Write, race, win! CIPE’s youth essay competition continues to inspire

The CIPE Regional Office (Romania) staff recently had the opportunity to meet with Irina Alionte, one of the winners of CIPE’s Youth Essay Competition (2009 edition). In a previous article, the CIPE Regional Office reported on the influence of CIPE’s essay competition on Irina’s subsequent trajectory.

Irina continues to act as marketing manager at her family’s business – the Shakespeare School, a Bucharest-based foreign languages educational institution which specializes in English courses for students between five and twenty-five years old. In addition, Irina’s plans include pursuing post-graduate studies in the United Kingdom, as well as opening a foundation aiming to support academic excellence upon completing her studies and returning to Romania.

Having won the CIPE essay competition in 2009, Irina was inspired to organize an essay competition (in English) at the Shakespeare School, for two categories of participants: middle- and high-school students. She took on the responsibility of organizing the school’s annual English competition, which is open to youth between eleven and nineteen years old. Irina is in charge of promoting the competition with current and potential sponsors and partners by preparing a customized presentation of the project (history, impact, objectives, as well as an overview of the mutual benefits of cooperation).

In 2011, the School opened the third edition of the competition. This year, they’ve invited middle-school participants to provide their personal interpretation of four images and express their thoughts on the traits of an ideal world, based on those images. High-school participants will have the opportunity to ponder the role of volunteer work and its positive social effects.

This year’s competition has been designed to take place under the slogan “Write, race, win!”, which was not a coincidental choice. With the help of a professional advertising company, the School managed to give a visual expression to the purpose of this year’s competition, namely to encourage the participants to compete for the sake of developing their competitive spirit and their desire for improvement, rather than the prize itself.

However, the prizes are not to be neglected. It is worth mentioning that the school is now promising to reward the winners with a greater number of attractive prizes, including: summer schools for high-school-level participants at Cambridge and Oxford, and similar study experiences for middle-school-level participants at St. Michael’s College, and Harrow House. Harrow House is Shakespeare School’s newest partner and has selected to work with this Romanian institution precisely because of the popularity of its programs and competitions. Other prizes include: books, dictionaries, free admission to examinations offered by the British Council, sporting goods, as well as language courses offered by Shakespeare School.

The second edition of the competition was far more successful than the previous – in 2009, 200 participants registered, whereas the 2010 edition featured 3100 essays from participants in over 350 locations across Romania. As such, the 2011 competition is expected to be an even bigger hit among the Romanian youth.

Two factors seem to support this assumption.

First, the competition has received support from some of the most prominent media outlets in Romania, among which TVR (traditionally known as the Romanian “public television”) and Kiss FM, along with other well-known institutions (British Council, Mirunette International Education, Dinu Patriciu Foundation, Carturesti Bookstores, etc.). The competition has also been advertised on the website of the European Commission office in Romania, in the context of the European Year of Volunteering (2011). To view the ad that has been aired on TVR 1, Romania’s national TV channel, please visit:

Second, the concept of the competition itself seems to have been borrowed by another Romanian foundation, which aims to support education by providing study opportunities both in Romania and abroad. CIPE programs can become a far-reaching source of inspiration at times.

Published Date: March 04, 2011