(Courtesy of WJC) The World Jewish Congress and the Consulate General of Israel in New York are inviting college and university students in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Delaware to pitch their ideas for a campus event, strategy or initiative that explores a new and groundbreaking approach to Israel advocacy and fighting anti-Semitism.

The 2017-2018 Campus Pitch Competition aims to bring fresh perspectives to conversations about Israel at colleges and get students more involved in Jewish affairs. Winners of the competition will receive a $5,000 investment to carry out their unique initiative for benefiting their Jewish community on campus.

Campus Pitch is open to undergraduate and graduate students of all backgrounds in selected states. Proposals may be submitted until December 1, 2017 at http://newyork.campuspitch.org/.

Each student or group of students in the top five will be mentored by a member of the World Jewish Congress-Jewish Diplomatic Corps program to help materialize their idea, build a presentation of their plan and perfect their pitch. The finalists will then pitch their idea to a panel of entrepreneurs, CEOs and global Jewish leaders for the chance to win.

The competition, now in its third year in the United States, launched for the first time last month in the United Kingdom, and will be expanded to other countries next semester.

Past winners include the Faces of Israel project, a walking gallery presenting the diverse population of Israelis, which is continuing to operate and grow with the support of the World Jewish Congress.

World Jewish Congress Chief Program Officer Sonia Gomes de Mesquita said: “The World Jewish Congress and the Israeli consulate created the Campus Pitch Competition to give Jewish students the tools to challenge the dangerous initiatives of those on campus seeking to boycott and delegitimize Jewish communities and Israel. The results of this competition have so far been very impressive and we look forward to seeing more exciting initiatives this year. We truly believe that together, we can and will change the conversation on campus.”

Israel’s Consul General to New York Dani Dayan said: “I, the Consul General of Israel, together with the World Jewish Congress invite you to think outside of the box for the state of Israel. Gather a group, think outrageous ideas and bring them to us. We’ll help you crystallize them and make them a reality. We will celebrate Israel and we will fight the delegitimization of the state of Israel.”