Are you ready to find out what is your true strength, discover what you are capable of doing? Then there might be opportunities just for you. Test your academic intellect in an international arena and win prizes and awards. Worldwide, there are several competitions open for application. These seek young, innovative, out-of-the-box thinkers who can visualize problems plainly and find sustainable solutions to them. Further, these academic competitions also provide an international platform to show creativity and win awards.

Also, these competitions provide an opportunity to see where you rank globally. Besides the awards, it will also give you an insight as to what your strengths are and what your weaknesses are. This insight will help you comprehend your weakness and work on them to increase your academic strength. So are you ready for the challenge? If you are, here is a list of best academic competitions in the international platform and win awards and many more.

Climate Traker’s Multimedia Competition (Win a Fully Funded trip to Germany)

Location: Bonn, Germany

Application Deadline: 26 April 2019

Join Climate Reality’s “Stop Fossil Fuels!” multimedia competition and win a fully funded fellowship to the June climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany! They are looking for young journalists from around the world who want to make a big impact in their countries by publishing about stopping fossil fuel projects in their own countries. Further, the best 3 writers will get a chance to attend the climate negotiations the 14th – 29th June 2019, which will be held in Bonn, Germany. Also, you will receive training on climate and journalism by Climate Tracker, get to attend the international climate negotiations and meet amazing people from everywhere in the world! You cannot miss this chance!

Funded Takeda Foundation Young Entrepreneurship Award, Japan

Location: Japan

Application Deadline: 28 June 2019

The Takeda Foundation has put out a call for applications for the Takeda Young Entrepreneurship Award. The Award targets young entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial individuals who challenge technological or social needs in the real world. The Takeda Foundation believes that the challenging activities of young individuals trying to address real technological as well as social needs will lead to the creation of goods and services that enhance the well-being of people throughout the world, which is the mission of the Foundation. Besides, the Takeda Foundation will select Best Entrepreneur and 5 Entrepreneurs. Moreover, the recipient of the Best Entrepreneur Award will receive a diploma, plaque and monetary prize of 1,000,000 Japanese yen. Also, each recipient of the Entrepreneur Award will receive a diploma, plaque and a monetary prize of 200,000Japanese yen.

Fully Funded SDGs Innovation Challenge 2019

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Application Deadline: 30 April 2019

Applications are open for the Fully Funded SDGs Innovation Challenge 2019. #MyLittleBigThing, Is a competition challenging students in Universities, Polytechnics & Technical Vocational Educational Training and Training Institutions to develop simple ideas that are commercially viable that will contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. This year, they will be considering entries that fall into any one of the first 5 Goals. Entries include a 2 – 3 minute YouTube video as well as a 200-word essay describing the project idea. Also, the idea should clearly describe the SDG (s) and, which of the SDG, that it falls under.

UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education 2019 (Award of US$ 50,000)

Application Deadline: 28 May 2019

UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education honors outstanding and innovative contributions made by individuals, institutions, and organizations to advance girls’ and women’s education. UNESCO has launched the call for nominations for the 2019 UNESCO Prize for Girls’ and Women’s Education. It is the first UNESCO Prize of this nature and is unique in showcasing successful projects. Above all, it aims to improve and promote the educational prospects of girls and women. The prize confers an award of USD 50,000 annually to two laureates each, in order to help further their work.

New York Times Student Contests

Application Deadline: 23 August 2019

Every year, the New York Times organizes Student Contest with lucrative awards where teenagers domestic as well as international deals on various issues and ideas through academic essays, editorials, political cartoons as well as photography, videos, poetry, podcasts or culture reviews. Moreover, the contest is an essential part of their mission of “teaching and learning with The New York Times.” All the work of the students is evaluated by Times journalists, outside educators from partner organizations, or professional practitioners in a related field.

Nokia Bell Labs Prize 2019 (Award of up to $100,000)

Application Deadline: 26 April 2019

Nokia Bell Labs Prize 2019 is available for applications. It is looking for impactful ideas that have the potential to change the way we live, work and communicate with each other. The Prize is both a highly prestigious innovation award and a means to collaborate with the world-renowned Bell Labs. The Bell Labs Prize is a competition for innovators from participating countries around the globe that seeks to recognize proposals that ‘change the game’ in the field of information and communications technologies by a factor of 10, and also, provides selected innovators the unique opportunity to collaborate with Bell Labs researchers to help realize their vision.

SA Innovation Summit Pitching Den Competition 2019

Location: Cape Town, South Africa

Application Deadline: 03 June 2019

SA Innovation Summit Pitching Den Competition 2019 is now accepting entries. The Pitching Den competition is an initiative of the SA Innovation Summit. The competition aims to promote and develop the entrepreneurial creativity of startups, able and willing to disrupt the status-quo, to showcase their ground-breaking products or services, to gain visibility across government officials, local, regional and international investors and industry titans, as well as to secure financial and business support in the stages of scaling and growth. Pitching Den invites high-growth early-stage startups from all over the world to pitch their innovative business solutions to a well-rounded panel of venture capitalists, angel investors and business development experts, and also, to compete for investment, maximum media exposure and networking opportunities with enablers and sponsors.

Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) Awards 2019

Application Deadline: 15 May 2019

Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF) Awards 2019 is calling for nominations. AWIEF is Africa’s female entrepreneurship conference & exhibition bringing together over 1,200 female entrepreneurs, thought leaders, industry experts, academics, development organizations, and investors in a combined effort to accelerate the growth of women-owned businesses for Africa’s inclusive economic growth. The AWIEF Awards recognize, honor and celebrate Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners in Africa and across industry sectors, for their economic performance, in addition, to their contribution to Africa’s growth and social development. Furthermore, AWIEF salutes these women for passion and determination in making a difference in their countries and on the continent.

Fully Funded Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation (Award of £25,000)

Application Deadline: 22 July 2019

Fully Funded Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation 2019 is open for applications. The Africa Prize encourages ambitious and talented sub-Saharan African engineers from all disciplines to apply their skills to develop scalable solutions to local challenges, highlighting the importance of engineering as an enabler of improved quality of life and economic development. Furthermore, it aims to stimulate, celebrate and reward innovation and entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, 16 applicants will receive an eight-month package of mentoring and training. Also, The winner will receive £25,000 whereas the three runners-up will receive £10,000 each.

Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition 2019

Application Deadline: 31 July 2019

Youth Citizen Entrepreneurship Competition is now available for application. The competition is a global programme to empower young entrepreneurs to create a sustainable world. This global platform empowers young entrepreneurs (age 15-35) from around the world to engage in a more peaceful world. It invites participants to submit their innovative ideas and projects with a societal impact, which champion and implement one or more of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 related targets address the most important social, economic, environmental, health and governance challenges of our time.