YUVA is pleased to announce the Mauritian Student Essay Contest 2017 on the next system. With a panel of respected politicians, activists and scholars as judges, we will award three first prizes for the best original essays by a secondary, an undergraduate, and a graduate. Three runner-up prizes will also be awarded. We aim to publish a compilation of the best essays submitted.
Deadline for essay submission: 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, 10 May 2017
Mode of submission: Post your essay to the following address through normal post —
YUVA Head Office
C/o Essay Writing Contest
204, Jade Court
Jummah Mosque Street
Port Louis
Do not forget to include your full name, educational institution you attend, the category you’re participating in (secondary/undergraduate/graduate), and your contact details in a separated sheet in your envelop.
Writing: 800 to 2000 words in English language
Note: This contest is reserved for citizens of Mauritius and strictly for students enrolled in secondary/undergraduate/graduate programme. Also, submissions should be individual; no group submission is encouraged.
Why this contest?
The current system is failing all around us. The economy is stagnating. The political system is stalemated. Communities are in decay. The lives of thousands are compromised by economic and social pain. Violence is endemic among individuals, communities, and nations. Civil liberties are eroding. Near-record numbers of citizens remain incarcerated. Underemployment, inequality, and ecological despoliation deepen day by day. The planet itself is threatened by climate change. A generation of young people expects to be worse off than their parents. The very idea of building a cooperative community of caring responsibility has faded from public discourse and common understanding.
Essay question:
But if you don’t like the present system…
what’s your alternative?
The time has come to think boldly about what is required to deal with the systemic difficulties we are facing. It is time to begin a real conversation about genuine alternatives. It is time to develop thoughtful, system-building answers to system-threatening challenges. It is time to debate what it will really take to move in a new direction capable of producing sustainable, lasting and more democratic social, economic, and ecological outcomes.
To this end we are launching the Mauritian Student Essay Contest 2017 on the next system. We’re throwing open the debate to a wide range of contributors willing to do the hard work of moving beyond critique to proposing solutions in the form of comprehensive alternative political-economic system models and approaches that are different in fundamental ways from the failed systems of the past and present. Such visions might include not only core economic institutions but also – as far as is possible – political structure, cultural dimensions, transition pathways, and so forth.
It’s time to talk about what’s next.
It’s time to talk about the next system.
Inspired from TheNextSystemProject, YUVA has launched this initiative in Mauritius.