Application Call – Essay Competition for students from grades 10, 11, and 1

GAP Institute in cooperation with the United States Embassy in Kosovo within the frame of the project “Women’s Structural Unemployment in Kosovo” organizes an essay competition for young Kosovars in an effort to use their creativity to promote an inclusive culture without gender stereotypes in employment.

General Topic: “Professional gender stereotypes”

Potential Topics:

 - “Tell of an event when a person works in a profession that in Kosovo is seen as inadequate for their gender. What challenges do they face, and how do we overcome such stereotypes?”

 - For example, when a woman works as a car mechanic, bus/taxi driver, or programmer - male-dominated professions, or when a man works as nurse or educator - female-dominated professions.

- Argue how you can be prejudiced against by choosing a profession dominated by men or women.

We encourage you to write your own topic with your own arguments about the challenges that you or your immediate circle faces, whereas the potential topics mentioned above should serve only as inspiration.

Stereotype-related publications as well as publications on gender differences in Kosovo can be found on GAP Institute’s website (http://www.institutigap.org/publikime).

Writing Guidelines:

- Only students from grades 10, 11, and 12 have the right to participate.

- The essay should be original and not copied.

- An essay can be written by up to two students.

- An essay can be no more than 750 words.

- If you use data in your essay, you need to properly cite the source where the data comes from.

Submission:

- The essay has to be written electronically (MS Word), and has to be sent to info@institutigap.org.

- In the email’s subject, please writeEssay on gender stereotypes, “Your Name” and “Your Surname”.

- The submission deadline is the 10th of December 2020. 

Essay Outline:

- Introduction

The introductory paragraph must contain the thesis or reason for writing the essay that lets the reader know what the topic of the essay is about. You must not use detailed data or facts that support your arguments in the introduction.

 - Body

The main body of the essay should contain all the data and/or facts used. Organize your ideas in as many paragraphs as you need to support your argument. If you have three arguments, then write three paragraphs - one for each. Rank your ideas according to their importance from the most important to the least.

- Conclusion

Do not add any new information to this part of the essay. Summarise your main points once again, while signalling the end of the essay or a “call to action” that is intended to persuade the reader.

Essay Evaluation:

GAP Institute will select an evaluation panel consisting of three researchers within the institute.

The panel will evaluate the essays in an independent manner, and select the winner based on the criteria mentioned below:

- Creativity (the essay contains creative and original ideas)

- Structure and comprehensiveness (the essay has to be well-explained, it has to be relevant to the main topic, and has to have a clear structure)

- Writing style, grammar, punctuation, and citation

Each member of the panel will read and evaluate the contents of the essay, and then score the essays, where the top 5 essays will win prizes.

The winners will be notified individually.

Prizes:

The writers of the winning essays will receive coupons for books

First place: coupon valued at 150 Euro and a certificate

Second place: coupon valued at 120 Euro and a certificate

Third place: coupon valued at 100 Euro and a certificate

Fourth place: coupon valued at 80 Euro and a certificate

Fifth place: coupon valued at 70 Euro and a certificate

For pdf file click here.