A jury made up of representatives from research and education as well as the BMBF and the UNICUM editorial staff chose three winning essays that will be premiered at the closing event on 16 April.

First place was awarded to Lina Schwarz from the Humboldt University of Berlin. She impressed the expert committee and jury with her submission "Die Verwicklungshilfe" (translation: "Complex Aid"). The student has won a voucher for a study trip to South Africa totalling €2,000 with her essay on the issue of human capital development. The jury praised the originality of her conceptual approach and coherent portrayal of the complex issue. In her essay, Schwarz criticised the construed separation of the world into developed countries and developing countries and questioned existing standards for the development level:
"How would the industrialised countries react if the developing countries no longer wanted to be developed by them? Has the time come to turn the tables and develop solutions for the problems of the industrialised nations?"
Second prize goes to Rebecca Nicklaus from the University of Duisburg-Essen for her essay "Human Capital Development – Ein Versuch der Weigerung" (translation: Human Capital Development – An Attempt at Denial). Her prize is an iPad. The third-place winner is Carolin Hoffmann with her essay "Farm-Idylle in Südafrika: Zwischen literarischer Sehnsucht und politischer Realität" (Idyllic Farms in South Africa: Between Literary Longing and Political Reality". The student from the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in Bonn has won a year's supply of fresh organic fruit and vegetables.