GBSN and the Victoria Forum partnered to deliver a student essay contest in conjunction with the Victoria Forum 2022. Students from across the globe were invited to participate in the inaugural Bridging Divides Essay Contest. The essay contest searched for original, unpublished essays that share experiences and perspectives that inspire efforts to bridge existing divides.
On Monday, August 29th, we were pleased to announce the winning Top 3 essay submissions, which were reviewed carefully by our Final Judging Panel. The Panel featured GBSN CEO Dan LeClair, who was greatly impressed with the authors’ impactful voices. “With such a wide variety of concepts, it was truly an engaging conversation with all of these students,” said LeClair. “They are going to take over and really make a change!”
“As a Judge, I find it truly interesting to read all the essays,” claimed Divya Singhal. “Reading your essays has given me hope and positivity that we can bridge any kind of divide.”
Finalists also shared complimentary remarks of the contest, including the structured feedback, elite judging Panel, and its overall commitment to support student ideas. “What an honor to be a part of the finalists and then to come in at second place, said Finalist Mufudzi Chihambakwe from the University of Cape Town in South Africa. “I am blown away by the calibre of discussions that were shared by the other authors so I am really looking forward to the final publication. Thank you for the feedback form as well, it was lovely to see the judge’s feedback. Thanks for all you do in making cool things like this happen.”
Top 3 Essays
In 1st Place…
“Personalized Experiences and Future Outlook of a Growing Problem in the Digital Age”
Anne Venema & Andrew Sahaydak
Johannes Kepler University Linz & University of Victoria
Austria & Canada
In 2nd Place…
“Of Highways and Byways- How People Have Used Resources to Divide Africa”
Mufudzi Chihambakwe
University of Cape Town
South Africa
In 3rd Place…
“The Plight of Hijab-Wearing Women”
Zainab Siddiqi
Institute of Business Administration, Karachi
Pakistan
Big congratulations to our Finalists and the 1st Place Winner, The A Team: Exploring Social Divides Through International Perspectives. We are in the process of creating a collaborative report featuring the Top 3 essays, which will be shared across our network.
More Student Opportunities
This Fall, GBSN is offering the Social Logistics Challenge, a unique opportunity for business students to truly interact with other disciplines and use one another’s expertise to create business solutions with a focus on social responsibility and awareness. Through this Challenge, students will learn that social logistics aims to introduce a social (human) factor in the systems and to apply logistic principles and methods in solving the problems of society.
GBSN hopes to leverage the strengths of Social Logistics, which includes the traditional supply chain knowledge and humanitarian logistics, while also incorporating communication, programming, and technology. The Social Logistics Challenge will continue the tradition of a team-based virtual competition, which encourages cross-disciplinary and multi-university collaboration.
Register and submit a project by October 20th!