World's innovative projects in education are now invited to apply for 2013 WISE Awards

Finalists and winning projects of the WISE Awards demonstrate both real-world solutions to current educational challenges and serve as examples that can potentially be replicated in other parts of the world.

Applicants are requested to submit details of their projects on the WISE Awards website: www.wise-qatar.org/awards, by March 31, 2013 (by 23.59 GMT). A shortlist of 12 finalists will be announced in June, after which a jury of international education experts will choose six winning projects. Selected in September, they will be showcased at the 2013 WISE Summit in Doha, taking place October 29-31, 2013.

The WISE Awards winning projects will each receive $20,000 (US) and benefit from global visibility via the WISE network: a community of more than 9,000 education experts and practitioners from 152 countries.

In this way winning teams and finalists have the opportunity to promote their achievements and establish new partnerships that could lead to the growth and replication of projects in other educational contexts and regions of the world.

H.E. Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali Al-Thani, PhD, Chairman of WISE, states, "Through the WISE Awards, we are not only seeking out and honoring projects that solve real-world challenges to education, but we are ultimately creating a toolbox of best-practices in education. Thanks to WISE's diverse, global platform, we are able to showcase these projects for communities around the world to replicate. In 2013, we are working to encourage more applications from [country]. We know that there are many exciting projects taking place and we want to recognize and share this work. There is a lot that Qatar can teach the world."

Applicants must demonstrate how their project has through education, made a positive contribution within a community or society. In addition to projects taking place in schools, previous submissions have included creative initiatives from the vocational, corporate and agricultural sectors.

For example, The Smallholder Farmers Rural Radio, a winning project in 2010 from Nigeria, broadcasts radio programs on crop cultivation, livestock rearing and soil management 10 hours a day in the local Igbo language, reaching and educating small farmers; the Cristo Rey Network, an organization based in the USA and a winning project in 2012, facilitates work experience at local companies which provides both practical training and covers tuition fees for students from low-income families.