The Closing Ceremony is the concluding plenary event of a Model UN (MUN) conference, mirroring the formal closure of real UN sessions such as the end of a General Assembly session. It typically gathers all delegates, faculty advisors, chairs, and the secretariat in a single hall after committee work has ended.
A standard closing ceremony includes several elements:
- Remarks by the Secretary-General and sometimes the Director-General or conference host, reflecting on the substantive work and themes of the conference.
- Guest speakers, often diplomats, academics, or alumni, depending on the conference's profile (e.g., HMUN, WorldMUN, NMUN, and LIMUN frequently invite practitioners).
- Awards presentation, where chairs or the secretariat recognize delegates with distinctions such as Best Delegate, Outstanding Delegate, Honorable Mention, Verbal Commendation, and Best Position Paper. Some conferences also give Best Delegation and Best Small Delegation awards based on aggregated committee performance.
- Formal adjournment, in which the Secretary-General declares the session closed, often by gavel, paralleling the closure procedure used in UN bodies.
Awards criteria vary by circuit. North American collegiate conferences typically weigh diplomacy, research, and caucus contribution; the NMUN circuit explicitly de-emphasizes individual awards in favor of delegation-level recognition and adherence to UN rules of procedure. European and Asian circuits, such as those affiliated with THIMUN, often forgo individual awards entirely, consistent with THIMUN's long-standing no-awards philosophy.
The closing ceremony also serves practical functions: announcing the next iteration of the conference, thanking the host institution and sponsors, and providing closure for delegations traveling home. For delegates, it is the moment when committee outcomes — resolutions passed, crises resolved — are publicly acknowledged. Unlike the Opening Ceremony, which sets thematic expectations, the Closing Ceremony evaluates and concludes them.
Example
At Harvard WorldMUN 2023 in Belém, Brazil, the Closing Ceremony featured remarks from the Secretary-General, announcement of Diplomacy Awards by committee, and the unveiling of the next host city.
Frequently asked questions
No. THIMUN-affiliated conferences and many European circuits intentionally do not award individual delegates, while most North American collegiate and high school conferences do.
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