The Cheyney Ryan Peace and Conflict Studies Essay Contest 2009/2010

About the Essay Contest

The Cheyney Ryan Peace and Conflict Studies Essay Contest is an annual competition sponsored by the Master's degree program in Conflict and Dispute Resolution at the University of Oregon. It seeks to provide an opportunity for undergraduate students internationally to consider and write about issues related to conflict and its resolution.

Cheyney Ryan, in whose honor the contest is named, is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Oregon who was instrumental in establishing the Conflict and Dispute Resolution Master's degree program. Cheyney has devoted much of his career to the study of war and peace, justice and rights, and conflict and its resolution. Among many other activities, Cheyney chaired the student/faculty committee that created the University of Oregon Peace Studies Program. He has been stalwart in his promotion of peace and conflict studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Each year, a jury of faculty at the University will select three essays from those submitted by the December 15th deadline. The author of each of these three essays will receive a $500 prize and the three essays will be published on the Master's degree program web site, on the premier conflict resolution web site Mediate.com, and possibly elsewhere.

Prizes

$500 each to the three authors whose essays are selected by the judges.

Eligbility

Full-time undergraduate students worldwide from any field of study.

2009/2010 Essay Topic

We know that psychological and social well-being are tied in significant ways to our sense of belonging, and that a key part of our identity is based on the groups to which we belong - our family, our community, our nation, our ethnic group, etc. We also see how our national, ethnic, or religious identities can be the source of much destructive conflict.

How can we reconcile this dilemma? How do we encourage the positive elements of group identity and, at the same time, avoid the perils of identity affiliations?

Submission deadline

Dec. 15th, 2009, 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time

Submission Guidelines

1. Maximum length 2500 words, written in English. There is no minimum length and no penalty for brevity.

2. Essays must be submitted electronically as an email attachment to Ellen Laing at laing@uoregon.edu, in MS Word or PDF format.

3. Each page must be double-spaced, written in Times New Roman, font size 12, and have a page number and header with essay title only (no author name or other identifying information on the essay pages). Footnotes should be single-spaced. Footnotes do not count towards the 2500-word limit. All margins should be 1" (approximately 2.5 cm) each.

4. Each essay must be accompanied by a cover page with:

• Essay title
• author name
• author's university
• mailing address
• telephone number
• academic email address
• name, phone number and email address of someone we may contact at the university (Faculty member, Department Chair, or registrar) to verify that the author is enrolled as a full-time student.

Other rules

Submissions must not have been previously published or submitted to another essay contest.

Submissions must be the work of the undergraduate author. Submissions may undergo a thorough review for plagiarism and may be disqualified if any evidence of plagiarism is found.

By entering the essay competition, authors give their permission for their essay to be published in whole or in part on web sites or in printed publications with complete attribution to the author.

Originals will not be returned.

Multiple submissions by the same author are permitted. Any one author will only be eligible for one prize.

Failure to follow any of the contest rules may lead to disqualification from the contest.

Authors will receive a confirmation of receipt via e-mail when the submitted essay is received.

The Master's degree program reserves the right to give prizes to fewer than three or to none of the submissions in the event that the submitted essays presented do not meet, in the opinion of the judges, the minimum requirements.

Judges decisions are final.

Evaluation Criteria
Writing quality
Quality and originality of ideas
Passion and engagement with the subject
Relevance of content to the annual contest topic

Contest results will be announced on March 1st, 2010

Questions can be sent to Ellen at laing@uoregon.edu