Deadline: March 31, 2017

Submissions are now being accepted for the 33rd Eisaku Sato Essay Contest. The Eisaku Sato Essay Contest was inaugurated in 1980, and has been held annually since 1990. It is organized by the Eisaku Sato Memorial Foundation for Cooperation with the United Nations University. The foundation was established by the late Eisaku Sato, former Prime Minister of Japan, with the monetary award that he received with his 1974 Nobel Peace Prize.

The theme of the 2017 contest is:

“Demography of the world is experiencing a big structural change. While world total population is still growing, increasing number of countries are facing low fertility, rapid ageing and even depopulation. Some are concerned about possible aging before societies become rich. Others are seeing continuing explosion of unemployed youth. Even in rich countries social security system is under pressure and generational conflict is on the rise. How should the United Nations cope with such demographic changes? Discuss the potential role of the UN against this world phenomenon, ‘demographic tsunami’.”

Prize

• A grand prize (¥500,000), a second prize (¥200,000), and an honourable mention (¥50,000) will be awarded. The winners will be notified by September 2017.

Winners who are able to attend will receive their prizes at a ceremony to be held at UNU Headquarters in Tokyo in September 2017.

Eligibility

• Open to anyone with interest in both the United Nations University and the designated contest topic. There are no restrictions as to age, nationality, or profession;
• Essays may be written in either English (maximum 20 pages) or Japanese (maximum 30 pages). All essays should be typed on A4-size paper and include an abstract of up to 2 pages (English) or 3 pages (Japanese);
• Submissions must be original, unpublished papers, and must include reference notes and a bibliography if other authors’ works are cited. Reference notes are not counted in the page limits.

Application Process

• To enter the Contest, submit your essay along with a cover sheet listing your name, affiliation, age, gender, nationality, mailing address, telephone/fax number (if available), e-mail address, and a note on how you learned about the contest;
• Only essays submitted via email to [email protected] will be accepted. Please attach your cover sheet and essay as a single (one) document file, and use your full name as the document title;
• The deadline for submissions is midnight (Japan time) on March 31, 2017.

For more information, visit Eisaku Sato Essay Contest 2017.