Name: Competition Advocacy Contest 2026
Start: 2025-12-03T11:10:00.000-05:00
End: 2026-01-23T11:10:00.000-05:00
Location: Competition Advocacy Contest 2026

The International Competition Network (ICN) and the World Bank Group are pleased to announce the launch of the 2026 Competition Advocacy Contest. The contest aims to highlight the key role competition agencies, sector regulators and other governmental bodies or non-governmental organizations play in promoting competition by showcasing their advocacy success stories.

CONTEST DETAILS
HOW TO APPLY
SELECTION PROCESS

As defined by the ICN, competition advocacy refers to activities that promote a competitive environment through non-enforcement mechanisms, such as building relationships with government entities, increasing public awareness of competition’s benefits and identifying and removing anticompetitive policies and regulations

We are looking for success stories from competition agencies, other public bodies or civil society that demonstrate the tangible results of competition advocacy under four themes:

Theme 1 – Advancing competition advocacy in times of rapid changes in the global landscape

Governments are increasingly turning to industrial policies, subsidies and state support to strengthen strategic sectors and supply chains. These measures can promote growth and resilience, but risk distorting markets if not designed with competition in mind. For example, evidence suggests that subsidies raise market share but not productivity: in an OECD working paper, subsidies to large manufacturing firms increased their global market shares but had no or negative impacts on investment and productivity. Competition advocacy is essential to ensure that measures targeting resilience and self-sufficiency promote efficiency and investment rather than distortions or market concentration.

Initiatives under this theme show how agencies have supported policymakers to distinguish between interventions that genuinely address market failures, and those that primarily shield incumbents from competition.

Theme 2 – Promoting a culture of compliance through innovative advocacy and digital tools

Building a culture of compliance is one of the cornerstones of effective competition policy. From AI-powered market screening to online training platforms, TV shows to summer schools, and interactive compliance programs for businesses, innovation can transform the way competition authorities engage with stakeholders. Digital tools offer new possibilities to detect, prevent, and communicate about anticompetitive behavior. The rise of accessible technology and social media platforms also enables agencies to reach broader audiences and measure the effectiveness of their advocacy campaigns more precisely.

Examples in this theme include innovative advocacy or digital solutions to promote compliance and build awareness, whether through partnerships with industry, public outreach or creative use of technology to encourage responsible business practices.

Theme 3 – Embedding competition principles in the green and digital transitions

The green and digital transitions are reshaping economies and creating new markets, which can reinforce each other: digital technologies could cut global greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 20 percent by 2050 in the energy, materials, and mobility sectors (World Bank, 2023). However, these transformations also bring new risks of concentration and conducts. To ensure the transitions remain open and contestable, competition authorities are taking action on several fronts through scalable solutions. In digital markets, sector reviews expose competition risks in platforms, cloud, adtech and AI. Market studies and regulation together promote interoperability, data portability and fair access to essential inputs. In the green sphere, authorities are issuing guidelines that tie environmental subsidies to proportionality and competition safeguards, and publishing guidance that clarifies when firms can cooperate on sustainability goals. Through advocacy and monitoring, authorities also tackle practical barriers, such as grid access or regulatory bottlenecks, to enable entry and investment in emerging green sectors and critical minerals.

This theme focuses on efforts to integrate competition principles into policies supporting digital or green transitions, including market studies, guidelines, regulation and collaboration with policy-makers.

Theme 4 – Global convergence vs. country specificity: contextualizing competition law and policy

While competition law is grounded in common economic principles, its application must often reflect local realities. The ongoing debate between global convergence and national specificity raises important questions about how competition regimes can be adapted to diverse economic structures, levels of development and institutional capacities without compromising on their core goals. Many jurisdictions adapt global best practices to local and regional contexts shaped by informality, inequality, and structural market constraints. Advocating for policies that reflect these contexts, while maintaining clear consumer welfare and efficiency objectives, can enhance the legitimacy and effectiveness of competition systems.

This theme explores how agencies have tailored competition advocacy and policy design, adapting to local policy needs without diluting the fundamental aims of competition law.

Please contact Alex Ciborowska with any questions at aciborowska@worldbank.org.

The deadline for submissions is January 24, 2026.

Competition agencies, sector regulators and other government bodies and non-governmental organizations promoting competition policy are welcome to apply.

If you are not a member of the ICN, you should reach out to the ICN member in your jurisdiction to inform about your intention to participate in the contest. A list of all ICN members is available here. Joint submissions from ICN members and government bodies or non-governmental organizations are encouraged.

In order to participate, candidates must complete the online survey. Key information required to apply includes:

Information below will be used for blind review. While answering, don’t identify your institution or jurisdiction. Please use generic words like "legislation", "agency", "region" or "country" to avoid identification.
1	A summary of the advocacy initiative. Please include information covering (i) socioeconomic relevance of the intervention, (ii) the issue tackled by the initiative, (iii) the solution proposed/implemented and/or (iv) impact when available. (150 words)
2	The competition issue under assessment. (150 words)
3	The strategy used to address the issue. It can include, for instance, communication strategy, stakeholders involved, resources allocated, evidence building. (150 words)
4	The main messages and recommendations conveyed by the advocacy activity. (150 words)
5	Collaboration with other agencies/organization and stakeholders. (150 words)
6	The results of the initiative. For example: (i) recommendations were implemented by public bodies, (ii) opinions were published or disseminated, (iii) other immediate changes generated by the initiative. (150 words)
7	Information whether the initiative (i) is inspired by initiatives of other jurisdictions, (ii) is inspired by other initiatives in your jurisdiction, or (iii) inspired other initiatives locally or abroad. Please provide brief information on other initiatives if applicable.
8	Effective or expected socioeconomic impacts. For instance, level of consumer savings, investment, value added, entry of new firms, others. (150 words)
9	Lessons learned with the initiative. (150 words)

Stories submitted to previous editions of the contest that were not awarded are eligible for resubmission.

The online survey is the only valid application method. Applications through email messages or that fail to provide the required information in compliance with indicated character limits and blind review standards will not be considered.

Please contact Alex Ciborowska with any questions at aciborowska@worldbank.org.

The deadline for submissions is January 23, 2026.

➡️ APPLY ONLINE

Submissions will undergo a rigorous assessment of the following criteria:

Relevance of the competition issue tackled by the initiative;
Success of the advocacy activity - results achieved;
Impact and effects on markets, spillover effects and lessons learned;
Advocacy strategy - creativity and originality, cooperation mechanisms deployed.

An independent panel will review the submissions and select the top stories. Winning applicants will be invited to present their stories at a joint ICN-World Bank Group event.

Winners and honorable mentions will be announced in advance of the 2026 ICN Annual Conference.