Submission Deadline: July 31st 2016
The STEM Prize was established to encourage young Cameroonians and Africans, especially girls and young women to pursue careers in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.
This competition brings together young scholars from both secondary and tertiary schools (between the ages of 13 and 21 years old) to design projects that have the greatest potential of positively changing their communities. Based on the recommendations of the evaluators and judges at the Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation, winners will be selected for the eventual prizes.
A few years ago, the Government of Cameroon (GoC) launched its strategy to make Cameroon an emerging economy by the year 2035. For this vision to be realised, Cameroon needs to produce more professionals in the field of STEM by increasing the number of youths studying courses in STEM from 10% to at least 30%.
Hence the aim of the STEM Prize Competition is to raise awareness on the importance of STEM to an economy and encourage more youths to get into careers in STEM, consequently, building a foundation for Cameroon’s 2035 vision to be achieved.
Program Design
The STEM Prize competition will consider applications from teams/groups of 3-5 members age between 13 and 21 years old. Each team will design a project that has the greatest potential of positively improving their communities. The best projects will be chosen and the teams will be invited to spend 3 days at the Denis & Lenora Foretia Foundation where they will participate in several educational trainings. Prizes will be given out to the successful teams at the end of the competition.
Eligibility to Participate
- To be eligible for The STEM Prize Competition, applicants must be between the ages of 13 and 21 years old and be citizens of CEMAC countries (Cameroon, Chad, Central Africa Republic, Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea). An application must be made by a team or group of at least 3 people or at most 5 people.
Project Requirements
Project proposals will follow the outline below:
- Names and Community(ies) of applicants
- Title of project
- Identification and elaboration of community problem
- Proposed solution and illicit method of solving problem based on recommendations
- Budget Planning
- Partners and timeframe of project realisation
- Evaluation of project.
Invitation to Top Teams
The top teams as chosen by the evaluators/judges will be invited to the foundation’s headquarters in Yaoundé to participate in an intensive 3-day workshop full of training on research, career guidance, and project implementation. These trainings will be carried out by experts in these fields.
Prizes
A total of 5,000,000 FCFA (approximately $10,000 USD) will be awarded in prizes and will be distributed as follows:
- Winning team: 1,500,000 FCFA ($3000 USD)
- 1st Runner Up: 1,000,000 FCFA ($2000 USD)
- 2nd Runner Up: 500,000 FCFA ($1000 USD)
- Other individual prizes: 2,000,000 FCFA ($4000 USD)
The foundation will work with all winning teams to get their projects up and running.
Important Timeline
- 02 Jun 2016: Official Online Launching of STEM Prize.
- 02 Jun 2016 – 31 Jul 2016: Registration and submission of proposals by candidates.
- 01 Jul 2016 – 21 Jul 2016: Publicity of program and event through media (TV & Radio).
- 01 Jul 2016 – 21 Jul 2016: Communication using talks, online posts and flyers to student bodies and target groups.
- 01 Aug 2016 – 21 Aug 2016: Review and shortlisting of top projects.
- 23 Aug 2016: Official invitations sent to top teams.
- 14 Sept 2016 – 16 Sept 2016: 3 day training event for shortlisted teams.
- 22 Aug 2016 – 23 Sept 2016: Final planning of award ceremony.
- 28 Oct 2016: Award’s Ceremony
For More Information:
Visit the Official Webpage of the STEM Prize Competition 2016 for Young Africans.