Iran Progressive Youth Essay Competition

Iran Progressive Youth is sponsoring an essay competition to elaborate on bringing about democratic change in Iran. Below are the details:

Prospect of Change in Iran

Share your ideas and prospects concerning the possibilities of change in Iran. The top three essays will be published in accredited journal(s) and will also receive a cash prize.

Since the Presidential Election in Iran in June 2009, there has been an ongoing debate among different national and international political and social groups about the possibilities of change in Iran. Nevertheless, the issue has not been dealt with from an academic perspective sufficiently and adequately.

The Iranian Progressive Youth (IPY) is an independent association which aims at establishing a platform for political, cultural and social activities with a special focus on the Iranian struggle for freedom and democracy. As part of its ongoing efforts, IPY has organized an International Essay Contest among students and researchers from different disciplines and has called for answers to the following question:

What are the ways to bring about a democratic change in Iran?

The IPY “International Essay Contest” encourages the interested parties to investigate and explore their ideas – from the idealistic to the realistic – in response to this question from either one, or a combination of, the following perspectives:

1. The role and prospect of civil society;
2. The influence of the political structure;
3. The position and responsibility of international community.

The top three essays will be published in internationally accredited journal(s) and

• the first-prize essay will receive €500 and the IPY Essay Award;
• the second-prize essay will receive €250;
• the third-prize essay will receive €150.

Moreover, all the submitted essays will be published on the essay contest’s website.

Participation in this essay contest is open to any (former) student and researcher of any institution of higher education in any field and discipline.

The theme of the essays should be directly linked to Iran and the 2009 presidential election and its aftermath and will be judged on two criteria:

1. Scientific quality, especially in deepening the understanding of the subject and its social relevance.
2. Innovative elements, creativity and originality in subject matter and its effects, and/or delving into a subject that has been presented but not explored in sufficient depth.

Submitted essays must:
1. be in English or Dutch;
2. be between 1500 – 2500 words. Essays longer than 3000 will not accepted;
3. be in Word Document format (.doc and not .docx) (font ‘Times New Roman’, size 12, double spacing);
4. be delivered digitally to [email protected]: CD-ROM, Floppy Disks, videos and tapes are not accepted;
5. be received by 10th April 2011 9:00 PM GMT.

The participants are requested to download and fill out the ‘Participation Form’ from the essay contest website.

IPY will appoint a jury which will consist of 3 university teachers/professors from Dutch Universities in different fields and 3 Parliamentarians from the Dutch Parliament and the European Parliament. The IPY Board holds one vote in this jury. The members of the jury will be announced in due time.

Participants in the contest will receive a confirmation of their submission. The authors of the selected essays will be informed by 25th April 2011; the essays which have not been selected will receive a notification around the same time.

Only papers that meet all the conditions mentioned in this document will be assessed.
The decision of the jury is not subject to appeal.

For more information about the contest refer to Essay Contest Website, or contact us at [email protected]