Gulen Institute Youth Platform 2015 Winners


Date posted: January 28, 2015

As the Gülen Institute Youth Platform Committee, we are pleased to announce the winners of the Essay Contest 2015.

We appreciate all the hard work you have done to write your essays from all around the world. Over 1000 essays from 65 countries and 35 states were submitted for the contest. There are 30 winners from 12 different countries. The winners will be contacted about the details regarding their flight, hotel and other arrangements.

Gülen Institute Youth Platform Committee especially thanks the judges from University of Houston, University of Houston-Downtown, Texas Southern University, Texas A&M University, San Jacinto College, North American University, Lamar University, Alvin Community College,Midwestern State University, Lone Star College, Prairie View A&M University, Rice University, Tarleton State University, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas State University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Texas at San Antonio, University of Texas-Pan American, Wharton County Junior College,  and Houston Community College. We also thank Prof. Tom Gage, chair of this essay contest, for his time, effort, and leadership. Without his support, this event would not have been a success.

Thank you students again for your participation, dedication and efforts!

Gulen Institute Youth Platform Committee

GULEN INSTITUTE – YOUTH PLATFORM 2015 WINNERS

Rank Name Country Award
1 Min Byung Chae South Korea 2,000 USD + 3-day excursion
2 Kuangning Ge Singapore 1,500 USD + 3-day excursion
3 Sung Yeon Kim Canada 1,000 USD + 3-day excursion
4 Eric Frankel USA 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
5 Daniyal Chaudhry Canada 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
6 William Kang USA 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
7 Nicolas Ortega Bolivia 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
8 Teresa Isabel Naval Philippines 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
9 Linh He USA 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
10 Hyeji Suh USA 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
11 Mary Vickers USA 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
12 Emily Kim USA 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
13 Elif Memet Romania 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
14 Barrett Young USA 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
15 Arif Demirkan Turkey 300 USD+ 3-day excursion
16 Oumar Karaga Burkina Faso 100 USD
17 Lucas Lin USA 100 USD
18 Mary Beth Dale USA 100 USD
19 Shivani Pandey USA 100 USD
20 Meilinda Sun USA 100 USD
21 Muhammad Bilal Cheema Canada 100 USD
22 Joseph Gutheinz USA 100 USD
23 Ljubica Pop-Trajkova Macedonia 100 USD
24 Madina Kaliyeva Kazakhstan 100 USD
25 ELIZABETH LUVANDA Tanzania 100 USD
26 Christina Wall USA 100 USD
27 Emma Berthelsen USA 100 USD
28 Arman Dupanovic Bosnia and Herzegovina 100 USD
29 Jeehye Choi USA 100 USD
30 TINASHE PRINCE GWAKUKA USA 100 USD

2015 Essay Contest Theme

“Are Citizens of the World Succeeding in Lessening Global Poverty?”

Poverty entails limitations upon populations in education, finance, human potential, substance and shelter, gender class differences, all limitations that tax food sources, curtailing the potential of the cultures’ youth, loss of capital in maintenance and little for developing sustainable of wealth.

Ending global poverty constitutes a major goal of humanity. There have been many innovative proposals and projects implemented to achieve this goal, several ways of measuring the results of innovative efforts, and considerable publicity to disseminate the results of the effective innovations.

Source: Gulen Institute Youth Platform


Related News

The Anatolians are coming

This inclusion of the Armenian and Jewish cultures in the “Anatolian” concept is worth pondering, for it tells something about the cultural codes of some of the makers of “New Turkey” and how they differ from the codes of “old” (i.e., Kemalist) Turkey.

Gulen’s peace award: Upswing in Islam’s global image?

For centuries, the relationship between western and Islamic civilization has been edgy, due largely to the misconceptions that each of the two civilizations have for each other. Series of international debates have been held across Europe, Asia and Africa on the conflict of between Islamic and other civilizations.

My Nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize is Fethullah Gulen

Fehmi Koru, Houston, Texas 15 October 2005 I do not have a voting right for Nobel nominations, but if I did, my nomination for the peace prize is ready: Fethullah Gulen. Of course, I know he’s controversial even in Turkey, he doesn’t appear in public anymore, he seldom grants interviews, yet nevertheless many in Turkey […]

Skies shudder at an orphan’s tear

Famine, civil war and conflicts in Africa have left thousands of orphans behind. Yagmur Magazine and Kimse Yok Mu Foundation have jointly launched a projects aimed to lift up those orphans. The profit made out of the poetry album Goklerin Titreyişi (meaning shudders of the skies) will be donated to the African children in need. […]

US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee: Charges against Gülen not credible

US House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Dana Rohrabacher said during a hearing titled “Turkey after the July Coup Attempt” in the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that the Turkish government’s claims against a US-based Turkish scholar for masterminding the July 15 coup attempt lack substantial evidence and were not credible.

GYV: Hard-won democratic gains sacrificed for short-term interests

The move to seek the extradition of Fethullah Gülen using irrational justifications, the pressures on those businesspeople who sympathize with the Hizmet movement and the boycotts and sufferings that came in the wake of Erdoğan’s threat, “Do not given them [the Hizmet movement] even a single drop of water,” are the sort of developments unseen even during coup eras.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

IFLC’s ‘colors of the world’ takes stage in Brazil

Reflections on a Hizmet-inspired school in Tanzania

Kimse Yok Mu uplifts orphans in Tacloban

A cami and cemevi together

Turkey-China seek new gateway for business at Tuskon meeting

GYV to deliver awards to peace projects

Turkish purges leave armed forces weak, dismissed officer warns

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News