Write and Win ¥1,000,000 - Japan Foreign Trade Council (JFTC) Essay Competition 2017

JFTC is sponsoring JFTC Essay Competition 2017 to encourage students, young researchers and business people to express their opinions on matters of national and international importance.

Essay Topic

The Ideal Future Free Trade System

– Tasks and Solutions –

Free trade aims to achieve economic development by promoting free transactions of goods and services in a global economy which is becoming increasingly interdependent. On the other hand, protectionist movements also have been emerging, criticizing free trade for giving rise to increases in economic disparity and unemployment. As a result, growing arguments are being made on both sides for the advantages and disadvantages of a free trade system.

What advantages are people around the world gaining through free trade, and, to the contrary, what are the disadvantages?
What kinds of measures are conceivable in order to further increase the advantages while reducing the disadvantages?
In addition, what should “those concerned” do in order to achieve these measures?

In addition to your responses to these questions, please present your argument for what an ideal free trade system should look like in the future. In particular, essays which include analyses and suggestions about the part played by shosha companies are welcome.

Prize

One Grand Prize of ¥1,000,000
Three Prizes for Excellence of ¥200,000 each

The award winners from abroad will be provided with a round-trip air ticket to Tokyo, Japan to attend the award ceremony to be held on January 5, 2018.

Qualification

Anyone can apply for the essay competition, regardless of nationality or age.

Language

English (2,000-4,000 words) or Japanese (5,000-10,000 characters). Each essay MUST BE accompanied by an essay summary of no more than 400words in English/ 1,000 Japanese characters.

* One diagram or chart is counted as 200 words. If the number of the words, including diagram or charts, is less than half of 4,000 words or more than the limitation, such work could be disqualified.

Deadline

September 8, 2017 at 24:00 (JST)
We CANNOT accept any essays after this time. The entry page will be really congested at around the deadline time. It is recommended to apply earlier to avoid technical difficulty accessing the page.

Terms of Reference

Essays must be submitted in the specified format sheet downloaded from our website. Unless both essay title and summary are presented, such application shall be deemed incomplete and will NOT be evaluated. Besides, hand-written documents, documents delivered by postal service, documents with word number less than half of 4,000 words and beyond the limitation, and PDF-formatted documents, are NOT evaluated.　When a part of the documents were copied or used by other work with no citation, such essays shall be disqualified.
NO previously published materials will be accepted. All rights to the award-winning essays shall be the exclusive property of JFTC.
All submissions must be original and should be submitted with an entry form completely filled out.
When you indicate sources cited, please put them concisely. Submitted work will not be returned.
Essays developed by teams will be accepted under the name of the representative of the team. Please be noted that when an essay developed by a team were awarded, only the representative of the team would be invited. When the result of the evaluation is announced, the name of the team is publicized.

Announcement

Award winners will be publicly announced on December 8, 2017.
The award winners from abroad will be provided with a round trip air ticket to Tokyo, Japan to attend the award ceremony to be held on January 5, 2018.

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About the Author

Aptly described by the Independent newspaper as “a man of many parts”, Prof. Mahfouz A. Adedimeji is a Fulbright scholar, interdisciplinary researcher, university don, public affairs analyst, communication consultant, peace advocate, interfaith worker and public intellectual. He obtained his academic degrees from the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, where he was a Professor of English (Pragmatics and Applied Linguistics) before his appointment as Vice Chancellor as the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Ahman Patigi, Nigeria, in February 2021. He started his academic career in 2000 at Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, shortly after which he joined the services of his alma mater, the University of Ilorin. A man of eclectic academic background, Prof. Adedimeji was educated in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Markaz Shabaabil Islam, Iwo, Osun State and Markaz Ta’aleemil Araby, Agege, Lagos. He obtained advanced training in Education, Political Science, Communication and Media, Research and Peace Studies at the National Universities Commission’s (NUC) Virtual Institute for Higher Education Pedagogy (VIHEP); the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Virtual Institute for Higher Education in Africa (VIHEAF); Governors State University, University Park, Illinois, USA; University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana; and Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Notre Dame University, South Bend, Indiana, USA. Apart from serving as a cultural ambassador to the US under the auspices of the Institute of International Education (IIE), New York, Prof. Adedimeji had won or co-won the research and conference awards/grants of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) of the National Research Council, Nigeria, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) and the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU). He has written extensively for a wide range of newspapers and periodicals including “Unilorin Bulletin”, “Unilorin Watch”, “DeLight”, “National Pilot”, “Daily Independent”, “Daily Newswatch”, “New York Parrot” and “New Telegraph”, among others. A versatile academic and award-winning scholar, Prof. Adedimeji has attended academic conferences and undertaken research in several universities across Nigeria as well as in Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malaysia, Sierra Leone, Australia, France and United States of America, among others. His hundreds of academic, Islamic and general/opinion articles have been published across outlets in Nigeria and beyond. He has also facilitated and participated in seminars and workshops both nationally and internationally. A former Head of the Directorate of Corporate Affairs of the University of Ilorin, Prof. Adedimeji was the Director of the Centre for Centre for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ilorin, between 2013 and 2017. Apart from serving as Rapporteur-General to the Presidential Committee that organised the 2017 Federal Executive Council’s Retreat on Education in Nigeria, he has consulted for the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), Nigeria Inter-religious Council (NIREC), the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence and Corps (NSCDC) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). For years, he was a Coordinator and Facilitator of the Executive Management Course of the Nigerian Army Education Corps (NAEC) and Editor-in-Chief of the “Journal of Peace, Security and Development”, University of Ilorin. He has also served as a resource person to agencies like the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), National Orientation Agency (NOA), National Institute for Security Studies as well as a number of Civil Society Organisations. He is a recipient of several awards and honours including those of the International Chartered World Learned Society, American Biographical Institute, National Congress of Nigerian Students (NACONS), Union of Campus Journalists, University of Ilorin, the Nigerian Army Education Corps, Postgraduate Students Association, UNILORIN, Muslim Students Society of Nigeria (MSSN), UNILORIN, Students’ Union, UNILORIN, and National Association of Osun State Students (NAOSS), just to mention a few. A Fellow of bodies like the International Association of Research Scholars and Administrators (FIARSA), Institute of Corporate Administration, Nigeria, (FICAN), Society for Peace Studies and Practice (fspsp) and World Institute for Peace (FWIP) , Prof. Adedimeji is a former Member of the Governing Council of the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) and until recently a Member of the Executive Council of the English Scholars’ Association of Nigeria (ESAN). He is a member of the Editorial Boards of Research in Pragmatics, journal of the Pragmatics Association of Nigeria (PrAN) and ANUJAT, an international multidisciplinary journal of the All Nations University, Koforidua, Ghana. He has about 15 books to his credit as author, co-author, editor and co-editor.

Folorunso Adisa Fatai says:

July 2, 2017 at 2:57 pm

Noted. Thanks for sharing
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Habeeb Adetayo Giwa says:

July 2, 2017 at 4:56 pm

Alright, thanks for informing.
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