COLIN RELF YOUNG VOICES AWARD

2nd Award Round Now Open!

See your essays or reports published online and win prizes with IFRTD’s new young people's writing competition.

The International Forum for Rural Transport and Development (IFRTD) is delighted to announce a new writing award for young people.

Colin Relf was a founding member of IFRTD and continued to support the network throughout his life. He was a pioneer in highlighting the fact that large-scale investments in transport infrastructure were not sufficiently improving the lives of rural people.

This award celebrates Colin’s interest in rural transport and his concern with promoting and motivating the people with whom he worked. It aims to encourage young people from developing countries to express, in writing, their innovative ideas, perspectives and approaches to rural transport and sustainable development.

	Award open to young people (35 years and under) from developing countries
	Prize awards of US$600 (1st), US$200 (2nd), US$200 (3rd)
	An opportunity to have your writing published by IFRTD
	Twice Yearly awards (June and December)
	Submissions welcome in English, French and Spanish

First Award Round:
First Award Round currently being judged - Winners will be announced at end of August 2008.

Second Award Round Question:
"Poor rural farmers are central to any solution to today's global food crisis and the long term problems of hunger and poverty"
Lennart Båge, President of IFAD, April 2008.
Discuss, with examples, the role that rural transport interventions can play in achieving sustainable agricultural development and poverty reduction.

Submission Deadline
31st December 2008

How to Enter
Entries should be sent for the attention of the Award Coordinator by post, fax or email to the address given below. Please remember to include your full name and contact details with your entry.

Juliette Harries
Colin Relf Award Coordinator:
IFRTD, 113 Spitfire Studios
63-71 Collier Street
London, N1 9BE
United Kingdom
Email: colinrelfaward@ifrtd.org
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7713 6699
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7713 8290

Simple Rules
1. One entry per person per award round.
2. Entries should be between 2000 and 2500 words. Entries exceeding this limit can be disqualified.
3. Entries can be submitted in English, French or Spanish
4. One photo illustrative of your entry can be included. Maximum size 500kb if sent electronically. Anything larger will be deleted
5. Entries must be received by the Award Coordinator by the 31st December 2008 (second award round).
6. One first prize winner will receive US$600 as a prize and their entry will be published online at www.ifrtd.org
7. One second prize winner and one third prize winner will receive US$200 each and their entry will be published online at www.ifrtd.org
8. Non-winning entries may also be published online at the discretion of the IFRTD Secretariat. IFRTD reserves the right to publish all entries received on any of the IFRTD websites. Full credit will be given to the author at all times.
9. Winners will be contacted directly and announcements will be made in the IFRTD e-newsletter and at www.ifrtd.org. IFRTD cannot enter into correspondence regarding the selection of winners.
10. Entrants must be 35 years of age or under and from a developing country.  IFRTD reserves the right to request proof of date of birth.

Judging and Criteria
Judging will be carried out by a panel of experts engaged with the IFRTD. The judges are looking for entries that:

* Answer the question (this is paramount)
* Advance current thinking on rural transport
* Focus on rural rather than urban transport
* Address issues of poverty reduction and sustainable development
* Take a practical/implementation oriented perspective
* Address the question from different contexts eg. local, national, regional, international.
* Are well structured with a clear argument.

Download Guidelines:
Word doc (328kb)
Acrobat pdf (172kb)