Deadline: 14-Jan-21
Are you a young person (age 14-20) working to build a more sustainable future? Explain about your initiative and how you use STEM skills to make it happen. Apply today for a chance to win funding and support.
Tackling climate change and the countless environmental challenges we face calls for bold energy and courageous steps. Young leaders are leading the way, and they’re using STEM skills to do it.
Whether we realize it or not, almost every environmental initiative is connected to STEM — science, technology, engineering or math. You don’t have to be an engineer or rocket scientist to use STEM skills. From composting and gardening, to researching, to launching social media campaigns and apps, changemakers are using STEM every day to make our world more sustainable.
Awards & Prizes
- Early Entry Prize: All entries submitted by January 14th will receive additional one-on-one support and feedback from Ashoka. Additionally, Ashoka will select up to two teams who submit their entries before January 14th for a cash prize of $1,000 each.
- Winning an Early Entry Prize does not guarantee selection as part of the final 25 winning teams.
- Each winning project will get to send up to three representatives to participate in the Changemaker Summit, an immersive online experience in which teams will receive mentorship from General Motors executives, skills training from Ashoka and network opportunities with other amazing teams. Each team will also receive $2,000 in seed funding.
- All winning teams will have access to ongoing mentorship and skills development webinars after the event.
Eligibility Criteria
- Applications for the Our Planet, Our Purpose: STEM for Changemaking Challenge is open to any young person between the ages of 14 and 20 in the USA and its territories.
- To qualify, you must meet all of the following criteria:
- You are a young person between the ages of 14-20 by February 11, 2021 and a resident of the United States and its territories;
- You are the founder, co-founder, or hold an equivalent leadership position within the initiative your application represents;
- You have at least one other person on your team;
- You are committed to mobilizing more young people to join the changemaker movement and to working with changemakers to solve environmental sustainability issues;
- You have been actively working on your idea for at least three months;
- You are able to submit your application in English;
- You are not employed, nor directly related (parents or sibling) to a General Motors (GM) or Ashoka employee;
- If chosen as a winner, you commit to attending the Online Changemaker Summit, which will be held in summer 2021, in its entirety.
Selection Criteria
The selection committee, comprised of members of Ashoka and General Motors, will be looking for changemakers who provide strong answers to a range of questions about what your initiative does, how it runs, and your changemaking story. Entries will be evaluated on the following criteria:
- Changemaker Quality: You identify as a Changemaker and are already taking steps to make a real difference by leveraging STEM for sustainability. You are also encouraging others to do so.
- Creativity: Whether you’re tackling a new challenge or bringing a different perspective to an existing problem, you’re doing it in a fresh and innovative way that challenges the norm.
- Commitment: You have actively been working on this project for at least three months and have made progress – e.g. you have gone through the process of customer discovery and/or have developed prototypes. You are ready to stick by your project and leave a lasting impact.
- Connection: You are focused on making a difference for the environment and can demonstrate a personal connection. You are open to connecting with others and working together to solve the problem you care about.
In addition to their evaluation criteria described above, the group of winning teams will be selected to represent the diversity of applications received and the diversity of the field. Diversity will refer to: gender, accessibility, class, ethnicity, race and age. Diversity can be showcased in the target audience of a project, its partners or the team representing it.
For more information, visit https://network.changemakers.com/challenge/our-planet-our-purpose-2021/brief