History and scholarship
Lazear and Rosen (1981) modelled rank-order tournaments; Terwiesch and Xu (2008) and Boudreau et al. (2011) analysed innovation contests; Howe (2006) coined crowdsourcing; Amabile (1983) and Kolb (1984) frame motivation and reflection.
Key points
Read theme, criteria, format and IP clauses; proposals usually run problem → evidence → idea → plan → impact. Laws, programmes, visa rules and hiring practice change; check official notices, current law and actual postings.
In practice
Even without awards, use STAR for cover letters; check IP and any fees in the rules.
FAQ
- Worthless without an award?
- No, if you explain your contribution.
- Team or solo?
- Whichever shows your role.
Sources reviewed: 2026-10-26
References
- Lazear, E. P., & Rosen, S. (1981). Rank-order tournaments as optimum labor contracts. Journal of Political Economy, 89(5), 841–864.
- Amabile, T. M. (1983). The Social Psychology of Creativity. Springer-Verlag.
- Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential Learning. Prentice Hall.
- Howe, J. (2006). The rise of crowdsourcing. Wired, 14(6).
- Terwiesch, C., & Xu, Y. (2008). Innovation contests, open innovation, and multiagent problem solving. Management Science, 54(9), 1529–1543.
- Boudreau, K. J., Lacetera, N., & Lakhani, K. R. (2011). Incentives and problem uncertainty in innovation contests: An empirical analysis. Management Science, 57(5), 843–863.
- 고용24(고용노동부). https://www.work24.go.kr
- 국가법령정보센터. https://www.law.go.kr