Olive Branch Church · Essay Competition
2023 · Prize: NPR 4,25,000 · Winner: Arun Poudel
As Olive Branch Church entered its 22nd year, the 2023 essay competition looked forward rather than back. "Leaders of Tomorrow" invited young writers to articulate a vision — not a fantasy, but a grounded, principled vision — for what faithful leadership in their community might look like over the next ten years.
The competition was promoted through 8 schools and 3 colleges in Pokhara, and for the first time entries were accepted from youth aged 14 to 30 across all of Nepal. 134 entries were received, from Pokhara, Kathmandu, Dhangadhi, and even two entries from Nepali students studying abroad.
The judging panel of six included two former essay competition winners from earlier years, a school principal, and a member of the church's youth leadership conference organising committee.
A vision for leading communities of faith with courage, humility, and purpose in the coming decade.
Writers were encouraged to approach the theme through personal narrative, theological reflection, argumentative essay, or a combination of these forms.
Word limit: 1,000 – 3,000 words · Language: English, Nepali, or bilingual
All submissions are reviewed by a panel of church elders, educators, and community representatives. Entries are scored across four weighted criteria:
Arun Poudel, aged 21, was a second-year business student and youth group leader at Olive Branch Church. His essay, "Lead from the Ground Up," argued that the most effective community leaders of the next decade will not be those who seek positions of authority, but those who choose to remain in their communities when leaving would be easier. Drawing on his own experience mentoring younger students and organising neighbourhood clean-up drives, Arun wrote with the authority of someone who had already begun the work he was describing. "The leader tomorrow needs is already here," he wrote. "They are just waiting to be told that staying matters."