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Global Citizen is a community of people like you. People who want to learn about and take action on the world’s biggest challenges—and use their power to get other people involved too.

We are committed to building a movement of citizens to end extreme poverty by 2030 and achieve the Global Goals for Sustainable Development.

We bring you stories and actions that make a difference. That help fight extreme poverty and inequality around the world, and support approaches that will make life more sustainable for people and the planet.

Cisco and Global Citizen are united in their belief that young people around the world are leading the way to create and implement solutions to achieve the Global Goals, and to accelerate global problem solving.

We are joining forces to create the Global Citizen Prize for Youth Leadership presented by Cisco to recognize and lift up a young person positively impacting the world, as a way to demonstrate the impact that young people are having on achieving our common goals.

The 2018 winner of the Global Citizen Prize for Youth Leadership will receive:

• USD $250,000 awarded to a person or specific people on behalf of an organization that is judged to best fit selection criteria.
• An all-inclusive round-trip to Johannesburg, South Africa to attend the Prize Ceremony at the Global Citizen Mandela 100 Festival
• Networking and development opportunities to support your work.

Applicants are judged holistically by their application materials and supporting documents against five equally-weighted criteria:

• Impact: Demonstrated track-record of measurable impact at scale over last 3-5 years advancing one or more of the Global Goals.
• Vision: Compelling vision and concrete plans for how to extend this work in the next 3-5 years, including how the prize will advance efforts.
• Catalyst: Inspires other young people to have an impact on achieving one or more of the Global Goals.
• Global Citizenship: Demonstrates the values and embodies the spirit of a Global Citizen and a Global Problem Solver.
• Technological Innovation: Innovates with technology or Internet-based communications to improve efficiency, reach, and magnify impact.

First round candidates will be judged against criteria by a group of Global Citizen, Cisco, and independent experts.

Up to 20 semi-finalists will be chosen on or around October 19, and if you are selected, we will reach out to you seeking the following additional information to be returned by 9am EST on Tuesday October 23:

• Organization registration details - one or more of certificate of registration / incorporation / tax exemption.
• Last annual report
• Any relevant business plan / strategy documents
• Impact reporting documentation, especially from third parties
• Media coverage
• Any additional videos from speeches / presentations
• 3 Letters of endorsement / recommendation
  • A Colleague
  • A Funder or Operational Partner
  • person you’ve impacted

We may also request a call with you to answer any outstanding questions we have.

If selected to advance to become one of five Finalists, you will be judged by a panel of five representatives from Global Citizen, Cisco, esteemed social enterprises, youth leaders, UN Agencies, businesses and other leaders in the international development field.

Please reference the Global Citizen Manifesto for our definition of a Global Citizen. We are looking for a young person who is making extraordinary progress towards one or more of the Global Goals.

Global Problem Solvers innovate as technologists, think as entrepreneurs, and act as social change agents to solve global problems like poverty, inequality, hunger, and more.

We are looking for organizations that use an IT-based solution to improve efficiency, reach, and magnify impact. A qualifying IT-based solution is one that produces greater impact, at lower cost, higher quality, with stronger outcomes – and also enables specific metrics for social outcome to be gathered and reported.

Eligibility requirements are:

• Must be aged 18-30 as of date of prize ceremony (December 2, 2018)
• Must be able to travel to South Africa in early December to accept prize
• For period of three years, must be willing to do media interviews and appearances, and grant rights to GC and Cisco to use name, likeness and related content in GC or Cisco marketing campaigns and on GC or Cisco owned-platforms, such as cisco.com, globalcitizen.org and social platforms.
• You must accept the terms and conditions as listed here.

In addition to those who do not meet the eligibility requirements above, people who are ineligible for this Prize are:

• Any citizen from a country or entity subject to financial or other sanctions by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) or other government entity of the United States of America that may restrict the transfer of the Prize
• Employees of Global Citizen or Cisco
• Any organizations who have previously received prize funding or direct grant funding from Cisco or the Cisco Foundation.

No. We are looking for a transformative leader who is having impact, and so your title doesn’t matter to us.

In your application, you will be asked for the title of your role in the organization to help us understand how you are having impact.

We accept applications from all over the world, with the exception countries and entities subject to financial or other sanctions by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) or other government entity of the United States of America that may restrict the transfer of the Prize money.

No. We accept applications from any individual who is doing impactful work and who has a registered legal entity such as non-profit, for-profit, B-corp, social enterprise, etc.

