Dear YWLA club chairs,

by now most of you are probably already in the middle of this year´s application process, evaluating the engagement of amazing young women in your community. It is often a quite challenging process. Not only because there is sometimes a pretty close call but also – and this is quite new – because of the increasing use of AI.

Some of the applicants have started to use AI tools to find the right wording. Of course, that is generally fine. However, it would be great if we could find ways to make sure that there is no discrepancy between the way a young woman expresses herself in person and her written application. This might be possible only in a personal meeting with the applicant, I am afraid.

Therefore, our YWLA district committee has to rely on you and your club committee to review and vet each application accordingly.

With all other aspects of the process you are quite familiar:

• The deadline on district level is April 1st, 2026
• The applicant must not be older than 19 years by this day
• The application, including all documents and the two recommendation letters, have to be translated to English
• Please turn in only one combined PDF file for each application 

For certificates go on the homepage of Zonta International, lock in as member and you’ll find them under tools/YWLA.

We are very much looking forward to your club winner´s application!

Good luck – and THANK YOU so much for all you are doing to make our Young Women in Leadership Award a success!

Susanne Wedewer-Pampus
YWLA D29 chair | ZAC liaison
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