The competition is challenging students to write a research essay on how the Olympic ideals of fairness, integrity and openness can help businesses balance commercial success with their social responsibilities.

The awards are being run by the International Pierre de Coubertin Committee (CIPC) and the Institute of Business Ethics (IBE) with the patronage of HRH The Princess Royal and have been recognised by the Inspire Mark.

Seb Coe, Chair of the LOCOG said: “I am delighted that the Coubertin Olympic Student Award Competition has achieved the London 2012 Inspire Mark. This is one way students in the UK can get involved with the London 2012 Games and our vision for using the power of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements to inspire change.”

The awards will be run every year in the run-up to the London 2012 and will be complemented by a series of inspirational conferences and debates bringing together prominent individuals from the worlds of academia, sports and business.

The closing date for this year’s competition is 30th June 2010 and all entries will be assessed by a panel of judges before the winners receive £2,000 and the runners up get £1,000. The best essays will also be published by the CIPC and IBE.

To find out more about the awards, visit the website by clicking here.

Pierre Frédy Baron de Coubertin was a French pedagogue and historian, founder of the International Olympic Committee and considered father of the modern Olympic Games.

Born in 1863, de Coubertin became an academic and studied a broad range of topics, most notably education and history. On 25 November 1892, de Coubertin gave a conference at the Sorbonne, Paris on physical exercises in the modern world where he announced the plan for re-establishing the Olympic Games.

Two years later he declared the re-establishment of the Games and the foundation of the International Olympic Committee over which he would preside from 1896 to 1925 with devotion.

The CIPC was founded in 1975 to ensure Pierre de Coubertin’s ideals of excellence, fairness, participation and peace remain part of the overall philosophy of the Olympic Games.