2023/2024 World Bank & Financial Times Youth Blog Competition
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the lives of young children, students, and youth. The disruption of societies and economies caused by the pandemic has led to the worst crisis in the education of the last century.
The staggering effects of school closures reach beyond learning. This generation of children could lose a combined total of US$21 trillion in lifetime earnings in present value or the equivalent of 17% of today’s global GDP – a sharp rise from the 2021 estimate of a US$17 trillion loss.
Three years after the arrival of COVID-19, educators and governments are still grappling with the pandemic’s aftermath. They are working to make up the crucial time lost during COVID-related closures, to position students for successful lives.
The future doesn’t have to be dark. There’s still time to recover learning losses and put a generation of students on track to thrive in the jobs of the future.
If you’re aged 16 to 19 and currently enrolled in high school, we’d like to hear about your experience with post-COVID education and learn your ideas for the way forward. In partnership with the free FT Schools programme, offering access to FT.com for students aged 16-19 years old, their teachers, and schools around the world.
Please tell them:
How is your country’s education system recovering from learning losses of the COVID-19 pandemic, and what more can it do to prepare young people for the jobs of the future?
Prizes
- The winning entry will be published in the Financial Times (at its sole discretion) and the World Bank blog. The World Bank will also find additional, virtual ways to honor the winner during 2023.
Eligibility
- Entries should be original content and cannot have been previously published or lifted from other sources.
- Entries should be the work of the submitter and cannot be collaborative or written by a proxy.
- Participants must be enrolled in high school or a version of secondary education and should be between the ages of 16-19 years at the time of submission.
- Entries can be submitted in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.
- The winning entries will be published in English.
Judging
- Entries will be judged by a high-level panel comprised of senior officials at the World Bank, the Financial Times, and select partners. The full names of the judges can be made available on request. Judging will take place during April 2023 and winners will be contacted and announced around May 2023 on the World Bank blog and Financial Times website, unless a winner objects to publication of their name at the time of entry.
- Entries will be judged against originality, creativity, writing quality, and solutions presented. The judging panel’s decision is final, and no correspondence will be entered into. Winners will be contacted via the contact information provided with their submission.
How To Apply
Submissions should include:
- A strong blog or essay, that is no longer than 500 words.
- Your name, age, school, email, and country you live in.
- Photos, videos, visualizations that help support your story, are optional.
For more information, visit Youth Blog Competition.
Application Deadline: March 31, 2023
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