The World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) has announced the 85 shortlisted project of its seventh edition and Ghana and Be A Girl is among them.

BE A GIRL is an empowerment project initiated by Akpah Prince and supported by Hallowed Kids foundation, Women at the Well, Plan Youth and Time to Rescue focused on inspiring young girls whose academic endeavours are very excellent. There are so many young girls who are doing very well in their academic endeavours and yet do not receive the motivation they need to encourage them. Finding this need, we give citations out to young girls in their various schools as plans are advanced for annual summits organised to celebrate young girls and with support from Women At The Well, those who don’t have enough learning materials will be given a book scholarship to enable them improve academically.

This has created a platform for us where we indulge the endorsement of influential personalities in society who would be taken to schools to share with the young girls their success stories both about their lives and career and through short note of inspiration they write. In a year about 5000 young girls across Ghana will benefit from this project, it will present mentors to young girls across Ghana, create BE A GIRL ambassadors across the nation and help improve the academic status of girls and change the perception about the feminine gender. This all is to create the better future we need.

The competition was fierce in 2014. Initially, 1896 users from 138 UN countries have registered. Under the guidance of Prof. Peter A. Bruck Chairman of the WSYA board, the Jury of international experts will select the 18 winners and 12 runners-up of the WSYA 2014. Be A Girl also happens to be the only project from Ghana in the Competition this year.

Next Step: Winners’ Ceremony and WSYA Congress in Brazil

In a second round of evaluation, Be A Girl has the chance to be selected as an outstanding contribution to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals through online creations.

Hosted by the Humanitare Foundation, the winners’ ceremony will be held November 28th to December 1th, 2014 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.This event will feature world-class keynote speeches, hands-on workshops and engaging panel discussions about social entrepreneurship and the content industry.Who will join the winners’ event will be announced at the end of August 2014.

Six categories to spark innovation and change the world

All products in the WSYA contest –websites, mobile applications and media platforms– are being evaluated for their contribution to the achievements of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their capability to harness the power of technology for social improvement. The products were separated in 6 categories: Fight Poverty, Hunger and Disease, Education for All, Power 2 Women, Create your Culture, Go Green and Pursue Truth.

The complete list of all finalists can be found at www.youthaward.com

About the award

Established in 2005, The World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) is a leading international competition honoring excellence on the use of Internet for social empowerment. As an annual contest, it seeks to motivate young people under the age of thirty to actively contribute to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The MDGs were set in 2000 by the UN to prompt member states and civil society to fight poverty, hunger and disease, inequalities, lack of education and environmental degradation.