A $10,000 Student Competition to Raise Awareness to Defeat Malaria

The Need –

Each year, over 600,000 people—mostly children under the age of five in Africa—die from malaria, a preventable, treatable, and curable disease. In the long term, the international community aims to eradicate malaria by reducing the global incidence to zero through progressive elimination in countries worldwide. However, this will not happen without heightened worldwide awareness of the disease and its impact.

Sponsored by Harvard’s Defeating Malaria: From the Genes to the Globe initiative and the MCJ/Amelior Foundation, the Harvard Malaria Competition seeks innovative ideas to raise awareness of malaria across the university and beyond. This $10,000 student competition is a unique opportunity for students to pitch their ideas and launch projects with the potential of generating global impact. 

The Idea –

Harvard students are creative, entrepreneurial, often on the cutting edge of new thinking. Students from across the University have a demonstrated passion for problem solving and unparalleled talent to develop innovative ideas to re-shape the global health landscape. The 2015 Harvard Malaria Competition welcomes students to submit ideas that will spark vibrant conversation about malaria by incorporating the innovative use of technology and social media, including viral video campaigns, Twitter hashtag contests, Facebook campaigns, etc.

The Goal –

The annual Harvard Malaria Competition will serve as a catalyst for a scalable, communication and advocacy campaign that generates awareness of malaria at Harvard and worldwide. The prize money is intended to support programmatic expenses related to the implementation of the winning proposal. Harvard’s Defeating Malaria initiative will facilitate mentorship from malaria experts at Harvard as well as subject matter specialists from the global malaria community.

Criteria for Submission, Eligibility & Review Process –

Group and individual proposals are welcomed. Proposals may be in written or multimedia form. Written proposals should not exceed 5 single-spaced pages. Multimedia submissions should be no longer than 5 minutes in length. Proposals should include the vision and rational for the project; a plan and timeline for implementation; a proposed budget and justification; proposed metrics for tracking progress; and evidence of the applicant’s ability to take the project to a successful completion.

The winning proposal will be selected based on the quality, clarity and feasibility of their submission. A panel of malaria experts will review the proposals. Select finalists will be invited to present their proposals to a Faculty Review Panel. Students will be notified via email regarding the status of their proposal submission. The winner will be announced publicly, and will be invited to present the proposal at a Harvard University-sponsored event.

The proposals submission period has now ended. Please contact defeatingmalaria@harvard.edu with any questions regarding the competition.