A large variety of activities for the International Year of Planet Earth (IYPE) are being developed by the 45 National IYPE Committees. On an international level, several major events are scheduled including the Global Launch Event of the International Year of Planet Earth, to be held in Paris at UNESCO headquarters on February 12^th and 13^th 2008. This Global Launch event includes discussions on four challenging topics:

1.      Earth’s natural resources and the sustainable development of our society

2.      Geohazards: Minimizing risk-maximizing awareness

3.      Mega cities and soil: How to feed 9 billion people in 2050?

4.      The future of Planet Earth.

During this Event a maximum of 350 students from all around the world will be invited to participate in the Global Launch Event. It is considered that the creativity and perception of these students will contribute to new perspectives on the major themes of the International Year of Planet Earth.

In order to bring about the same, the contest for students is being organized.

                        Rules and Guidelines IYPE Student Contest  

Who may participate?

All 18-22 year old students from around the world are invited to Participate in the *IYPE student Contest*.

How to Participate?

To enter the *IYPE student Contest*, all students are invited to approach one of the questions mentioned below in a creative way. This might vary from writing an essay, song or poem, producing a drawing or painting, making a short video film, a cartoon story, a photograph etc. Students are invited to focus their item of work on one or more of the following ten topics.

Topics

• Groundwater-towards sustainable use
• Hazards- minimizing risk, maximizing awareness
• Earth & Health- building a safer environment
• Climate- the ‘stone tape’
• Earth’s Resources-towards sustainable use
• Mega cities- going deeper, building safer
• Deep Earth- from crust to core
• Ocean-abyss of time
• Soil-Earth’s living skin
• Earth & Life- the origins of diversity

 We invite students to approach their preferred topic's from their own, personal perspective, driven by their individual cultural background and education. For more information about these topics go through the website http://www.esfs.org/downloads.htm and read or download the respective brochures from this web site.

Volume Requirement

Students should take good notice of the following volume requirements:

• Essay: maximum of 1600 words
• Poem/song: maximum of 400 words
• Drawing/ Painting: maximum A3
• Video message: maximum of 10 minutes

Evaluation

All work produced will be evaluated by the respective National IYPE Committees, and the five best per nation will then be selected as award-winners. Work produced by students in countries that do not yet have a National IYPE committee should be sent to the *IYPE Secretariat* <http://www.esfs.org/contact.htm> for evaluation by the IYPE’s Outreach Programme committee.

Language

Students are invited to produce their work in English of French.

 Acknowledgement and awards

Trip to Paris Dependent on the available funds, the best or all award-winning students, subject to a maximum 350, will be invited to take a four-day (11-14 February) trip to Paris, entirely free of charge, and to participate in the Global Launch Event of the International Year of Planet Earth on 12 and 13 February 2008.

Performance on stage

Four out of all award-winning students will be selected and invited to perform or display and comment upon their work on stage during the Global Launch Event as an introduction to each of the four debates

 Certificate

All Award-winning students will receive an Official Certificate.

Publicity

The works of all award-winning students will be posted on the website of the International Year of Planet Earth (www.yearofplanetearth.org). Also, a publication with a selection of the award- winning works will be published some time after the Global Launch Event and will be sent to all invited students.

Where to submit?

Chairman/General Secretary, NCSTC Network,

Address : E-56, 1st Floor, Samaspur Road, Pandav Nagar, Delhi - 110 091

 Regd. Office : Technology Bhawan, New Mehrauli Road, New Delhi - 110 016

 Ph.: 91-11-22799236, E-mail : ncstcnet@hotmail.com, Website : www.ncstc-network.org

How to submit?

 All works should be labeled as follows: Full Name, date of birth, and place of birth, email address (if applicable) together with a certification that the student is able to understand English or French from their principal. All documents should be written in Microsoft Office Word.

Deadline

Work must be submitted so as to ensure delivery to National IYPE Committees no later than December 1^st 2007.

Critical evaluation criteria include:

• Creativity and originality
• Vision
• Empathy with the topic
• Style of production (design, wording, etc.)

Ultimately on December 7^th 2007, National IYPE Committee will select the five best works (ranked 1-5, with 1 being the best) and inform the IYPE Secretariat of their decision by email (to iype.secretariat@ngu.no,iype.secretariat@ngu.no).