JA Business Ethics Essay Competition

The JA Business Ethics Essay Competition is designed to work in conjunction with the JA Business Ethics program, based on activities that engage students worldwide in critical ethical decision-making discussions and resolution demonstrated through an essay format. The goal of the JA Business Ethics Essay Competition is to engage students worldwide in critical, ethical decision-making discussions and resolutions demonstrated in an essay format. The essay should describe a specific plan the author would create to promote ethical decision-making through a hypothetical problem, using a specified number of possible concepts outlined in the essay question. Essays will move through a three-tier judging process.

To find out how you can become involved, contact your local JA Member Office.

Who is eligible to participate?
The competition is open to students who are currently participating in the JA Business Ethics program or who have completed the program during the current school year. JA Member Offices will be required to verify the student’s program participation with the teacher or volunteer.

Student deadline for essay submission
Wednesday, April 15, 2009.

JA Business Ethics program information.

Download the JA Business Ethics Essay Competition Rules, Timeline, Prize Structure, and Judging Criteria

Congratulations to the winner of the
2008 JA Business Ethics Essay Competition!

Jeffrey A. Richards, a recently graduated senior from Golden Valley High School in Santa Clarita, California, has been named the global winner of Junior Achievement's JA Business Ethics essay competition, sponsored by The John Templeton Foundation and Deloitte. Jeffrey's essay was selected from entries received from three countries: the United States, Guatemala, and Armenia. He will receive a cash prize of $3,300.

The JA Business Ethics essay competition fosters ethical decision-making among young people; high school students who had completed the JA Business Ethics program were eligible to participate. Student participants were asked to imagine that they were among a group of people stranded on an island; their job was to formulate a plan to encourage ethical decision-making among the citizens of the island as they traded resources with nearby islands. Jeffrey's essay proposed that the inhabitants of the islands work collaboratively to counteract the impact of a disease afflicting fish, their primary food supply.

The essays were judged on originality, creativity, and how well the authors conceptualized and presented their ethical views and ideas. Submissions were judged at the local, regional, and global levels by a panel comprised of Deloitte staff and Junior Achievement board members.

"Jeffrey's essay demonstrated the importance of ethical behavior at both the personal and societal levels," said Sean C. Rush, president and chief executive officer of JA Worldwide. "It is the responsibility of the individual to promote and foster ethical behavior and decision-making among his or her peers and the community. Junior Achievement's ethics curricula provide tools to young people so that they can learn how to be positive change agents."

JA Business Ethics is part of Deloitte’s $2 million initiative with Junior Achievement to help young people make ethical decisions. The program was developed in response to the needs of high school students and provides hands-on classroom activities and real-life applications designed to encourage ethical decision-making as students prepare to enter the workforce.

The competition's second-place winner was Arpine V. Manvelyan of Armenia. Arpine won a total cash prize of $2,300 at the local, regional, and global levels. Third place went to Edgar E. Ponce of JCCS Arcadia near San Diego, California. Edgar's total prize money for local, regional, and global levels was $1,300.