Students with bold ideas for a world that works together
Each year, New Voices 4 Global Solutions invites students across the United States, aged 18 to 26, to propose ways to renew international cooperation and strengthen global institutions. The winning essay is published, and its author travels to the Ventotene International Seminar in Italy.
The winning essays
One essay wins each year. Here they are, newest first.
Room to Maneuver: The Case for a UN Maritime Force Under Article 109
The world's shipping lanes are guaranteed by law and protected by no one in particular. Andrew Igdal argues that an unused clause of the UN Charter could change that.
A Global Mandate, Direct Democracy, and Cooperative Funding as a New Model for Multilateralism
What if the next climate treaty were ratified not behind closed doors but by a global ballot of the people it binds?
Addressing the Crisis of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in UN Peacekeeping Operations through Mobile Gender Courts
Mobile courts that go where peacekeeping abuse happens, so that survivors see justice and the UN keeps their trust.
The prize: a week on Ventotene
The winner joins students, scholars and policymakers from around the world at the Ventotene International Seminar, run by the Altiero Spinelli Institute for Federalist Studies. It is a week of lectures, policy workshops and debate on democracy, European integration and global governance, held on the island where the federalist movement began.
What is the Ventotene International Seminar?
Also known as the Altiero Spinelli Seminar, it is held every year on the Italian island of Ventotene in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It gathers scholars, politicians, experts and young federalists to explore federalist thinking on European and global issues.
Why Ventotene?
In 1941, Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi, imprisoned on the island by Mussolini's government, wrote the Ventotene Manifesto calling for a federal Europe. The seminar carries that history forward.
Want to help send the next winner? Support New Voices.
- All expenses paidTravel from the US to Italy and on to the island, plus board and lodging for the week.
- Late summer, in ItalyThe seminar runs for a week around the start of September.
- Published in MondialThe winning essay appears in CGS's journal, read across the World Federalist Movement.
Our winners
The students behind the essays.
- Andrew Igdal2026 winner, University of Texas at AustinRead the announcement
- Isabella Grace Smith2025 winner, James Madison University
- Amarilys Delayla Torres-Nuñez2024 winner, Ohio Wesleyan UniversityRead about the trip
How the contest works
- Who can enter
- Students across the United States aged 18 to 26.
- What to write about
- Each contest sets a theme and guiding questions. In 2026 the theme was "From Charter to Change: Reimagining Global Governance through Article 109."
- How to submit
- Email your essay as a Word document, with your contact details, to [email protected] by the deadline.
- Judging and the prize
- If no essay meets the eligibility and submission rules, the prize may not be awarded. If the winner cannot travel on the seminar dates, CGS will work with them on a conference of similar value.