World Trade Organisation (WTO) Essay Award 2024

The WTO has issued a call for young economists to submit papers for the 2024 WTO Essay Award. The aim of the award is to promote high-quality research on trade policy and international trade cooperation and to reinforce the relationship between the WTO and the academic community.

• Table of Content
• About World Trade Organisation (WTO)
• WTO Essay Award
• Aim and Benefits of WTO Essay Award
• Requirements for WTO Essay Award Qualification
• Interview date, Process and Venue for WTO Essay Award
• Documents Required for Application
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About World Trade Organisation (WTO)

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organization dealing with the rules of trade between nations. At its heart are the WTO agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified in their parliaments. The goal is to ensure that trade flows as smoothly, predictably and freely as possible. The WTO has many roles: it operates a global system of trade rules, it acts as a forum for negotiating trade agreements, it settles trade disputes between its members and it supports the needs of developing countries. All major decis...&nb... continue reading

WTO Essay Award

Aim and Benefits of WTO Essay Award

• The annual WTO Essay Award provides a prize of CHF 5,000 to the author(s) of the winning essay. In the case of a co-authored paper, the prize will be equally divided among the authors.
• The winning paper will be officially announced at the annual meeting of the European Trade Study Group (ETSG), the largest conference specializing in international trade. 
• The winning author will receive funding to attend the meeting.

Requirements for WTO Essay Award Qualification

• The paper must address issues related to trade policy and international trade cooperation. 
• The author(s) of the paper must possess or be engaged in the completion of a PhD degree and, if over 30 years of age, be no more than two years past a PhD defense.
• In the case of co-authored papers, this requirement shall apply to all authors. In addition, to be considered for the award, essays cannot exceed 15,000 words.

More news on the WTO Essay Award is available here.

Interview date, Process and Venue for WTO Essay Award

An Academic Selection Panel is responsible for the selection of the winning paper. The panel comprises: 

• Professor Beata Javorcik (University of Oxford)
• Professor Robert Staiger (Dartmouth College)
• Professor Alberto Trejos (INCAE Business School).

Professor Ralph Ossa (Director, Economic Research and Statistics Division, WTO Secretariat) is ex officio member of the panel. Dr Roberta Piermartini (Chief, Trade Cost Analysis Section, WTO) coordinates the work of the selection panel.

The award ceremony will take place on 12-14 September 2024 at Athens University in Greece.

Documents Required for Application

 Submissions should include as separate attachments in PDF format:

1. the essay
2. the CV of the author(s), specifying (i) current affiliation(s), (ii) the academic institution awarding the PhD, (iii) the year (or the expected year) of the PhD, (iv) the date of birth of the author(s).

Application Deadline

How to Apply

Essays must be submitted by 3 June 2024. The Economic Research and Statistics Division of the WTO Secretariat will shortlist eligible papers by 17 June 2024 and the selection panel will take a final decision by 8 July 2024. Only the author(s) of short-listed essays will be notified.

All submissions should be sent to [email protected].

For more details, visit WTO website