The 2013/2014 Global Debate and Public Policy Challenge

ELIGIBILITY:

The Challenge is open to all students formally enrolled full-time in an “undergraduate program” on or before 1 March 2014 as well as to all recent graduates of an undergraduate program who have not yet enrolled in a graduate program. For the purpose of determining eligibility for participation in the Challenge, the following definitions and conditions shall apply:
An “undergraduate program” shall be defined as including any first degree/certificate course in a tertiary educational establishment/university anywhere in the world.
“Recent graduates” shall be defined as including any person who has graduated from an undergraduate program on or after 28 February 2013 and has not yet enrolled either part-time or full-time in a graduate program before 1 March 2014.
There is no maximum age limit; however, all participants must be at least 18 years old as of 1 March 2014.
Any questions regarding eligibility should be directed to gdppc@gppi.net.
There is no fee to register or to participate in the Challenge.
Anyone wishing to participate must register on or before 30 October 2013 at the Website by filling out the registration form located on that site. Registration will be confirmed by e-mail.
Individuals only may register in the Challenge; teams composed of two or more individuals may not register together to participate in the Challenge. Participants however are encouraged to discuss the topic and tasks with fellow participants and other students while developing their arguments.
Students who have attended the Forum in Budapest in the past are not eligible to participate in the 2013-2014 Global Debate and Public Policy Challenge.

RULES AND REGULATIONS:

2013-2014 ChallengeA. Topic

The Organiser shall determine each year the topic for the Challenge. The topic for the 2013-2014 Challenge is: “Rethinking Drugs”.B. Stages of the Challenge

The Challenge consists of two preliminary written rounds, which serve as qualifying rounds for participation in the final round, also known as the Forum.
The two preliminary written rounds can generally be described as follows:
First stage: All participants submit a policy memorandum (800 to 1200 words, excluding list of sources and citations in footnotes) in response to one of four task one scenarios. From these submissions up to 200 participants will be selected to proceed to stage two based on their policy memo score.
Second stage: A maximum of 200 students will be invited to submit a Policy Brief (1500 to 1800 words, excluding list of sources and citations in footnotes) presenting evidence-based arguments targeting and advocating to a global audience in response to one of the two task two scenarios. Once stage two submissions are judged, up to 50 finalists will be invited to the GDPPC Budapest Forum based on the score of their policy brief.
Only participants who submit the two papers described above under number 2 in this Section will be eligible to participate in the final round in Budapest in June 2014 ANDto win one of the top prizes of up to $10,000 described in Section F below. The Organiser however reserves the right to create other ways for students to earn aninvitation to participate in the final round in Budapest in June 2014 and/or to win smaller prizes.C. Rules for Written Submissions

At the beginning of the 2013-2014 Challenge, the Organiser will post a list of reading materials as well as a presentation and description of the theme that will help frame the discussion of the topic during the coming year.
For each round the Organiser will also post the following information on the Website at least four weeks prior to the deadline for submission:
A detailed description of the task.
The length and format required.
Marking criteria.
Other educational materials helping the participants to prepare the tasks required.
For each round, participants must follow any guidelines posted on the Website when preparing their papers. They must also follow any instructions posted on the Website concerning the manner in which to submit the papers, including electronically via the Website or by e-mail to a designated e-mail address. All papers submitted must be only in English.
The Organiser aims to inform all participants of the deadlines applying to each round of written submissions at least 6 weeks prior to the date on which the task is due. Information concerning the deadlines shall be sent by e-mail to the registered participants and posted on the Website. The Organiser reserves the right to modify at any time the deadlines dates for any task.
For the purpose of determining compliance with any deadline, the Organiser will accept any paper that is received by the Organiser by 23:59 (11:59 p.m.) on the date due. In case of doubt, the Organiser will consider only the time applicable in the city and country where the student’s undergraduate program is located. No paper received after the deadline posted will be accepted or marked, except as approved by the Organizer in exceptional circumstances as described by the participant in a written e-mail sent to gdppc@gppi.net.
Each participant may submit only one paper for each round of the Challenge. Participants will only be allowed to submit a paper once. Multiple versions of the same paper will not be accepted. The Organiser will consider the paper submitted earliest by any participant who submits multiple versions of the same paper as being the paper submitted for review by the judges.
Participants are encouraged to be creative and to develop original arguments for their positions. The Organiser shall review papers to ensure that participants do not plagiarise any portion of text from other sources, without proper references. All participants are expected to comply with the citations and plagiarism policy of the Challenge. Any participant that submits a paper that includes plagiarism will be immediately disqualified from the Challenge and will not be allowed to participate in future Challenges. The Challenge has a zero-tolerance policy towards plagiarism.
More rules and regulations here

PRIZE: Up to five final winners will be chosen at the Forum from among the finalists who participate in the Challenge. Each winner will receive up to US$10,000 either as a scholarship payable to one or more graduate schools of the winner’s choice for study in a field related to Public Policy, or as a grant payable to one or more non-profit institutions of the winner’s choice to work for one year in a field related to Public Policy.
HOW TO APPLY:To start your application, click here

DEADLINE: October 30, 2013

MORE INFORMATION: For more information click here