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Call for Applications for the 2020 UNESCO International Literacy Prizes

Deadline: 28 June 2020

UNESCO has announced the call for applications for the 2020 UNESCO International Literacy Prizes.

This year UNESCO will reward five individuals or organizations around the world for their outstanding projects that promote literacy within the theme ‘Teaching and learning literacy: the role of educators and changing pedagogies’.

This year’s thematic focus is highlighting teachers who are at the frontline of delivering literacy learning, and their contribution to promoting youth and adult literacy, linked to target 4.6 of the Sustainable Development Goal on Education. (SDG4), where literacy is perceived as a continuum developed throughout life.

Types of Prizes

  • Through two prestigious literacy Prizes, UNESCO supports effective literacy practices and encourages the promotion of dynamic literate societies to close the literacy gap of approximately 750 million of people.
  • UNESCO distinguishes between two Literacy Prizes which are given to five laureates in total:
    • The UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize (2 awards)
      • It was established in 1989 and is supported by the Government of the Republic of Korea. It gives special consideration to programmes that focus on the development and use of mother-tongue literacy education and training.
    • The UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy (3 awards)
      • It was established in 2005, and is supported by the Government of the People’s Republic of China. This Prize recognizes programmes that promote literacy amongst adults in rural areas and out-of-school youth, particularly girls and women.

Prize Information

Each prizewinner receives a medal, a diploma and US$20,000.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals who promote literacy through projects and programmes are welcome to apply.
  • All applications should be submitted to nominating entities, such as the National Commission for UNESCO in the country of the programme, or an NGO that is in an official partnership with UNESCO.
  • National Commissions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in official partnership with UNESCO are encouraged to nominate individuals, institutions and organizations who are making outstanding contributions to promoting literacy and who request a nomination.

Selection Criteria

  • Relevance to the themes
    • The programme/project is pertinent to the areas focused by the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes and the specific theme of this year.
  • Relevance to individuals and societal needs and robustness
    • The programme/project is relevant to the individual and societal needs in a given context.
    • The programme/project is robust and effective in its design, delivery, structure, management, monitoring and evaluation.
  • Quality of teaching and learning
    • The quality of teaching and learning involves interrelated dimensions such as the effectiveness, the efficiency, the equality, the relevance and the pertinence .
  • Impact
    • The ‘impact’ relates to both positive and negative changes made by a programme/project, to beneficiaries, communities and broader societies. Changes include both intended and unintended ones demonstrated by qualitative and/or quantitative evidence.
  • Innovative features
    • The Innovative features are concerned with new/original ideas, solutions, approaches, methods, devices and perspectives or new ways of adapting traditional ones which can adds value and make a concrete impact.
  • Sustainability
    • Sustainability is regarding lasting benefits and impacts of a programme/project beyond the lifecycle of the current programme/project.
    • This may involve the concrete activities of a programme/project designed to ensure sustainability of its results and impacts, the contributions to enriching literate environments in which learners can acquire, use, sustain, and advance literacy skills and the availability of future plan.
  • In addition to these criteria, the project/programme should:
    • Be ongoing and proven record of innovative work in the field of literacy for at least three years.
    • Have not been awarded the UNESCO International Literacy Prizes in the past five years.
    • Promote literacy through effective and innovative projects or programmes.

For more information, visit https://en.unesco.org/news/call-applications-and-nominations-2020-unesco-international-literacy-prizes