Expert-Grup launches a new call for participation in the ”Youth Essay Prize Competition”

Publishing date: Monday, 25 May 2020

The Independent Think-Tank „Expert-Grup” in partnership with the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) from Brussels launch a new competition inviting young (under 30 years) citizens of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine to submit essays of up to 3,000 words in English on any topic relevant to the Association Agreements & DCFTAs of their countries with the EU.

The essays should be of good analytical and linguistic quality, and preferably choose a theme where the author is able to demonstrate knowledge in some depth through studies, research or professional experience. The essays should have an interesting argument or proposition to make.

The winning prizes will be published at www.3dcftas.eu. Up to four prizes of €500 will be awarded. Submissions should be made by 31 September 2020 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

In recent competitions the participants have ranged from high school students of 13 to 16 years, to post-doctoral professionals of 29 years. Younger participants should be encouraged by the policy of the jury not to expect exactly the same standard between the youngest and oldest. participants. The jury applies a weighting factor according to age.

For background information, please consult the results of the previous rounds of the competition:

Winners of 4th round and their essay (December 2019)
Winners of 3rd round and their essay (October 2018)
Winners of 2nd round and their essay (December 2017)
Winners of 1st round and their essay (May 2017)

The competition is organised within the project "Understanding the Association Agreements and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Areas (DCFTAs) between the EU and Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia" carried out with the financial support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). The project is coordinated by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and implemented in partnership with the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) in Kiev, the Reformatics Policy Consulting Center in Tbilisi and the Expert-Grup Think-Tank in Chișinău.

For further questions please feel free to call us on +373 22 92 99 94 or at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Contact person: Natalia Chitii.