Global Debate and Public Policy Challenge

The Open Societies Foundations, IDEA, European Council on Foreign Relations and the Central European University brings you the Global Debate and Public Policy Challenge! It's a debate tournament, with a public policy focus. Up for grabs (other than the educational benefits of participating, fun, networking etc) are 50 paid for invites to attend the Global Debate and Public Policy Forum (at CEU, Budapest)  and five US$10,000 scholarships for graduate school (also convertible into public policy grants for a year of field work) in the field of public policy - (details available here http://www.gdppc.org/rules-and-tcs/)

"The Global Debate and Public Policy Challenge offers undergraduates across disciplines and continents an opportunity to explore issues of global importance from different points of view."

The topic for the 2011-2012 Challenge is: “Securing Liberty:  Balancing Security and Freedom”.

What you have to do (http://www.gdppc.org/overview-of-tasks/)

"This year’s Challenge consists of four tasks, each drawing participants closer and closer to developing fully fledged public policy briefs, with the final task giving an opportunity to enhance public policy advocacy skills.  The details of second task will be made available as results of the first task are announced.  The first task is already available on the Challenge website.

Any undergraduate student from any discipline from any part of the globe is able to take part (register here) and submit a paper for the first task.  From the submissions on the first round up to 200 participants will be selected to proceed to the second round and from those up to 100 participants will be invited to proceed to the third round.  From the participants in the third, penultimate round, up to 50 finalists will win trips to the Global Debate and Public Policy Forum to be held at the Central European University, in Budapest, where the final round of the Challenge will take place.

Each task will be explained in detail with clear criteria for completion.  Those for whom English is not their mother tongue should not be discouraged from participating, as submitted papers will be judged on the participant’s ability to develop evidenced to support his or her arguments."

Challenge Tasks	Announcement Date	Submission Date	Max Number of Participants
Task 1Policy position paper	09/05/11	11/18/11
Task 2 Alternate Position paper (advocating for an alternative option)	12/16/11	02/10/12	200
Task 3 Policy Brief targeting a global policy audience	03/02/12	04/16/12	100
Task 4 Global Debate and Public Policy Forum	05/04/12	Event at CEU, Budapest, June 2012	50 with 5 winners selected

Visit http://www.gdppc.org/ for more information or to register now!

Call for Host of 2012 IDEA China Open Debate Tournament

IDEA would like to remind everyone about the open call to host the 3rd annual IDEA China Open Debate Tournament in 2012. Previously Xi'an Jiaotong University (2010) and Northeast University of Qinghuandao (2011) graciously served as hosts for the tournament. As the tournament has grown in size and popularity, IDEA has been approached by various schools wishing to host the tournament going forward. In order to choose among these offers fairly, we feel that it is important to have an open bidding process.

We therefore request that any school interested in hosting the 2012 IDEA China Open Debate Tournament submit the following information to this year's tournament director, Robert Trapp (trapp@willamette.edu ) and the executive director of IDEA-US, Alex Dukalskis (adukalskis@idebate.org ):

1. A letter of application from the applicant detailing the reasons for wishing to host the tournament, the facilities available for the tournament, and tentative budget.

2. The name, background and qualifications of the person who will serve as Tournament Host.

3. A letter of support from the university from a person at least as high-ranking as a dean.

Please submit by email to Robert and Alex. We are extending the deadline to September 15, 2011. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

International Public Policy Forum

The International Public Policy Forum, co-sponsored by Bickel and Brewer, and the NYU Law school,. ss a free competition open to high school students from anywhere in the world, with over $50,000 in prize money for the winners. Additionally, teams advancing to the "elite 8" (octofinalis) win an all-expense paid trip to New York City to compete in oral arguments.

This year's topic has just been announced- Resolved: Human missions should be a significant focus of space exploration. Teams can register at www.bickelbrewer.com/ippf. Teams qualify by writing an essay in proposition or opposition to the motion and must be submitted to ippf@bickelbrewer.com by October 26, 2011.

The competition is a great opportunity for high schools to get to compete on an international level, especially those which don't have budgets to travel.