Terms and Conditions

1. Eligibility:
Youth ages 10-24 are eligible. Use your age at the start of the contest. In order to enter the competition, participants agree to the Official Rules.  The rules consist of the terms and conditions on this page and the Entry Form.

2. Competition Period:
The competition begins on January 6, 2023, and ends at midnight (GMT) on March 30, 2023.

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3. How to Enter:

Entrants will use the link http://bit.ly/2hoRH1M for the submission form on the official UNESCOUSA.org website.    

4. Judging and Selection of Winners:
Entrees will be judged by our international panel of judges. Each project will be judged by two different adults and the scores will then be averaged.  Judges will receive an equal number of entries – online, randomly chosen – in each age category.   Contestants will be given a chance to submit their projects a second time if problems occur with opening them digitally. 

Once the top 15 have been decided in each age category, another round of judging will take place to choose the winning project in each age category and 10 semi-finalists.  Judging will be based on a sliding scale of 1-6 (1 as the lowest and 6 as the highest) based on the criteria of relevance, creativity/originality, development, polish, impact, and inclusion of sources.  Any discrepancies will be decided by the organizing team. 

5. Prizes:
Will be announced on May 30th, 2023.

6. Privacy Notice:
Any personal data, collected during the course of the competition will only be used and disclosed for purposes reasonably connected with administering and promoting this competition, including certain internal and external communications related to the essay contest. We may also share the name and images of the winners and finalists with the press for publicity purposes. Subject to parental consent (if required), the overall winner and the finalists will be invited to participate in the summer camps, in publicity such as press interviews or other promotions.  UNESCO reserves the right to use the project for educational or promotional purposes.

7. No Recourse to Judicial or Other Procedures:
The names of individual judges associated with judging each project will be withheld. To the extent permitted by law, the rights to litigate, to seek injunctive relief, or to any other recourse to judicial or any other procedure in case of disputes or claims resulting from or in connection with this competition are hereby excluded, and you acknowledge and agree, and expressly waive any and all such rights.

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