1
The Leadership Prize: APPLICATION
Applications will be due on October 20th, 2017 for projects that will be completed by the end of the spring 2018 semester.
- Single-spaced
- 12 pt. Times New Roman font
- 1-inch margins and paginated
- Components set forth with headings and subheadings in sequential order as listed below
The formatting directions set forth here help the Committee in its efforts to evaluate proposals fairly and based solely on the merits of their contents. Deviations from these format guidelines will have a negative impact on your application.
Selection Criteria
A selection committee will evaluate all applications to assess the appropriateness of their topics, the quality of their proposed plans, and their feasibility given time and resource constraints. The following criteria are designed to guide their evaluation, but not to be so restrictive as to constrain creative, original, or diverse proposals. Overarching criteria include:
- Quality and significance of the issue: The application will present a plan to understand and address important societal issues that benefit from new study. These are not issues whose solution is obvious, but simply lack the commitment of resources. Leadership Prize projects instead provide support for new examinations of issues that may illuminate novel solutions.
- Quality of intellectual examination of the problem: The application reflects a significant depth of understanding of the problem, argues persuasively why this problem is important, and explores why its solution is worthy of effort. The application also articulates how the project properly balances problem significance with its potential for solution and reflects a deep and sophisticated knowledge of multiple understandings of leadership.
- Focused plan of study: The application describes an appropriately designed and focused plan of study. This plan includes descriptions of potential supporting educational activities (workshops, conferences, study abroad, and course work) and leadership development activities.
- Project feasibility and budget: The application offers an appropriately detailed accounting of the resources needed to complete the project and an accounting of the potential ways in which funds will be spent.
Part I: Preliminary Information
Title: Please provide a title that clearly communicates the main focus of the work you are proposing to complete.
Names: Your full name followed in parentheses with your mentor’s name (Mentor:___).
Abstract: In no more than 150 words, please provide an abstract of what you propose to study and seek to solve. A good abstract should offer a concise summary of the problem you are seeking to address, its significance, and your motivation for proposing it as the focus of your project.
Part II: Problem Description and Personal Statement
This section will constitute the core of the application. This section should be no longer than 3 - 4 pages (about 1500 words).
1.Problem Description: Please offer a detailed description of the problem, how the problem significantly affects both individuals and institutions, and how past efforts to solve it have not been effective. Make the case that this problem is potent enough to deserve concentrated efforts to solve it. Further, applicants should make clear how the problem is not one with such clear causes or obvious solutions that further study is not warranted. Instead, the problem is very complex and efforts to address this problem can and should be informed by new study. Since a significant amount of time and effort in the project is dedicated to intellectual inquiry, the problem must be complex enough to require in-depth examination.
2.Personal Background and Motivation: Please describe why this problem and its solution are important to you and why you are well-positioned to develop and implement its solution. In this section, please also describe how your leadership skills and experiences make it likely you will be successful in implementing your solution.
Part III: Plan for Intellectual Inquiry
This section will describe your plan for studying the problem in-depth and for developing your leadership approaches that will forward problem solution. This section should be no longer than 3 pages (about 1200 words).
We understand that applicants should not be able to articulate detailed solutions or implementation plans at this point in their project. Doing so would suggest that much of the project is already completed or that solutions have emerged without significant intellectual inquiry required for responsible efforts. However, we expect applicants to describe how they will seek information on the problem and how they will study the ways that leaders succeed in developing and implementing solutions. Therefore, for this section, please describe your plans for researching the nature, causes, and consequences of the problem (remember, we are very interested in how you may approach the problem from different and interesting perspectives).
Include key sources of information on the problem; descriptions of activities that relate directly to problem research (travel, conferences, course work); and, activities related to research on leadership and leadership development (leadership research symposia, development workshops, coursework). Other supporting activities that loosely relate to problem research yet may help applicants broaden their perspectives and experiences may also be included (study abroad, internships, conferences).
Part IV: Feasibility, Budget and Timeline
Feasibility statement: In no more than 2 pages, (1000 words), please offer an explicit defense of the feasibility of the project, including an explanation of how and why the central problem could be addressed in the timeframe of the project. Please argue how the resources you need will be available within the Prize’s budgeted amounts and how you will secure the needed knowledge, skill sets, materials, equipment, and travel. The application should also include a proposed budget based on the $10,000 prize amount and the requirements that a) no more than $6700 may be allocated for tuition; and, b) no more than $5000 total may be spent during the applicant’s junior year.
Timeline: In table format, please provide your tentative overview of major stepsinvolved in completing your proposed work. Some semesters will likely involve more activities than others. A timeline for the various stages involved in such an undertaking is beneficial to your planning and to the committee’s review.
Part V: List of sources
Please provide full bibliographic information for all supporting work that you cited in your narrative, using the style conventions relevant to your discipline.
Part VI: Personal Information, Permission and Signatures
Please provide the information indicated below. In addition, please provide an image of your unofficial transcript, listing all the classes you have taken at Elon and the grades you have received in those classes (a screenshot from OnTrack will suffice). In submitting an application, you hereby give consent to the selection committee (1) to retrieve your Elon transcript to verify you cumulative GPA and (2) to check with the judicial hearing officer concerning any significant history of violations of the academic and social honor codes.
Name:______Datatel ID #: ______
Major(s): ______Minor(s): ______
Local Address (include city, state, zip): ______
______
Primary telephone: ______Elon email: ______
Started at Elon [mm/yyyy]: ______Expected Graduation [mm/yyyy]: ______
The student’s typed name below serves as his/her electronic signature and indicates that the information contained in the application is accurate, and reflects his or her best faith plans for intellectual/creative activities during the remaining 1.5 years at Elon. Applicant hereby gives the Selection Committee permission to obtain a copy of her or his current transcript and summary of any judicial system records concerning Honor Code violations.
(Applicant’s “signature”) Date
The faculty/staff mentor’s typed name below serves as his/her electronic signature and indicates support of the proposal described herein and willingness to serve as an ongoing mentor to the applicant.
(Mentor’s “signature”) Date