The HR Innovation Award is open to anyone with a passion for the field of human resources — specifically, young people who are interested in researching, proposing, and developing the latest trends related to innovation, transformation, and digitalisation in this field.

This award is particularly geared towards students who are in the final year of — or have recently completed — their bachelor’s degree, typically in employment relations and human resources, law, psychology, or business administration. This is not a prerequisite, however, as any student from any discipline may be interested in this field.

This edition focuses on addressing realities or challenges in the area of Human Resources from the point of view of innovation and technology, drawing on the latest trends. Using this topic as a starting point, the goal is to encourage the participants’ creativity, without imposing any kind of restriction as to their approach. The originality of the project will be one of the most important aspects assessed by the jury.

Participants may choose any subject related to what is described above and submit a proposal on it.

The object of the HR Innovation Award is the development of an original and innovative project, individually or in teams of up to four members. This project can be approached from any direction, as long as it deals with the latest trends, digitalisation, and innovation in people management.

The application deadline is 27 May 2024.

There is no financial cost associated with registration.

After the duly filled-in application is received, an email will be sent to the applicant, confirming their registration and participation in the HR Innovation Award.

The project must be submitted in the following format:

• Microsoft Word document in Times New Roman, 12 pt, 1.5 line spacing, justified. This document may not exceed 20 pages in length, excluding notes and/or bibliographical references, which must be cited at the end.

Any bibliographical references that may be of interest due to their relevance to the study of the suggested topic (manuals, monographs, scientific articles, regulations, jurisprudence, etc.) must be correctly identified and cited in APA style.

The document must also include a cover page, containing:

• title of the project;
• name(s) and surname(s) of the author(s);
• programme and year in which they are currently enrolled;
• university of origin;
• a creative, freestyle presentation summarising the content of the Microsoft Word document.

The project must be submitted by email to Ana Casado (ana.casado@centrogarrigues.com ) no later than 7 p.m. (CET) on 24 June 2024 and in accordance with the following guidelines:

• The subject line must read ‘HR Innovation Award’.
• The body of the email must include the title of the project and identity of the author(s).
• Two different versions of the project, both in PDF format, must be submitted in attachment (or via WeTransfer, if they exceed the maximum attachment size):
• one version must include the title of the project and identity of the author(s), including their name(s) and surname(s) and their university of origin or current employer;
• the second version must include only the title of the project, without identifying the author(s), their university of origin or current employer (this second anonymised version will be the one presented to the jury for evaluation).
• Once this email has been received and it has been confirmed that the attached files can be opened without issue, an acknowledgement of receipt will be emailed back to the applicant.

Once all entries have been received, the jury will evaluate each of them and select the five best projects. The decision will then be announced and the five finalists will be invited to present their project before the jury, which will determine the two winners. The participants will then be notified of the decision, and the prizes will be awarded.

The jury will be composed of the academic director, HR programmes director, research committee members and faculty members of Centro de Estudios Garrigues.

Each submission, duly anonymised, will be evaluated by every member of the jury. Among other criteria, the jury will take into account the scientific rigour, quality, originality, and impact of the project.

The jury’s decision will be final. Any prize may be declared void if the jury considers that the submissions fail to meet the minimum criteria for the prize to be awarded.

• First prize: Each member of the winning team will be awarded a scholarship of 50 per cent tuition to study the full-time Master in Human Resources Management at Centro de Estudios Garrigues.
• Second prize: Each member of the winning team will be awarded a scholarship of 25 per cent tuition to study the full-time Master in Human Resources Management at Centro de Estudios Garrigues.

Every participant will receive a certificate of participation in the competition.

These scholarships are only available for the 2023/24 academic year and are not cumulative with other scholarships, prizes, or grants awarded by Centro de Estudios Garrigues. Prize-winners must provide proof, at the time of their admission to the master’s degree, that they meet the academic or professional requirements.

The winners will be notified of the decision no later than mid-July. The winners will also be announced on the Centro de Estudios Garrigues website and its official social media.

Transfer of intellectual property rights to Centro de Estudios Garrigues:

• All prize-winning participants agree to transfer all intellectual property rights over their submissions exclusively to Centro de Estudios Garrigues, without any type of geographical limitation, for the entire legal term of the rights, including the right to transfer or license them to third parties (such transfers may be total or partial, exclusive or not, with or without compensation) and to make use of them via any channels, media, and/or formats.
• The transfer includes, but is not limited to, rights to reproduce, distribute, disseminate to the public (including making them available to the public interactively and on demand), and modify the submissions (including the right to create derivative works) in any form and in any format, including hardback, trade paper, paperback, digital (e.g. on the Centro de Estudios Garrigues blog), periodicals, reviews, promotional editions, print on demand, or any other that Centro de Estudios Garrigues considers necessary to maximise the dissemination of the works.
• Under no circumstances will the publication of the submissions entitle the authors to any kind of economic rights.
• The transfer of rights regulated herein refers to the economic rights over the prize-winning submissions, but does not extend to any moral rights that may apply, which Centro de Estudios Garrigues will undertake to observe and respect.
• Should Centro de Estudios Garrigues fail to publish the prize-winning submissions within a period of one (1) year from the date of notification of prizes, it will forfeit the exclusivity agreed herein and the prize-winning participants may, whether or not in partnership with Centro de Estudios Garrigues and/or third parties authorised by it, publish the prize-winning submissions.

• All prize-winning participants agree to be liable to Centro de Estudios Garrigues as to the lawful exercise of the rights transferred by virtue of this document, affirming that they have not entered into and will not enter into any agreements or obligations of any kind and that the prize-winning works do not infringe and will not infringe on any third-party rights.
• The prize-winning participants exonerate Centro de Estudios Garrigues from any liability and undertake to indemnify it against any judicial and/or extrajudicial claims arising from the non-fulfilment of the guarantees provided herein.
• Moreover, the prize-winning participants undertake to sign any additional documents that may be requested by Centro de Estudios Garrigues to validate or confirm this transfer of rights.

Authorisation for the use of personal data

The personal data of participants in the HR Innovation Award will be processed in accordance with the information provided in the registration forms and other specific documents containing information or consent to process the data in connection with the award. Participants must expressly authorise Centro de Estudios Garrigues to use their names and image for the sole purpose of promoting the award and publishing the submissions.

Agreement with the terms and conditions

Submission of a project to this competition constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of these terms and conditions.