The Young & Cerebral annual Essay Competition

Deadline: 12th November, 2015

The Young & Cerebral annual Essay Competitions is here again! Commemorative of Nigeria’s Independence Celebrations, the Y&C Essay Competition holds in the month of October to showcase and reward the creative writing skills of young people across the country, providing a platform for them to compete with their peers in the different parts of Nigeria. The Essay Competition is in line with Young & Cerebral’s mission, which essentially is to inspire, empower and to provide opportunities for the youth segment. 

 

Over 400 entries across Nigeria have been received in the previous 2 competitions with 18 winners emerging in 3 categories. Guest judges have been some of the country's finest including the likes of Seun Salami, Ayo Sogunro, Sally Kenneth Dadzie, Oyin Braithwaite, Rayo Adebayo, Rufai Keyede and Tomi Adesina. Competition only gets exciting! Prizes are even more rewarding! 

 

And now, for this year’s competition, the topic is “THE ROLE OF INNOVATION IN CREATING THE NIGERIA OF OUR DREAMS” and is open to 18-35 year olds. 3 winners will emerge and walk away with fabulous prizes like laptops, printers, trendy mobile phones, a writing workshop and more. Essentially, the Young & Cerebral Essay Competitions are usually judged on grammar, creativity, adherence to topic, wow-factor along with other regular skills of standard writing.

The Rules:

1. The competition is open to citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

2. All candidates must be legal residents of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. 

3. The candidate must be aged between 18-35 years 

4. The essay must be typed in Microsoft Word 

5. The essay submitted must not be more than five hundred and Fifty words (550 Words). Failure to comply with this shall lead to automatic disqualification. 

6. All entries must be written in English language. 

7. The candidate must only apply based on the topic that should be submitted electronically. 

8. Multiple applications will be disqualified. 

9. The candidate’s bio-data shall be used by Young & Cerebral for publicity purposes. 

10. Plagiarism will not be permitted. All entries must be properly referenced. 

Please note that information from Wikipedia or any wiki links websites are not allowed as forms of reference for this competition: The research must reflect appropriate and relevant reviewed journals as well as legitimate websites. 

How to Apply:

All applications should be sent to ec2015@youngandcerebral.com in MSWord using “Book Antiqua” fonts/size 12 with the applicant’s full details (Full Names, Age, Gender, Email Addresses, Phone Contact, School/Institution, State of Residence). 

Only Successful candidates will be contacted. 

Winners will be announced in December, on our radio programme, social media platforms and the winning articles will be published in a major print publication and across several websites, blogs and more. 

Entry Opens: 12th October, 2015 Deadline: 12th November, 2015

Source: http://youngandcerebral.com/essay/#

Become A New Voices Fellow - Washington DC

Deadline: November 1, 2015

The Aspen Institute’s New Voices Fellowship is a year-long media skills, communication and leadership program designed for standout development professionals from the developing world. Candidates for the Fellowship are expected to have both a record of significant professional achievement and a desire to share their perspectives on global development with a broader international audience. The Fellowship is open by nomination only.

While the fellowship is non-resident and not full-time, it does require a significant and sustained time commitment as fellows write opinion articles, participate in interviews with local and international media, and speak at international conferences. All expenses related to the fellowship are paid, including certain media-related travel costs.

Please note, this is not a fellowship for journalists or others trained and working in communications.

Process:

1	Ask someone to nominate you. This person could be a mentor, supervisor or professor. We ask that this person know you and your work well.
2	We will review your nomination. If you pass through the first round, we’ll be in touch with you directly, asking you to submit an application. This application involves two essays and a series of questions.
3	Once the New Voices team has reviewed applications, we will ask a small group of finalists to participate in an interview via Skype or phone. From this group, we will choose the final class of Fellows.

Visit http://www.aspennewvoices.org/Nominations for details. 

Source: http://www.aspennewvoices.org

Microsoft Imagine Cup Global Student Competition ($USD 50,000 Prize) – 2016

Imagine Cup is Microsoft’s global student technology competition that provides opportunities for students across all disciplines to team up and create applications, games and integrated solutions that can change the way we live, work and play.
Eligible student teams will once again compete with thousands of others from across the globe by developing a technology project from start to finish in the following categories:

• Games Competition
  The Imagine Cup Games Competition is your opportunity to be part of the global games revolution. It’s a global contest for the best new student games and the winning team will take home $50,000 (US).
• Innovation Competition
  The Imagine Cup Innovation Competition is here to help you take the first steps. It’s a global contest for the most original student applications, and the winning team will take home $50,000 (US).
• World Citizenship Competition
  The Imagine Cup World Citizenship Competition is a global contest for the best new software to address social issues, and the winning team will take home $50,000 (US).
• Big Idea: Pitch Challenge
  The Big Idea challenges are online competitions intended to help you develop your project from an idea into a reality.
• Big Idea: Plan Challenge
• Big Idea: Design Challenge
• Hello Cloud Challenge
  Master cloud computing with Microsoft Azure and you could win $1,000!
  Every month, one student will win in the $1,000 sweepstakes. To compete, you just complete one or more of our Hello Cloud activities. Each activity you complete gives you another chance to win!
• Imagine Cup Earth Challenge
  Imagine Cup Earth is a new contest for students ages 6-18 in which you’ll use computer programming to create a game, simulation, or story inspired by the kinds of earth science that NASA and other researchers do every day. 18 winning students will win prizes totaling $36,000!

Eligibility Requirements

• You are at least 16 years of age as of July 31 2015 and are actively enrolled as a student at an accredited educational institution that grants high-school or college/university (or equivalent) degrees (including home schools) at any time between 1 January 2015 and 31 May 2016; and
• If you are considered a minor in your place of residence, then you should ask your parent’s or legal guardian’s permission prior to submitting an entry into this Competition.
• You are NOT a resident of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan, or Syria; and
  o U.S. export regulations prohibit the export of goods and services to Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria. Therefore residents of these countries/regions are not eligible to participate.
• You are not an employee or intern of Microsoft Corporation, or an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary, at any time between 1 January 2016 and 31 July 2016; and
• You are not involved in any part of the execution or administration of this Competition; and
• You are not an immediate family member of (parent, sibling, spouse/domestic partner, child) or household member of a Microsoft employee, an employee of a Microsoft subsidiary, or a person involved in any part of the administration and execution of this Competition between 1 January 2016 and 31 July 2016.

Benefits:
Each World Finalist will be awarded a trip to World Finals. Trip includes round trip coach airfare from major airport closest to Finalist’s home, standard hotel accommodations, and select meals during the World Finals.
How to enter:
To participate in Imagine Cup 2016, you must first create an account at www.imaginecup.com. Once you have registered you can sign up for the competition categories you would like to compete in and start building your team.
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the 2016 Microsoft Imagine Cup Global Student Competition