PRME and Oxford Brookes University writing competition 2017/18

The second annual responsible business and management writing competition 

The UKI PRME Regional Chapter and Oxford Brookes University seek through this competition to promote understanding of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Every year students of business and management conduct research and write up essays, reports and projects that shed light on responsible business and management practice, sustainability issues and business ethics dilemmas. Much insightful, innovative and challenging work is produced, but this is rarely read by more than a handful of people.

Simply submit the original writing, along with the given brief or topic, while making sure it meets the format requirements. Students or their tutors can make submissions.

Work can be entered in one of three categories:
1. ‘A’ level, Scottish Highers, Irish Leaving Certificate or equivalent students
2. Undergraduate Students
3. Postgraduate, Master’s level students
Students should be studying or have recently completed their studies at an educational institution based in the UK or Ireland. There is no limit on the number of entries that may be made by any one institution.

Students can be from any educational institution in the UK or Ireland and do not need to be from a PRME signatory.

The Judging Panel
A panel of academics from a range of PRME signatory business schools will shortlist and decide
on the winners.

Topic Areas
Entries are invited on a broad range of topics related to responsible business, management and leadership themes and consistent with PRME’s support for the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

An indicative but not exclusive list of possible topic areas includes: business ethics, environmentally sustainable organisational practice, CSR, environmental and development economics, social business models (e.g. social enterprises), social and environmental accounting, green supply chains, responsible marketing, business and human rights, ethical consumerism, social innovation, strategy, and responsible management education.
Entries should be accessible to a general business and management readership. Please contact fob-prme@brookes.ac.uk with questions about the suitability of a topic.

Judging Criteria
• Evidence of insight and intellectual challenge in relation to a topic relevant to the competition
• Evidence of engagement and student voice
• Quality of research (whether primary or secondary)
• Structure, logic and clarity of style

Publication and Prizes
A top prize (£300 cash), second prize (£150 cash) and third prize (£50 cash) will be awarded in each category. (Prize winners will be invited to receive their prize at the Annual Chapter Conference, for which the fee will be waived and a contribution made to travel expenses). The top 10 entries in each category will be published on the PRME Chapter UK and Ireland’s website.

Format Requirements
• A Microsoft Word document of no more than 3000 words excluding references, abstract and appendices (If the original work was longer, then edited versions suited to the competition requirements are also acceptable)
• Double spacing in 12 point Ariel font
• An abstract or executive summary (maximum 200 words)
• Details of the original topic or assignment brief to be included as appendix one
• Student (and where applicable, tutor) name, institution, level of course, title of work and email contact details on the title page. Entries not meeting the format requirements will not be considered.

Timeframe
Entries are invited from work originally submitted at any time during the calendar year 2017. This will enable students and tutors to retrospectively identify suitable work from the first half of 2017.
It will also allow tutors to incorporate the competition criteria into their assignments for the early part of the 2017/18 academic year.

Submission Deadline
Send Word document by email to fob-prme@brookes.ac.uk by 28 February 2018. All submissions will be acknowledged and winners will be announced by 30 April 2018.

Organisers
Oxford Brookes Business School (on behalf of the UK and Ireland PRME Chapter).
All enquiries: fob-prme@brookes.ac.uk