WEF - Promoting student learning through participation
The Wideman Prize for Project Management Excellence is an annual prize awarded to a team of students who have demonstrated skills and leadership in Project Management. The competition is open to students who are enrolled in Wideman Education Foundation (WEF) approved Project Management under-graduate courses. Teams who enter the competition consist of teams of four to five members each who work together to select, initiate, plan and execute a real project as part of their studies.
In accordance with the WEF mission, the Wideman Prize is designed to promote sound Project Management education. By introducing the element of competition to student’s educational environment, the Prize is set to lift the bar on student’s achievement levels and to attract a broader cross section of under-graduate students to Project Management classes. As such, the Wideman Prize helps students experience Project Management in the real world and encourages them to develop the leadership and organizational skills needed to succeed in today’s complex and fast paced projects.
By helping students develop skills at an early age, the prize is intended to help attract people into the Project Management career path once they graduate and start developing their careers.
To ensure that the projects that teams choose to undertake is of value to society as a whole, competing teams must select a project that is based upon the theme of “sustainable living practices”. Teams are encouraged to look at their own environments and select projects that will promote sustainable living practices in their own communities, schools or environments. For the purposes of the competition, sustainable living practice is defined as “the ability to meet present needs without damaging or depleting the environmental, economic or social resources that future generations will need” *1.
Teams who demonstrate their capabilities in Project Management are selected as finalists in the competition. Finalists are selected based on their organizational skills, their ability to apply Project Management tools and techniques successfully and their ability to work together as an effective team. All finalists earn the right to describe themselves as “Wideman Prize Finalists” on their resumes. Finalists move forward to an elimination round in which teams present their projects, the outcomes their projects attained and the learning they gained through the competition. Using an elimination round and presentations to expert judges from the field of professional Project Management the winner of the Wideman Prize is selected. The winning team is awarded a cash prize and the right to represent themselves as “Wideman Prize Winner” on their resumes.
Schools who are interested in participating in the Wideman Prize should contact the Wideman Educational Foundation via our Contact Us page. Please indicate that your enquiry is about participating in the Wideman Competition.
*1 – Source: Teaching Tolerance, “A Standard to Sustain,” Number 24 (Fall 2003), p. 14
2010 – 2011 Competition Press Release