Young Students Trust For Sustainable Living Essay Competition 2024

Trust for Sustainable Living (TSL) Essay Competition to hear students’ thoughts on how nature may help their communities achieve the SDGs.

Students can approach the issue however they like. They can focus on one or more SDGs that are important to their community and investigate how nature can help.

They should use their own thoughts, viewpoints, and experiences to make their visions come alive.

About the 2024 International Student Essay Competition “How can nature help us achieve the UN SDGs in my community?”

We get clean air, water, food, shelter, medicine, and more from nature. Many feel nature can assist us address global issues like climate change, food and water security, biodiversity loss, disaster risk reduction, human health, social wellness, and sustainable economics.

In all formats, judges look for originality and innovation that can contribute to constructive national or international discourse. Unique and well-argued views score well.

Requirements:

• Students must create original material. A reference list should be supplied when relevant and not counted toward the word limit. Plagiarized essays will not be awarded.
• If students utilize AI to help them research, they should not use AI to write an essay and present it as their own. When used to help write essays, generative AI must be cited in the bibliography.

Minimum requirement to include in bibliography:

• Name and version of the generative AI system used; e.g. ChatGPT-3.5
• Publisher (company that made the AI system); e.g. OpenAI
• URL of the AI system.
• Brief description (single sentence) of context in which the tool was used.
• The prompt(s) used to generate a response in the AI system.

For example: I acknowledge the use of ChatGPT 3.5 (Open AI, https://chat.openai.com) to summarize my initial notes and to proofread my final draft.

Reward

• One overall Grand Prize Winner will receive a trophy and a cash prize of £1000 and £500 for their school,
• One Runner Up receiving a trophy and a cash prize of £500 and £250 for their school (cash prizes paid in local currency).
• All participating Teacher Champions, Essay Finalists & Honorable Mentions, and International Debate participants, will receive personalized e-certificates.\

Key dates

• 08 September 2023: TSL 2024 Essay Competition Launch – NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS. Registration open for Teacher Champions/Schools to participate in TSL 2024 Essay Competition.
• 18 January 2024: Final deadline for essay entries
• 14 March 2024: Announcement of International Essay Competition Finalists & Honorable Mentions on TSL websites.
• 18 April 2024: Top Ten Finalists from Primary and Secondary categories notified via Teacher Champion.
• 18-22 April: Invitations to participate in the International Student Debates sent to eligible students via their Teacher Champion.
• 14 March – 31 July 2024: Country Debates.
• Summer 2024: International Schools Debate & Awards (online) Dates TBC.

Method of Application

Interested and qualified applicants should apply using the link below:

The essay length varies by age as follows:

• Primary students (ages 7-11): 400 words
• Secondary and College students (ages 12-18): 600 words

Apply Here

Deadline: January 18, 2024