81 applications were received from 17 UWC schools and colleges. For the first time students from UWC Costa Rica, UWC Thailand and UWC ISAK Japan will be receiving GoMakeADifference grants.

Talking about the grant scheme, co-founder Colin Habgood said, “Jill and I were overwhelmed by the number of applications we received this year. With more than 80 applications to consider it made the process of assessing which projects should be awarded a grant very interesting and challenging. The standard of applications was high - innovative projects, with well-thought through and budgeted plans, demonstrating significant levels of commitment from students to live the UWC mission immediately after they graduate”.

Jill Longson (co-founder) added: “It is inspiring to see the initiatives UWC students have proposed to GoMakeADifference this year. Applications were so thought-provoking and reading each one of them was a truly humbling experience. Unfortunately, it is not possible for every application to be awarded a grant, but we hope that those students we couldn’t support, can somehow use their planning and thinking as a catalyst to fund and deliver their projects in another way”.

From the 81 applications received, 31 UWC mission aligned and diverse projects will be supported across the following regions: 15 in Africa, 9 in Asia, 4 in Americas and 3 in the Middle East and Europe.

Find out more about the winning entries.

We are delighted to announce we have received 80 applications from all 17 schools/colleges across the UWC movement.

The quality received was fantastic, with so many projects being truly innovative and personally challenging for the students. This has made assessing the projects very difficult. This time-consuming task is one which we all love. We find it very humbling and rewarding to learn and understand the different ideas UWC students have and how they believe they can make a difference.

Every application is taken seriously and assessed against the GoMakeADifference award criteria.

Included here is a photo of us, Colin and Jill (the co-founders) together with Ann, the GoMakeADifference Admin Co-ordinator working our way through this year’s diverse applications.

This UWCx initiative aims to help current UWC students live the ethos of UWC straight after leaving their school/college, giving them the opportunity to bring the mission to life. This year we will be awarding a total of 31 grants, totalling $30,400, to students who present community-changing projects that will help to make a positive difference around the world.

So just to let everyone know we will be making announcements of the successful projects by 15th March, so watch this space!

Best wishes from all at the GoMakeADifference Team and thank you again to all who have applied for a 2018 award and the UWC school/college co-ordinations for your help and advice.