Jordanian student among winners of UN essay contest

AMMAN — A Jordanian university student was recently selected as one of the 60 winners of the UN 2016 Many Languages, One World international essay contest. 

The contest was organised by United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) and ELS Educational Services. 

According to a statement by UNAI, posted on its website, Diana Khasawneh, a student at Yarmouk University in Irbid, was among the winners for an essay she wrote in Russian.

The contest challenged college and university students around the world to write an essay examining global citizenship, cultural understanding and the role that multilingualism can play in fostering both, according to the UNAI statement.

The UNAI said that entrants submitted essays in one of the six official United Nations languages, which could be neither the first language nor the primary language of instruction of the entrant. The official languages of the United Nations are Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.

More than 9,000 individuals from 165 countries entered the contest, and submissions were shortlisted to 3,600, from which the 60 winners were selected.   

The winners came from 36 countries and 54 universities, according to ELS Educational Services. 

The winners were invited to attend the Many Languages, One World Global Youth Forum at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, which took place this month, according to the UNAI. The event included an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City and the opportunity to speak at the General Assembly of the United Nations. 

Students will present action plans related to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The UNAI is a global initiative that aligns institutions of higher education with the United Nations in furthering the realisation of the mandate of the organisation through activities and research in a shared culture of intellectual social responsibility, according to its website.