The Prize will be awarded to an individual, but the money will be allocated to their nominated organization that is having the impact.

We are glad you are passionate about making a difference in the global community. However, this prize is for individuals who have demonstrated impact over multiple years so the Global Citizen Prize for Youth Leadership may not be right for you.

The application consists of three parts: (1) Personal and Organization information, (2) Description of your organization and your work (3) Description of how your work aligns with the judging criteria.

For the first part, you will be required to submit a scanned copy of your passport and proof of your organization’s registration details including the certificate of registration, incorporation or tax exemption. You must also provide us with a 2-3 minute video of your pitch telling us why you deserve this award.

For the second part, you will be required to answer 3 short answer questions.

For the third part, you will describe in 250 words or less, how you have achieved each one of the Prize’s criteria.

Applications opens for submission on September 27, 2018 6:00 AM EDT and closes on October 15, 2018 at 09:00 AM EDT.

Entries submitted after October 15, 2018 at 09:00AM EDT will not be accepted. We encourage you to apply next year!

Semi-finalists will be notified on or before October 20, 2018.

The winner will be notified within 5 days of November 5th, 2018.

After initial judging of applicants, we will create a list of approximately 20 semi-finalists. These candidates will be contacted to provide supplementary information within 72 hours of notification. From this group we will select 5 finalists who will move forward to the final judging panel.

If you are selected as a semi-finalist you will be required to present all the following documents that you have by 9am EST on Tuesday October 23:

• Last annual report
• Any relevant business plan / strategy documents
• Impact reporting documentation, especially from third parties
• Media coverage
• Any relevant videos from speeches / presentations that demonstrate your work.
• 3 Letters of endorsement / recommendation
  • A Colleague
  • A Funder or Operational Partner
  • person you’ve impacted

Once you apply for the Prize, you should have your semi-finalist documents ready for submission. Semi-finalists who are contacted and cannot provide supplemental information by 9am EST on Tuesday October 23 may be removed from further consideration. If selected as a semi-finalist, you will be provided with instructions on how to submit your supplemental information.

You should provide a letter (or video) of endorsement from each one of the following:

• A Colleague
• A Funder or Operational Partner
• A person you’ve impacted

Letters should have an official letterhead and original signature. Videos should be no more than 3 minutes long.

Endorsements don’t need to be new / given specifically for this prize, but we do ask that they are less than six months old.

1. Return economy airfares to Johannesburg, South Africa for the Prize Winner and a companion, with the flight originating from the Prize Winner’s nearest capital city.
2. Hotel accommodation in Johannesburg for the Prize Winner and a companion for the period 01-03 December 2018.
3. A per diem of USD$300 for the period of 01-03 December 2018.
4. Ground transportation to and from events hosted by Global Citizen or Cisco, where the attendance of the Prize Winner is requested.

The Prize ceremony is at Global Citizen Festival Mandela 100 in Johannesburg, South Africa at FNB Stadium on December 2, 2018.

You must be able to travel to South Africa to accept the award. If this requires you to have a passport or visa, you will be responsible for securing them.

Attendance to the Prize Ceremony is mandatory. Applicants who cannot attend the Prize Ceremony are not eligible.

Global Citizen provides the winner and a guest tickets to the Mandela 100 Festival, and pays for the airfare, hotel accommodations, and other travel-related expenses surrounding the event.

No, applicants must apply for the Prize themselves.

Unfortunately, at this time we are only able to accept applications in English.

You are welcome draft your application in another language and send us a translation. We are judging you on the criteria, not your expression.

Only semi-finalists will be contacted to provide supplemental information. However, you should have this information available at the time of submission.

All application submissions will be reviewed against Award criteria.

No. Award money is unconditional. However, we do ask applicants for an idea of how they plan to use the money and require the winner to provide quarterly written updates on their organization’s progress for a period of 3 years.

Your application must include a 2-3 minute video of your pitch, convincing us why you should be awarded this prize. Once you have filmed your video, you must provide a link, either from an online drive such as Google or Dropbox, or from an online video platform such as YouTube.

Applications without a video pitch will not be accepted.

Please email youthprize@globalcitizen.org

No, all applications are considered final.

If you have any questions that are not answered on the award’s information page or in these FAQs, please email youthprize@globalcitizen.org. Regretfully we will only be able to respond to questions not answered here.