THE DOORS TO DIPLOMACY AWARD COMPETITION 2008

The U. S. Department of State is sponsoring the "Doors to Diplomacy" educational challenge - to encourage middle school and high school students around the world to produce web projects that teach others about the importance of international affairs and diplomacy.

Collaborative Web Project Description

Doors to Diplomacy is a collaborative project, where small teams are formed consisting of two to four student members and up to two adult "coaches." Student team members must be between the ages of twelve and nineteen years. An adult coach or school administrator must register your team's intent to participate by the registration deadline - Thursday, 28 February, '08. Teams must have between two and four student members, and one or two adult coaches. Please ensure that your team has at least two student members and no more than four. Research can be conducted both online and offline, and then the findings are assembled to produce an educational web project.  Web projects must be submitted in English in only one out of eight categories as follows:

Leadership Traits
Produce a website that teaches about the skills, traits, and characteristics which make an individual a great world leader

Safety and Security
Produce a website that raises awareness about peacekeeping efforts, combating terrorism, and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction

Peace and Democracy: Social Issues
Produce a website that teaches about international human rights, fair elections and judicial reform

History of Foreign Relations
Produce a website that teaches about past foreign policy initiatives and significant historical events in diplomacy

Business, Trade, and Economics
Produce a website that teaches how multi-national investment and trade promotes better relations and works to improve the overall welfare of the global population  

Health and Environmental Awareness
Produce a website that teaches about how countries can work together to address health and environmental issues (i.e. to protect natural resources, eliminate world hunger, promote better healthcare access, etc.)

Science and Technology
Produce a website that teaches about science and technology issues which have varied national perspectives (i.e. the ethics of cloning, genetically modified crops, international space collaboration, etc.)

Arts and Culture
Produce a website that teaches how countries and regions can build better relationships through the sharing and promoting of international arts and culture

Projects will be evaluated in a two-stage process.

• Stage One: Peer Review
Between the peer review dates each participating team must review four other projects. The scores obtained from these reviews will be averaged and used to rank each project in each category. Additional reviews may be solicited from the Internet community.

• Stage Two: International Judges
The top-ranked Web projects will be further reviewed by a panel of "distinguished judges." This panel will determine the final ranking. Distinguished judges will use the same evaluation rubric used in the Peer Review process.

Awards
Each student team member of the winning “Doors to Diplomacy” Award team receives a $2,000 scholarship, and the winning coaches’ schools each receive a $500 cash award.

Each team who submits a completed project receives a special Doors to Diplomacy certificate. Winners are announced in May.

How to Register
Teams should register as soon possible, in order to access their customized Checklist. Once you have registered, you will be sent periodic Doors to Diplomacy news updates.

For further details about registration, project submission deadlines, eligibility, web project categories and components, etc. please visit: http://globalschoolnet.org/gsndoors/