Essay Competition
Seize your opportunity.
Compete for the St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Award and qualify for participation as a «Leader of Tomorrow» in the world’s premier opportunity for intergenerational debates: The St. Gallen Symposium.
- Join the debate with 600 top global leaders and decision makers
- Share your thoughts, ideas and visions with the global elite
- Expenses for travel, board and lodging covered, travel service provided
- Meet 200 of the world’s brightest young minds
- Small and intimate gatherings with world leaders, exclusively for the Leaders of Tomorrow
- CHF 20,000.– prize money shared by the three winners
- Broad media coverage
- Become member of a truly unique and strong global community
Qualify with an excellent essay.
Your essay must answer the following question:
Breaking the status quo – what’s YOUR disruptive idea?
The notion of disruption captures today’s innovation zeitgeist. Nowadays, it seems everyone claims to be a disruptor – particularly young people with an entrepreneurial mindset. Let’s think beyond disruptive innovation in management and look at disruption more generally as something that breaks the status quo – be it in business, politics, science, or society. Pick the one of these four fields you are most passionate about, identify a problem of greater magnitude and come up with a disruptive idea to solve it. Your idea must aspire to inspire top-notch leaders worldwide. Do not free ride on the buzzword “disruption” but rather be bold and develop a truly novel and radical concept to win our prestigious award.
We expect a professional, creative and thought-provoking essay. Be bold and unconventional! The following criteria must be met:
| Form | Essay (max. 2,100 words) |
| Language | English |
| Deadline | 1 February 2017, 11:59 p.m. last time zone (UTC-12) |
| Anonymity | Your name must not be mentioned anywhere in the contribution file |
| Individuality | Individual work expected, no group work allowed. The essay must be written exclusively for this contest |
| Citation | All sources must be cited and referred to the respective part in the essay |
Check your eligibility and prepare documents.
To be eligible, you must fulfil all of the following criteria:
- Enrolled in a graduate or postgraduate program (master level or higher) in any field of study at a regular university
- Born in 1987 or later
Make sure you can provide the following documents:
- Copy of passport or other identification (in English for non-Roman languages)
- Confirmation of matriculation/enrolment from your university which proves your enrollment in a graduate/postgraduate level programme as of 1 February 2017
- Your contribution file with no indication of your name in the file name, the file metadata or the file itself
Impress the Jury.
All contributions will be evaluated according to specific criteria by an independent jury composed of professors, corporate executives and entrepreneurs. The authors of the best 100 contributions qualify as Leaders of Tomorrow and will be invited by the ISC to the next St. Gallen Symposium. You qualify as a semi-finalist to compete for the prestigious award 2017 if your essay makes it in the top 20. You will be asked by mid-March the very latest to pitch the essence of your essay in a 3-minute video presentation. Based upon the quality of both the essay and the video pitch, the jury selects the six finalists who will compete for the award against each other on the symposium’s big stage. The award will be bestowed to those finalists who show the very best performances both on the essay and on the stage in St. Gallen.
Apply for the competition and compete.
Take the following steps to maximise your chance of qualifying as a "Leader of Tomorrow" for the 47th St. Gallen Symposium:
1. Register now to get regular updates, advice and valuable information on the competition and the symposium.
2. Read the competition requirements and the eligibility criteria as outlined here. Please read them carefully!
3. Your contribution must answer the competition question as outlined here.
4. Log in to your competition account, skim over the application form and read the terms and conditions of the competition.
5. Complete the application form and hand in your contribution no later than by Monday, 1 February 2017 (23:59 p.m., last time zone).
6. If the jury selects your essay in the top 100, you qualify as a Leader of Tomorrow for an allexpenses-covered participation in the 47th St. Gallen Symposium (3–5 May 2017). The results will be announced via e-mail by mid-March 2017.
7. You qualify as a semi-finalist to compete for the prestigious St. Gallen Wings of Excellence Award 2017 if the jury selects your essay for the top 20. You will be asked mid-March to pitch the essence of your essay in a 3-minute video presentation.
8. The jury selects you as a finalist if your essay and your video presentation makes it in the top six. You will be invited to present and defend your idea on the big stage of the 47thSt. Gallen Symposium.
9. The jury selects the three award winners based on both the quality of the essay and the performance on stage. The award is endowed with a total prize money of CHF 20,000.–.
10. In case of any questions, please contact the ISC-Team at award@symposium.org.
11. Be bold, creative and ambitious to surprise global leaders with your own unique idea - an idea that shall inspire and provoke the minds of hundreds of global current and future leaders!
To APPLY click "Further official information" below and fill the application form.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://www.symposium.org/competition