Media Center

Press Release

STUDENTS WRITE WINNING ESSAYS ON THE FOURTH SUMMIT OF THE AMERICAS

Five university students from around the hemisphere have won an essay contest on the theme of the Fourth Summit of the Americas and will have the opportunity to attend the Meeting of Heads of State and Government in Mar del Plata, Argentina, November 4-5.

The contest was organized by the Organization of American States (OAS), through the Summits of the Americas Secretariat, to encourage youth to reflect on the region’s challenges and develop concrete proposals to address them. The winning essays, published on the Web (www.summitsoftheamericas.org), focus on the central theme of the Fourth Summit: “Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance.”

Luis Alberto Rodríguez, who heads the OAS Summits of the Americas Secretariat, underscored the seriousness evident in the 88 essays submitted by students from 22 OAS member countries. “We thank all the participants for their interest, their creative ideas and their willingness to contribute to the future of their countries and of the region,” he said.

The winners, who come from different sub-regions in the hemisphere, are as follows:
Mercosur: Sofía Donoso Knaudt (Chile), Universidad de Chile, “Creating Quality Work: An Opportunity to Reinforce Democratic Governance in Latin America”;
Caribbean: Lesley-Ann Dixon (Jamaica), University of the West Indies, “Lessons Based on Intra and Extra Regional Experiences”;
Central America, Dominican Republic and Mexico: Daniel Arturo Abreu Mejía (Dominican Republic), Universidad Católica de Santo Domingo, “Honorable, Productive Employment to Confront Poverty and Inequality in Latin America”;
North America: Matthew Bird (United States), University of Chicago, “The Art of Harvesting Local Solutions to Shared Problems in the Americas”;
Andean Region: Xavier Flores Aguirre (Ecuador), Universidad Católica de Santiago: “Creating Jobs to Fight Poverty and Strengthen Democratic Governance.”

Submissions were evaluated based on a set of criteria, including structure, clear exposition, critical thinking and understanding of the subject matter. Members of the contest jury were: Richard Feinberg, APEC Study Center; Patricia Gudiño, Colegio de las Américas (COLAM); Andrew Downes, University of the West Indies, Barbados; Nevile Duncan, University of the West Indies, Jamaica; Andrés Stambouli, Universidad Metropolitana, Venezuela; Gabriel Murillo, Universidad de los Andes, Colombia; Norberto Consani, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina; Francisco Rojas Aravena, Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO); Isidro Morales, Universidad de las Américas, México; Victor Valle, The University for Peace, Costa Rica.

Reference: E-245/05