Essay Contest - Left Pane
Creating Wealth By Sharing WealthTM
Nationwide University Essay Contest
The Creating Wealth By Sharing WealthTM National Essay Contest will capture the views of college students across U.S. campuses about using broad-based ownership and profit sharing (sharing the wealth principles) for starting up a company, motivating employees, and/or creating innovative and sustainable economies. By engaging young minds across the nation from a variety of schools, the FED will energize a national dialogue with this next generation on using share the wealth principles for economic recovery.
Support the fall 2010 classes Today
- Be a donor, click here.
- Be a participating professor, click here.
General Description
- Professors of either under-graduate or graduate courses may elect to participate.
- Students voluntarily select one of three essay questions listed below.
- Students submit essays no later than a professor-defined due date.
- Professors submit highest evaluated essay and additional essay(s) deemed worthy of honorable mention to the FED by December 30, 2010.
- FED convene judging panel to score highest evaluated essays.
- All submitted essays will be publicly acknowledged.
- Winners announced and all essays submitted to FED acknowledged in March 2011.
Reading Resource
Principles and Practices, Appendix C of The SAIC Solution:How we built an $8 Billion Employee-Owned Technology Company. Each student in a participating professor's class will receive a complimentary copy of the designated book. More Information on The SAIC Solution.
Contest Questions (essays should be between 500-750 words)
- What are the forms of employee ownership and participation that you believe most closely link to increased economic stability, sustainability, and innovation? If you have any ideas about what corporations or the government can do to encourage such forms, please discuss and provide views on important policies.
- To utilize sharing the wealth principles, how would you envision establishing a highly involved and motivated workforce, and rewarding them so employees not only are owners but they act like owners?
- Considering sharing the wealth principles, what would be the top guiding principles that you would establish in a new enterprise in order to create a culture that enables sustainable business growth?
Contest Rules
Professors – Execute the Participation Agreement and submit to FED no later than July 31, 2010.
FED Essay Contest Professor Participation Agreement (PDF, 85 KB) Download PDF
Students - An executed agreement by authors of the highest evaluated and honorable mention essays must be submitted no later than January 31, 2011. The FED Essay Contest Administrator will contact these students individually as professor submissions are received.
FED Essay Contest Student Participation Agreement (PDF, 76 KB) Download PDF
Recognition and Awards
Winners will be declared at National level and University levels. All contest submissions, including honorable mention will be acknowledged in various media to include at least FED web site, www.fed.org.
In addition, national winners will also receive:
- First place winner - $1500 cash award, and sponsored attendance at 2011 NCEO/Beyster Institute Annual Employee Ownership Conference (4/12/11 – 4/15/11)
- Second place winner - $750 cash award, and sponsored attendance at 2011 NCEO/Beyster Institute Annual Employee Ownership Conference (4/12/11 – 4/15/11)
- Third place winner - $500 cash award
- Fourth place winner - $250 cash award
Judging
Only highest evaluated essays will be judged. All essay cover pages containing identification information will be removed by the FED prior to judging. Judges will score essays independently.
Each essay will be scored on 4 criteria:
- Relevance - How aligned is the essay with the posed question?
- Clarity - How well defined are the essay’s theses, argument, and analysis
- Creativity - How unique and innovative are the essay’s vision, thought processes, and pragmatic recommendations
- Impact - How compelling are the essay’s positions and rationale
Judging Panel
- Colleen C. Barrett, President Emeritus, Southwest Airlines Co.
- Aaron Bernstein, Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Law School
- Daphne Berry, Winner, 2009 Shared Capitalism through Employee Ownership Dissertation Proposal Award
- Dr. J. Robert Beyster, Founder and Chairman of FED, Founder of SAIC
- Joseph Cabral, Chair, Employee Ownership Foundation
- Gerardine Ferlins, Founder & CEO, Cirtronics Corporation
- Steven P. Fisher, Treasurer, SAIC
- Dr. Amy Lyman, Co-founder of Great Place to Work Institute
- Michael A. Peck, Founder of MAPA Inc.
- Judith Samuelson, Executive Director, Business and Society Program, Aspen Institute
- Carine Schneider, CEO and Co-founder, Global Shares
