Recent studies as well as our own experience from previous editions show that in ethical issues not only reason but also feelings, sentiments and emotions matter. Our capacity to express those requires other – often deeper – quasi-native linguistic competencies and greater finesse than the current technical language used in our professional life.
Thus, in order to allow as many candidates as possible to participate, we have developed “linguistic chapters” of the Global Prize in collaboration with partners sharing the same commitment to ethics in finance. Today, we have the following three ongoing linguistic chapters which are largely autonomous with their own budget and supporters:
- A Francophone chapter – open to French-speaking authors (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and Francophone Africa).
- A German-language chapter – open to German-speaking authors (Germany, Austria and Switzerland).
http://www.weltethos-institut.org/institut/
- A Polish chapter – open to Polish-speaking authors
The Polish linguistic chapter of the Prize was started under the auspices of the Polish Bankers Association (Komisja Etyki – Zwiazek Bankow Polskich) in 2013 and runs on an annually since then.
- The Spanish and Portuguese Ibero-American Prize was initiated with the support of MAPFRE (Spain’s largest insurance company) to focus on the special challenges of ethics in finance in the region. Three editions of the Spanish language Prize have been held in 2009/2010, 2011/2012 and 2013/2014.
Each of these chapters is largely autonomous. It collects essays in the given language, has its own Jury and has its own series of awards and a ceremony. The winning papers will be translated in English and will enter an advanced stage of the Global competition. Conditions to participate are the same as for the Global Prize. In order to keep a common level playing field, the Jurys overlap to some extent.