John R. Lewis Case Competition

Application Dates

• October 3, 2022 - Application opens
• November 18, 2022 at 11:59PM EST - Application deadline

Semifinals

• December 5, 2022 - Semifinalist teams announced
• January 19, 2023 - Semifinal presentations due
• January 20, 2023 - Semifinals held virtually

Finals

• February 17, 2023 - Live final event held in-person in Atlanta
• February 16 - February 19, 2023 - Making the Case for Change experiential weekend

The Competition 

• Emory University Goizueta Business School will serve as the overall competition organizer as well as a host school
• The schools will host a total of five (5) company-specific preliminary and semifinal rounds of the competition. The companies are to be announced.
• The live final round will be in-person and hosted by Emory University

Preliminary Round (October 3, 2022 - November 18, 2022)

• Teams of four (4) to six (6) students from a university will submit an application to an industry of their choosing, consisting of applicant information and a PowerPoint statement of intention (maximum 7 slides) that responds in detail to the following questions:
  • What role does your team believe business should play in addressing issues of racial inequality and injustice in your selected industry? (50%)
  • How would your team structure your problem-solving approach to this project? This includes primary and/or secondary research methods and the team's problem-solving approach (20%)
  • Half of prize money awarded to each team will be donated to an organization advancing racial justice of the winner's choosing. How would your team propose to invest the prize money? Explain how the team would invest the money, the expected impact, and the rationale (10%)
  • Demonstrate why your team represents diversity. Racial injustice is an issue for all, regardless of race/ethnicity (20%)
• Student teams will be able to submit one (1) application to only one (1) company, while providing a primary backup and secondary backup company, should they not be selected for their primary company
• Multiple teams from the same university may apply, but only one (1) team per university may advance to each company-specific semifinal. Further, no more than two (2) teams per university may advance to the entire semifinal round

Semifinal Round (December 5, 2022 - January 20, 2023)

• Following a review by the screening committee (see "judges and prizes" tab for details), advancing teams will move on to the semifinal round where they will have the opportunity to solve unique problems for a specific sponsoring client and virtually present to a panel of judges on January 20th
• Teams will have six (6) weeks before their presentation to connect with the sponsor, conduct primary research, and develop a presentation that explores and answers the sponsor's case prompt
• On the day of the semifinals, each team will have 20 minutes to present, followed by 10 minutes of Q&A

Final Round (February 16 - 18, 2023)

• Winning teams from each industry will then present at the final in-person event
• The live final round will be in person and accompanied by the Making the Case for Change experiential conference.
•  Teams will not have the opportunity to change their presentation content following the semifinal round feedback, but may change their presentation delivery; However, it is highly recommended that the presentation aligns with the content to keep the audience engaged
• During the round, an esteemed panel of judges will again review each presentation using the same semifinal rubric to determine the overall champion ($20,000) and runner-up ($10,000).

Preliminary Round

Each application will be reviewed by an initial screening committee comprised of university faculty, corporate partners, and racial justice/equality experts. The initial screening committee will score the PowerPoint statement of intention by utilizing a detailed rubric and evaluating each team's responses to the 4 questions. Submissions are reviewed and teams will be selected to advance to the semifinal round.

Semifinal & Final Rounds

Judges consist of corporate partners, racial justice NGO partners, faculty, and elected officials who will use a numerical scoring system across the following criteria:

• Potential for impact
• Feasibility of recommendations
• Creativity of solution
• Boldness
• Research quality and evidential support for recommendations
• Story structure and narrative
• Slide craft
• Presentation delivery

Prizes

• All prizes are a 1 to 1 split with 50% going to the team and 50% to be donated to an organization advancing racial justice of the winner’s choosing
• Semifinal Round:
  • Winning teams: $5,000
  • Runner-ups: $1,000
• Final Round:
  • Overall Winner: $20,000
  • 2nd Place Winner: $10,000

Preliminary Round

• Applications must be submitted by 11:59PM EST on November 18th, 2022
• The format is a PowerPoint statement of intention, along with basic application information
• Maximum of seven (7) slides, excluding the cover/title slide. Please no appendices
• University name, logo or colors should not be included in your presentation. However, team member names can be used
• Teams must consist of 4-6 students from the same university. All graduate and undergraduate students may apply, and teams may consist of students from multiple programs.
• No changes to team composition are allowed between rounds

Semifinal & Final Rounds

• The semifinal round will be virtual
• The semifinal round will consist of a 20-minute PowerPoint presentation and 10 minutes of judge Q&A. A 2-minute and a 30-second warning will be given for the presentation portion. Teams going over the 20-minute presentation mark will be penalized.
• The final round will be in-person.
• The five teams (one per corporate partner) advancing to the final round will have 20 minutes to present the same PowerPoint presentation from the semifinal round. However, there will be no judge Q&A in the final round.
• All secondary research sources must be cited, and all primary research methods must be described in detail in the presentation appendix.
• Up to two hours of faculty advising/coaching is permitted and must be documented in the presentation appendix
• University name, logo, or colors should not be included in your presentation. However, team member names can be used
• Video and other media ARE allowed
• Semifinal teams must submit a final PowerPoint presentation (PPT or PDF file) to their competition liaison by 5 pm EST on January 19, 2023. No changes may be made to the presentation after this submission 
• Business formal attire is expected