FALIA Essay Competition aims to encourage international students to have an interest in life insurance, and to know that life insurance can solve social issues. We welcome essays from students of variety of cultural backgrounds and majors.
The essay theme should resonate with both personal relevance and societal impact. We encourage you to articulate your ideas clearly within the text.
We welcome essays from students who have no background in insurance.The essay does not necessarily require a high level of knowledge about insurance. Please take on an intellectual challenge by applying for our essay competition.
Theme
Perspectives on Life Insurance
Submission Deadline
September 2, 2024, at 3:00 p.m.
FALIA Essay Competition 2024 is now closed for entries.
10 non-prize winners will have a chance to receive a ¥5,000 gift certificate
There may be no winner for each prize based on the judging process.
Theme
Perspectives on Life Insurance
FALIA invites you to write an essay on the theme related to Perspectives on Life Insurance.
The essay theme should resonate with both personal relevance and societal impact. We encourage you to articulate your ideas clearly within the text, demonstrating how life insurance intersects with your own experiences and aspirations, while also addressing broader social issues.
We welcome essays from students who have no background in insurance. Please take on an intellectual challenge by applying for our essay competition.
Submission Deadline
September 2, 2024, at 3:00 p.m.
FALIA Essay Competition 2024 is now closed for entries.
APPLICANT ELIGIBILITY
1. The contest is open to an International student currently living and studying in Japan.
Your status of residence shall be 留学 (RYUGAKU) and you shall be in an undergraduate or graduate
program at a Japanese university (大学・大学院/DAIGAKU, DAIGAKUIN) at the time of application.
2. You must be from countries or regions where FALIA recognizes the possibility of contributing to the
sound development of the insurance business.
Please refer to the list of the countries and regions which we accepted in the past.
If your country or region is not on the list, please inquire us directly.
3. You must still be with a university when we hold the awards ceremony, which you must attend at
the venue. (The awards ceremony will be held on January 24,2025 in Tokyo)
GUIDELINES
1. The essay must be written in English or Japanese.
2. The essay must be original and unpublished.
3. Co-authored essays will be accepted, but each member must satisfy the applicant eligibility
requirements explained above. If selected, the co-authors will share the prize.
4. Only one entry per student or per one co-author team per year.
5. The essay must not exceed 5000 words in English, or 12000 characters in Japanese.
6. Each essay must follow the guidelines as below. A sample essay format is available for your
reference.
- The first page must include the essay title, author’s name, name of university,
and the total number of words/characters.
- The second page must be an abstract of the essay.
- The second and subsequent pages must not include the author’s name and any other information
which can be used to identify the author.
7. An application form must be sent with the essay. (Word file only)
8. When quoting others, please be sure to properly acknowledge the source.
Also, if you used so-called generative AI, please indicate how they were used, and the sections
written by such usage. (For more details, please refer to the FAQ section on our website.)
Your essay should be plagiarism free. If unequivocal plagiarism is detected, your essay will be
rejected and, if applicable, you will be required to reimburse the prize.
9. The copyright for all essays entered will be assigned to our foundation.
10. We may publish winning essays, including details about the authors (name, nationality,
university) on our website or by some other method.
SELECTION COMMITTEE
Emeritus Professor Takau Yoneyama【Chair】
Hitotsubashi University
Professor Haruko Amano
Japan Women’s University
Associate Professor Jin Abe
Hitotsubashi University
Professor Motokazu Ishizaka
Chuo University
EVALUATION CRITERIA
・Structure(Format/Style)
-Clarity of theme and/or research topic
-Structural development and validity of conclusion
-Analytical strength
-Use of appropriate methodology/approach
-Logic and reasoning
・Contents
-Originality
-Academic integrity (no plagiarism)
-Intangibles (e.g., societal relevance)
・Technical
-Citations and referencing
-Readability and presentation (clarity of expression & word choice; language mechanics)
*Candidates may be interviewed for evaluation purposes.
COMMUNICATION AND ANNOUNCEMENT
Prize winners will be informed directly in December 2024 and publicly announced on our website after the award ceremony which will be held on January 24,2025.
*Click here to view ""The Awards ceremony in 2023""
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
1. The personal information provided to us by the applicants via this competition will be used in accordance with FALIA’s privacy policy. For more details on FALIA’s privacy policy, please visit
our website.
2. FALIA will cover the necessary domestic transportation expenses to attend the awards ceremmony.
Submission process
Step1
Decide on a theme
Collect information and data on themes such as: What is life insurance? What is the life insurance situation like in your country and around the world? What has been your own family’s involvement with life insurance? Decide on a theme from among these regarding what you would like to write about that is relevant to life insurance.
The “FALIA Essay Competition Prize Winner Announcement,” which lists the titles of past prize-winning essays, and “Tips for Essay Writing” have been uploaded to FALIA's homepage.
Step2
Write your essay
Summarize your own ideas and assertions in a logical manner based on the information and data you collected. It would be best to employ the techniques you learned at university, such as statistical analysis techniques.
Please refer to "A sample essay format".
According to questionnaires of past winners, many of them took between about two weeks to two months to write their essays.
If there is anything you are unsure of, please inquire directly with us via the inquiry form at the bottom of the page, or with the person in charge of the essay competition (essay@falia.jp)
Step3
Submit your essay via the application form
You can submit your essay by filling out the required fields on the application form and attaching your essay as a Word file.
Prize winner's Voice
Inquiries
If you have any questions or concerns about the FALIA Essay Contest, please contact us using the inquiry form below.