretary-General at the opening of the next session of the General Assembly.

There is today a growing consensus concerning our global interdependence. Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights enshrines everyone's right to an international order where the inherent dignity and rights of all are fully realized .What is less clear is what sort of a global civics is necessary and feasible for us to navigate this growing interdependence.  

University students from around the world are invited to ponder these vital questions in submissions, in English and up to 1500 words in length, which address — in the form of a draft of the imagined speech by the Secretary-General — what responsibilities we can all take on towards people who happen not to be our compatriots, and what rights we can claim, as we work to solve global problems together in a shared culture of intellectual social responsibility.

The competition is open to all students currently enrolled at a university. Submissions should be sent simultaneously to academicimpact@un.org  and haltinay@brookings.edu by June 15, 2012. Please put SPEECH COMPETITION in the subject line. Authors of what are judged to be the top three submissions, at least one of whom will be from an UNAI member institution, will be invited to New York and Washington DC to meet with the United Nations Secretary General and the leadership of the Brookings Institution respectively.