Case Writing Competition

2022 Competition Now Open
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO - July 10, 2022!


Case writing competition: The Case for Women

In partnership with The Case for Women, Emerald Publishing and Forté, the MBA Roundtable is pleased to announce the second annual case study competition focused on the female case protagonist. Entries are now open with a deadline of July 10, 2022.  

Women in case studies

The aim of this competition is to encourage and promote the development of high-quality teaching case material that positively represents real women in leadership positions in the workplace.

Having 10 years of research on award-winning case papers, Lesley Symons of The Case for Women showed that women protagonists are present in only 11% of award-winning case papers. She developed the Symons Test which is used to assess the presence of women in case papers:
  • Does it have a woman in it?
  • Is she the protagonist?
  • Does she speak to another woman about the business?
Only 4% of the case papers researched met all three of the rules. 

The award

The total prize fund for the collection is now $12,000. Prizes are awarded to the overall winner and two runners-up.

Key criteria

Judging criteria
  • Cases should have a female protagonist
  • Her characteristics as a leader should be described in a positive way
  • There should be a general balance of genders across the characters in the paper. (This does not need to be precise although an approximate range of between 60:40 either way is considered balanced)
  • The female protagonist should speak to another woman about the business
  • Authors are asked to include the pronouns of each person, male and female, after they are introduced within the case for the first time. For example "Susan Wojcicki (she) faced a difficult decision."
  • Ideally, the industry or setting of the case should not fall into one of the "Four F" categories: food, family, fashion and furniture. This is not a mandatory requirement.

Submission criteria
  • All cases should be teaching cases based on a real situation in a real company, with a clear decision-making situation, and prepared in accordance with case writing guidelines provided in the instructional materials
  • Case studies submitted should not have been published before in their current or substantially similar form or be under consideration for publication in any ISSN/ ISBN-registered publication or with any other case centre
  • All cases which are submitted to the judging panel will be published in our eCase Collection. By participating in the competition, you are automatically agreeing to have your case study published in the collection on an exclusive license.
  • All case studies must be accompanied by a consent to publish release form, which has been completed and signed by the management of the company or individuals included in the case
  • All cases must be accompanied by a teaching note which must include:
    • a summary of the case
    • the teaching objectives and target audience
    • a suggested teaching approach and strategy
    • a discussion on the implication of gender issues and leadership in the case
    • additional readings or references
    • feedback on how the case worked in the classroom.
To learn more and to submit your case visit Emerald Publishing

Watch the recent webinar to learn more about the case competition:



Check out the 2020 winners