  The Near-infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) on the James Webb Space Telescope is
uniquely suited to studying galaxies in the distant Universe with its
combination of multi-object capabilities and sensitivity over a large range in
wavelength (0.6-5.3 microns). Here we present the NIRSpec Wide survey, part of
the NIRSpec Instrument Science Team's Guaranteed Time Observations, using
NIRSpec's microshutter array to obtain spectra of more than 3200 galaxies at
$z>1$ at both low- and high-resolution ($R\approx100$ and 2700) for a total of
105 hours. With 31 pointings covering $\approx$320 arcmin$^2$ across the five
CANDELS fields with exquisite ancillary photometry from the Hubble Space
Telescope, the NIRSpec Wide survey represents a fast and efficient way of using
JWST to probe galaxies in the early Universe. Pointing centers are determined
to maximize the observability of the rarest, high-value sources. Subsequently,
the microshutter configurations are optimized to observe the maximum number of
"census" galaxies with a selection function based primarily on HST/F160W
magnitude, photometric/slitless grism redshift, and predicted \ha\ flux tracing
the bulk of the galaxy population at cosmic noon ($z_{\rm med}=2.0$). We
present details on the survey strategy, the target selection, an outline of the
motivating science cases, and discuss upcoming public data releases to the
community.
