Over the newly shortened two-month summer vacation, some students stay on campus, work at a lab, or intern at a company or a research facility, while others choose to return to their rooms where they do nothing but sit around all day. Regardless of where you are, you should consider one of the many competitions that are being held this summer. Most of these competitions require only an email submission of an essay and can be completed anywhere.

EPICS Forum 2013

Application due date: September 31

Forum date and location: August 23 in Gwangju

Named after Universiade’s (an international multi-sport event for university students, the second largest cultural sporting event after the Olympics) vision “Eco, Peace, IT, Culture, Sports,” the EPICS Forum 2013 will be hosted jointly by the United Nations and the 2015 Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee. The forum will serve as an opportunity for university students to meet esteemed world leaders as well as a few Korean national athletes to discuss the theme, “Sports for Development: Build up Your Leadership Through Sport.” On the day of the conference, five teams (each with at least three to five college students) will be selected from a preliminary screening and will be asked to participate in a 10-minute presentation competition on the topic with a winning prize of 2 million Korean Won scholarship and a certificate presented by the hosts. For additional information, go to http://epicspeaker.org/, and students interested in applying should contact Office of Advising & Support for International Students by June 28.

Seoul Conference on Cyberspace 2013

Application due date: July 12

Conference date and location: September 2 in Seoul

This global essay competition is hosted by a group of organizations, most notably Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Targeted towards all people around the world from ages 18 to 32, this competition is designed to spark interest in cyberspace issues as well as to consider possible solutions to cyber threats. Teams comprised of one to three members should submit a paper addressing one of the three prompts that are presented. The winners, in addition to receiving certificates and monetary awards, will be given travel-expense paid trips to deliver speeches at a separate event, the “Joint Plenary with Youth Forum” on October 17. Top three teams will also be invited to participate at the SeoulCyber 2013 conference. For additional information, refer to http://www.seoulcyber2013.kr.

UNEP Essay Competition

Application due date: December 1

To promote to and gather interest from undergraduate students all over the world about environment awareness and how biotechnology can contribute to a greener world, this essay competition is intended to raise innovative ideas on how biotechnology can contribute to sustainable food consumption. A joint collaboration between the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and Biotechnology Journal, this competition focuses on this year’s theme of UNEP World Environment Day, “Think, Eat, Save.” The winners of the competition will receive a certificate as well as a year-long access to the online edition of  Biotechnology Journal. Essays should be submitted online to btj@wiley.com. For more detailed information regarding the guidelines for the essay, please access http://oasis.kaist.ac.kr/xe/index.php?mid=event&document_srl=2471.

International Idea Competition – The First Step to Change the Mapo Oil Reserve Base

Application due date: August 23

Award ceremony: To be announced

For this competition, professionals and students around the world are asked to submit ideas for utilization plans to reestablish the abandoned Mapo Oil Reserves located in Sangam, South Korea. Teams with at most three members should submit their ideas in less than two A4 pages through the official website, http://www.seoul.go.kr/pdc_idea. A judging committee composed of field experts will determine the winning teams, who will be awarded various monetary prizes (up to 10,000 U.S. dollars) and certificates presented by the mayor of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. For additional information, please refer to the notice on http://oasis.kaist.ac.kr/xe/index.php?mid=event&document_srl=2442

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