DELEGATE CONTESTS

Extend your Model UN skills beyond the committee room, reflect on the importance of the United Nations, and receive feedback from Yale professors. Winning selections will be published on the YMUN website!

 

ESSay CONTEST

In 1945, fifty nations came together in San Francisco for months of conversations, debate, and compromise on how to tackle the world's most pressing issues. The UN Charter, which established the structural organs and global responsibilities of the United Nations, outlines how to approach global conflicts. The charter created guardrails for peacekeeping in warring nations, support systems to further human rights, and standards affirming equality for all member nations. This document unites the world under the shared mission to secure a safer, more equitable, and prosperous world for future generations.

Theme: “We the peoples of the United Nations determined…”

This essay theme challenges delegates to consider what it means to be a part of “the peoples” of member countries in global partnership for progress. How can one retain selfhood or identity within their own “people” while being a global citizen? How can the United Nations determine what is best for a single country? Delegates are encouraged to consider identity, citizenship, belonging, and globalization in their response, which must not exceed 1,000 words.

JUDGE: TBA

Essays will be evaluated by a member of the Yale political science faculty based on the quality of argument, use of evidence, creativity, and style. Click “submit” below for contest rules. Submissions are due by 11:59 EST on December 11, 2026.

 
Submit your Essay!
 

ARTS Contest

Theme: Water and Wind

This year’s art theme of Water & Wind invites us to reflect on how shared use of the Earth’s resources unites distant peoples in a manner that may transcend time, history, culture, and geography. 

The universality of our waterways, atmosphere, natural resources, and planet has the power to unite peoples of various nations. The mistreatment of the planet can also create discord and inequality among global citizens. Represent, dramatize, or challenge this notion. Any medium, size, and format is acceptable. You must also submit an artist's statement which must, in no more than 1,000 words, explain your piece and address your specific artistic choices.

 
 

  • Milette Gaifman is the Andrew Downey Orrick Professor of Classics and History of Art at Yale University. A scholar of ancient art and archaeology, her work focuses primarily on Greek art of the Archaic and Classical periods. Her forthcoming book, A Landmark Through Time: On Classifying Greek Art and Architecture (Chicago University Press, 2027), is the revised and expanded version of the Louise Smith Bross Lectures she delivered at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago in 2018. In this work, she examines how classifications and taxonomies shape our understanding of Greek art and architecture in the modern era. She is also the author of Aniconism in Greek Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2012); The Art of Libation in Classical Athens (Yale University Press, 2018); and co-editor of Exploring Aniconism, thematic issue of Religion 47, (2017); The Embodied Object in Classical Antiquity, special issue of Art History (June 2018); and Relief in Greek, Roman, and Late Antique Art, Yale Classical Studies 40, (2025). Additionally, she was the Co-editor-in-Chief of the The Art Bulletin, in 2020-2022. See further: https://arthistory.yale.edu/people/milette-gaifman

Prof. Gaifman will evaluate pieces based on technique, originality, and aesthetics. Click “submit” below for contest rules. Submissions are due by 11:59 EST on December 11, 2026.

 
SUBMIT YOUR ART!