The Institute of Business Ethics has opened applications for their annual student essay competition, with a first prize of £1000. The IBE Student Essay Competition seeks to encourage ethical sensitivity and new approaches to corporate responsibility from students who may be the next generation of business leaders. Philippa Foster Back CBE, IBE’s Director said: “It is more important than ever that the academic experience of the business leaders of tomorrow includes the chance to consider the relevance and application of ethical values to business behavior. The IBE Student Essay Competition offers students the chance to consider these issues, and university departments of all disciplines to engage with business ethics issues in their teaching.”
The word limit for the competition is 3,000. The essays or coursework submitted may cover any business ethics topic and should be the current work of the student. Previous winners have tackled topics which have ranged from financial services, marketing, human rights, and executive pay to social media and fashion. There are two categories, Undergraduate and Postgraduate. The total prize fund for the competition is £3500, thanks to a donation from the Gordon Cook Foundation. The competition is open to all students studying at UK universities. The deadline for submissions is 30 June 2015.
Essays will be judged using the following criteria:
• Topicality – the extent to which the topic of the essay is subject to contemporary debate and relevance to ethical business practice.
• Clarity of expression – the extent to which the essay is fluently written in accessible language, is coherently structured and uses a high standard of referencing.
• Analysis ‐ the extent to which the essay presents clear, well organised and well-reasoned argument, judgment and opinion or conclusion, with relevant evidence, analysis, illustration, interpretation, evaluation, or application.
• Use of theory and research – the extent to which the essay draws on appropriate academic literature and other data and relates it to the topic; and sets out and correctly employs relevant concepts.
• Application to practice – the extent to which the essay addresses real‐world challenges in business ethics and makes a contribution to the development of thinking and practice.
The Lead Academic, Professor Geoff Moore, Professor of Business Ethics, Durham University will co‐ordinate the judging process, with first stage and final stage judges made up of academics, business leaders and any competition sponsors.
Students need to enter their submissions electronically to competition@ibe.org.uk with the cover page of the competition, which may be downloaded from http://www.ibe.org.uk/student-essay-competition/74/53. Winners will be notified by 30th September 2015.
