Institute of Water Policy Essay Writing Competition 2022

As part of the initiative to build the Lee Kuan Yew School Public Policy Institute for the Environment and Sustainability (PPIES), the Institute of Water Policy (the ‘Organiser’) invites submissions of an essay for the LKYSPP ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION.  This competition seeks to encourage action oriented, analytical work on climate change by students during their graduate studies at the School. With this broad objective in mind, the Institute is proposing an annual award for a short essay on the subject.

Background

• The essay writing competition is a part of the initiative to build the “Lee Kuan Yew School’s Public Policy Institute for the Environment and Sustainability” (PPIES).
• The Institute of Water Policy (IWP) is a research institute at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore, which is recognised as the world’s number one university for water research.
• Within the scope of policy practice, the essay would be a proposal to take forward an idea on combatting climate change that the candidate personally feels passionate about and would like to be involved in at the School and beyond. The award, in turn, would be intended to serve as seed money that can be applied towards getting the proposal off the ground.

Eligibility

• Currently enrolled postgraduate students (Masters/PhD) at the National University of Singapore.
• The Organiser reserves the sole and absolute discretion to exclude or disqualify any Participant/s and/or entry from the Competition.

Submission Requirements

• The essay should concern a real-life, policy-relevant climate issue in Asia, and be themed on IWP’s/ PPIES’s research pillar of climate change.
• The essay must be written in English and be an original piece that has not been submitted elsewhere.
• The essay study should:
1. not exceed 1,000 words (in A4 pages, single-spaced, excluding Exhibits/Annexes).
2. be accompanied by a short Abstract (100 words Max—in addition to the 1,000 word limit).
3. be appended with the standard cover page with applicant’s details duly completed.
4. be appropriately cited and formatted using the Chicago Manual of Style
• All essay entries must be submitted in Microsoft Word format, via email, to the Organiser (iwpcontest@nus.edu.sg) by April 30th, 2022* (late entries will not be accepted).

Due to a technical glitch on opening the original announcement, the submission deadline is now extended to 30 April 2022.

Prizes  

• SGD 2,500 for the top entry.    

Competition Timeline

Judging Criteria

The competition judges, consisting of a committee of three faculty members) (to be announced) will evaluate the essays on the following criteria with equal weightage.

Note: The judges’ decision shall be final, and no correspondence will be entertained regarding this decision.

Criteria	Considerations
Essay topic selection	Does the essay concern a policy-relevant, climate change issue in Asia?
Application possibilities	Does the essay offer possibilities for application at a personal or community or societal level?
Attribution to relevant work	Does the essay attribute PPIES, IWP, LKSPP, NUS work of relevance to exploit synergies?
Presentation of essay	Is the essay’s narrative organized coherently and clearly? Does the essay exhibit critical thinking? Is (credible) supporting data used and cited?

Intellectual Property

• The Participant/s retain/s full copyright of the essay entered for the Competition.
• The Organiser reserves the right to use, reproduce, publish, print, edit and distribute any essay submitted for the Competition without obtaining further prior permission and payment of any fees or royalty to the Participant/s.
• Where any essay of a Participant/s is published by the Organiser, the Participant/s will be credited.
• The Organiser reserves the right to use, reproduce, publish, print, edit and distribute the names of the winning participants and photographs of any event associated with the Competition.

Essay Preparation and Resources

• In preparing your essay submissions, you may explore any credible and reputable public source of information, such as books or articles, search libraries, use the internet, and so forth.
• For any queries and additional information, please contact iwpcontest@nus.edu.sg