Olin Business School Launches Competition for Journalists

“Strategic change” is the focus of a new journalism prize that aims to raise awareness of what makes successful companies tick. The Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis announces the creation of the Olin Corporate Strategy Prize with $10,000 in honoraria for the best reporting on a significant shift in corporate strategy.

“Part of our mission as a business school is to expand understanding among our students and the general business public about current business practices,” says Mahendra Gupta, Olin’s dean and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil professor of management and accounting. “This new competition will shine a spotlight on the best business journalists covering corporate strategy and provide excellent case studies for faculty, students and managers to study.”

A distinguished panel of judges including journalists, business school scholars, strategy experts and corporate leaders will award prizes to the top three articles.

• First prize winner: $5,000
• Second prize winner: $3,500
• Third prize winner: $1,500

The competition is open to professional journalists who have published a story in the past two years profiling a company that has recently undergone or is undergoing significant strategic change. Complete contest rules and requirements are available at the Olin Corporate Strategy Prize website.

A compendium of qualified articles submitted to the competition will be widely distributed to accredited business schools for use in their academic programs. Olin faculty and students envision using the articles in case competitions and case studies. The school also foresees the possibility of future collaboration between faculty and journalists to conduct expanded analysis of cases to further understanding of the complexities of strategic change.

Deadline for submissions to the competition is June 30, 2010.

The Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis is an institution of leaders: inspiring faculty and exceptional staff…exhilarated, brilliant students…and successful, energized alumni. The school’s mission is to: create knowledge, inspire individuals and transform business. For more information, visit olin.wustl.edu