HD launches the 2019 edition of the Oslo Forum Peacewriter Prize

14.02.2019
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The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD) is launching the 2019 edition of the Oslo Forum Peacewriter Prize, an essay competition seeking bold and innovative responses to today’s peacemaking challenges. Submissions should take the form of an analytical essay which is relevant to the practice of conflict mediation.

The opportunity

  • Stake your credentials as an innovative thinker in the peacemaking field by presenting your solutions to challenges in the practice of conflict mediation;
  • Seize a unique chance for your cutting-edge thinking to be discussed by leading conflict mediators at the 2019 Oslo Forum, and to influence a wider audience via the online publication of your essay after the event;
  • Win 1,000 Swiss Francs in prize money.

The background

Is the increasingly atomised and internationalised nature of conflicts in places such as Syria, Yemen and Libya, marking the end of comprehensive peace and power-sharing agreements such as those negotiated in the 1990s?

What opportunities and challenges does this pose for peacemakers? From mediating local to purely technical agreements or using regional platforms to de-escalate conflict, what options do mediators have to address today’s peacemaking challenges?

The Oslo Forum Peacewriter Prize will reward one forward-looking essay which can contribute to this reflection.

The winning entry will be published as part of the briefing material for participants attending the 2019 edition of the Oslo Forum in Norway in June.

The Oslo Forum is the world’s leading event for conflict mediators, high-level decision-makers and key peace process actors. Previous participants have included António Guterres, Federica Mogherini, Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter, Catherine Ashton, Juan Manuel Santos, John Kerry, Fatou Bensouda, Thabo Mbeki and many others.

Criteria for entry:

  • Submissions should take the form of an essay that is tailored to an audience of high-level mediation practitioners;
  • Essays should focus on practical approaches to specific mediation challenges;
  • Submissions must be original and cannot have been published elsewhere;
  • Joint submissions are acceptable. The winning entry can be published pseudonymously on request;
  • The essay’s length must be a maximum of 2000 words;
  • Submissions must be accompanied by:
    • A short paragraph (of no more than 200 words) summarising the submission and explaining how it is an innovative contribution to the peacemaking field;
    • A biography (of no more than 100 words) of the entrant(s);
    • All sources must be cited and referenced in the respective part of the essay;
    • All entrants must be aged 18 or over.

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