This post is by Claudia Ortiz Reyero, European Education and Training Manager at EACA.

In today's world, where youngsters are highly qualified but struggle to find a job due to the financial crisis, it becomes imperative to receive the most hands-on education one can get. This was the vision of the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) when they founded the European Institute for Commercial Communications Education (edcom) in order to breach the gap between the academic and the professional worlds. edcom, therefore, strives to promote excellence in commercial communications education and research and to further exchanges between the European commercial communications sector and academic partners.

New Student Competition

Always trying to provide our students with international exposure and "real work experience" edcom launched a new student competition last October called the Thesis Competition. The purpose of the competition is to reward the best Bachelor and Master theses dealing with commercial communications among edcom member schools.

Benefits

  • A first step into the research field of commercial communications.
  • The chance to proof students' value at a pan-European level.
  • European recognition and certification for their professional portfolio.

Eligibility

  • edcom Students: in order to apply for the edcom Thesis Competition, you need to be a student (Bachelor or Master level) or recent graduate at one of the edcom Member Schools.
  • Topics: all Bachelor and Master theses with relevance for the field of commercial communications are eligible for this competition (eg: Marketing, PR, Advertising, Design, etc).

Application Process

  • National Competition: between November and December, each school selects the best Bachelor and Master thesis.
  • European Competition: between December and January, edcom members notify the edcom Secretariat about their finalist and finalists are requested to submit an essay-style abstract of the thesis in English together with a poster of the paper, summarising the main themes, evidence and findings.
  • Jury's decision: essays and posters are judged based on criteria, such as quality, novelty and relevance for the commercial communications field, as well as methods and results, among others.

The prize

  • All entries receive an edcom Certificate, the publication of their papers summaries on the edcom website and the chance to publish in a European journal.
  • Winners are offered free participation, flight and accommodation for the EACA International Summer School for Students.

Winners 2013

The winners of the first Thesis Competition were:

Justyna Perlinska, from NHTV University of Applied Sciences, in the Bachelor category:

"Being selected to participate in edcom Thesis Competition was absolutely rewarding. But even more rewarding, as well as unexpected, was winning it."


Click through to see a summary of Justyna's winning thesis.

Zhana Belcheva, from New Bulgarian University, in the Master category:

"I was introduced to the edcom Thesis Competition by my academy counsellor shortly after earning my master degree. It was a unique opportunity and I saw it as a way to further develop my skills and knowledge – all in all it was a rewarding experience, which I¡¦m happy to have had the chance to go through."


Click through to see a summary of Zhana's winning thesis.

Second Edition

The edcom Thesis Competition 2014-2015 has already been launched, so what are you waiting for to present your candidacy? These are the key dates:

  • 15 November 2014: students submit their full thesis to their edcom school contact.
  • 15 December 2014: edcom schools select the winners of the national Thesis Competition.
  • 15 January 2015: winners of the national competition are required to submit their thesis summary in English and their poster presentation.
  • April 2015: edcom Research Committee selects the best edcom Bachelor and Master Thesis.
  • 6-10 July 2015: winners take part in the EACA International Summer School in Rome.

Visit edcom's website for further information on the Thesis Competition.