School Competition rules

All participants must comply with the following rules:

 

1. The final results must include:

a. An extended Essay of a maximum of 15 pages using APA format (about 4000 words), excluding the bibliography. The extended essay is structured like a scientific paper and includes mainly: A cover page, an acknowledgment page, an abstract, a table of contents, a critical bibliography review, a research question, the method used to answer the question and design a solution, an implementation plan of the solution that integrates notions of financial literacy. A bibliography and an appendix will be complementary the 15 pages Essay.

b. A Jury lead oral presentation of the research project, not exceeding 20 minutes (see below 4.b)

c. A 3 minute-video clip summarizing the process used by the team to achieve their results.

 Note:  Use of ChatGPT will be penalized. VOOC will provide schools with: (i) A template for the cover page (ii) A financial literacy mentor to assist teams in designing a budget to operationalize their implementation plan (iii) A STEM mentor.

2. The extended Essay, the oral presentation, and the video clip must include:

a. Name and logo of the participating school

b. Voices of Olympia Canada logo

c. Edition of the VOOC School Competition

d. Full name of each team member.

e. Essay Submission date

f. Lead instructor’s name

g. Name of organizations and community stakeholders involved in the proposed project.

3. Preliminary evaluation:

a. An oral presentation is not required at this step.

b. Results (Extended Essay and video clip) must be submitted through the VOOC assigned Google Drive link

c. Submission for review must respect set deadlines. Late submission will be rejected.

d. Feedback will be sent out to the team after Jury deliberation.  

4. Final evaluation:

a. The oral presentation will be done in-person , or virtually.

b. The oral presentation lasts 20 minutes. Teams’ members present their work to the Jury for 15 minutes and answer the Jury’s questions for 5 minutes. Each member of the team must participate in the oral presentation.

c. The video clip is an opportunity where teams use technology to showcase data that support their choice of specific topic, their decision to propose a solution and the methodology used to develop the solution. The video clip length should be no more than 3 minutes.

4. Documents submitted to the review panel will be posted on the Voices of Olympia Canada Website and social media platforms.

Evaluation

Evaluation is based on four criteria:

 

1. Commitment to the competition process

(20 points)

 

a. Compliance with the competition rules and prescribed deadlines.

b. Equal teamwork load (equal contribution from each member of the team in the competition process).c. Quality of written language, syntax, and grammar.

c. Acknowledgement of Voices of Olympia Canada in the design of the project.

d. Commitment to the sustainability of the project by proposing an implementation plan that includes an operational budget and clearly demonstrates collaboration with the Voices of Olympia Canada.

e. Evidence that each team member is following VOOC on social media platforms including YouTube channel, and has subscribed to VOOC newsletter. 

2. Quality of the Essay

(35 points)

 

a. Quality of the structure and form are in full compliance with respect of Rule #1

b. Quality of the literature review, critical analysis, and summary.

c. Quality of written language, syntax, and grammar.

d. Quality of written language, syntax, and grammar.5. Depth of reflection on the competition theme

e. Strength and quality of the argument developed to support the proposed solution (i.e. projet).

f. Rigour of work method used to answer research question and design the proposed solution

g. Verbal or written communication with informants / collaborators / interviewees /community partners.

h. Coherence between the solution proposed and the VOOC School Competition theme.

i. Originality/Innovation in implementing the proposed solution in a local community.

j. Means proposed to assure the sustainability of the project.

3. Quality of oral presentation

(20 points)

 

a. Clarity of content .

b. Quality of delivery.

c. Coherence between oral presentation and written report.

d. Capacity to answer questions precisely and clearly.

e. Capacity to engage the audience.

f. Respect of time prescribed.

4. Quality of the video clip

(25 points)

 

a.  Relevance with the VOOC School Competition processes.

b. Quality of content: effective language, effective titles and transition image/graphics related to content, logical sequence of ideas, articulation of proposed or implemented solution/action, etc.

c.Clear, concise, and balanced visuals.

d. Technical aspects: sound, light, movement flow, images, camera movements, respect of prescribed time.

 

Review panel

The purpose of the review panel is to evaluate the competition results and decide on the best four projects that are eligible for scholarships. The review panel’s decision will be by majority vote. This decision is based on the full respect of evaluation criteria, as well as on evaluation rubrics that are communicated to participants prior to the competition. The review panel decision is irrevocable.