This year, CMUN delegates are invited to participate in the optional essay contest. Designed to foster creative thinking, analysing unconventional and niche prompts, delegates have a chance to be recognized at the closing ceremony and to receive special recognition.  This contest is designed to help delegates improve their writing and argumentation skills. The details of this year’s contest are as follows.

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Guidelines

 

• Submissions must not exceed 1,200 words in length, and all essays must be written in English.

• Delegates can respond to only one prompt and submit only one essay.

• Essay documents must be formatted in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with standard one-inch margins on all sides.

• The heading of the essay must clearly state the delegate’s full name, the delegation name, the faculty advisor’s full name, and the chosen prompt.

• External sources are not required; however, if referenced, they must be cited in MLA 8 format.

• Essays must be submitted exclusively in PDF format. Submissions in alternate file types will not be reviewed. The PDF must be named in the following format: FullName_DelegationName_PromptNumber.pdf

• Essays will only be accepted from delegates whose delegations are formally registered for this year’s session of CMUN.

• All essays must represent the original work of the delegate. Any submission determined to be authored, in part or in whole, by another individual or generated through Artificial Intelligence (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity) will not be considered.

• Essays must be submitted to cathedralmun@cajcs.in by 1st August at 11:59pmIST. 

• Late submissions or those that fail to meet formatting requirements will be disqualified.

 

Prompts:

 

1.⁠ ⁠You are in charge of organising the UNSC’s Ambassadors Dinner Party. In 1200 words, justify specific seating positions, organisational choices and special arrangements you would make. Feel free to pick any time period and event in history, and ground your essay in diplomatic and political judgements.

 

2.⁠ ⁠Reimagine yourself in ancient Greece, where debates echo through the Agora - now fast-forward to the digital age: what happens when Socratic or Platonian dialogue meets Twitter? In 1200 words, in the context of any one of our committees, write a sophisticated and well-established essay framing a Tweet by any Classical Philosopher coupled with an analysis of a geopolitical issue from the same philosophical and moral standpoint.