law essay competition year 12 2022

Essay  COMPETITION

2024 global essay prize, registrations for the 2024 global essay prize are now closed. we are pleased to report that this year we have accepted registrations from  34,823 contestants. if you registered on or before the registration deadline (31 may) we look forward to receiving your essay (submit  here)   by the submission deadline of  sunday, 30 june ..

The John Locke Institute encourages young people to cultivate the characteristics that turn good students into great writers: independent thought, depth of knowledge, clear reasoning, critical analysis and persuasive style. Our Essay Competition invites students to explore a wide range of challenging and interesting questions beyond the confines of the school curriculum.

Entering an essay in our competition can build knowledge, and refine skills of argumentation. It also gives students the chance to have their work assessed by experts. All of our essay prizes are judged by a panel of senior academics drawn from leading universities including Oxford and Princeton, under the leadership of the Chairman of Examiners, former Cambridge philosopher, Dr Jamie Whyte.

The judges will choose their favourite essay from each of seven subject categories - Philosophy, Politics, Economics, History, Psychology, Theology and Law - and then select the winner of the Grand Prize for the best entry in any subject. There is also a separate prize awarded for the best essay in the junior category, for under 15s.

Q1. Do we have any good reasons to trust our moral intuition?

Q2. Do girls have a (moral) right to compete in sporting contests that exclude boys?

Q3. Should I be held responsible for what I believe?

Q1. Is there such a thing as too much democracy?

Q2. Is peace in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip possible?

Q3. When is compliance complicity?

Q1. What is the optimal global population?  

Q2. Accurate news reporting is a public good. Does it follow that news agencies should be funded from taxation?

Q3. Do successful business people benefit others when making their money, when spending it, both, or neither?

Q1. Why was sustained economic growth so rare before the later 18th century and why did this change?

Q2. Has music ever significantly changed the course of history?

Q3. Why do civilisations collapse? Is our civilisation in danger?

Q1. When, if ever, should a company be permitted to refuse to do business with a person because of that person’s public statements?

Q2. In the last five years British police have arrested several thousand people for things they posted on social media. Is the UK becoming a police state?

Q3. Your parents say that 11pm is your bedtime. But they don’t punish you if you don’t go to bed by 11pm. Is 11pm really your bedtime?

Q1. According to a study by researchers at four British universities, for each 15-point increase in IQ, the likelihood of getting married increases by around 35% for a man but decreases by around 58% for a woman. Why?

In the original version of this question we misstated a statistic. This was caused by reproducing an error that appeared in several media summaries of the study. We are grateful to one of our contestants, Xinyi Zhang, who helped us to see (with humility and courtesy) why we should take more care to check our sources. We corrected the text on 4 April. Happily, the correction does not in any way alter the thrust of the question.

Q2. There is an unprecedented epidemic of depression and anxiety among young people. Can we fix this? How?

Q3. What is the difference between a psychiatric illness and a character flaw?

Q1. “I am not religious, but I am spiritual.” What could the speaker mean by “spiritual”?

Q2. Is it reasonable to thank God for protection from some natural harm if He is responsible for causing the harm?

Q3. Does God reward those who believe in him? If so, why?

JUNIOR prize

Q1. Does winning a free and fair election automatically confer a mandate for governing?

Q2. Has the anti-racism movement reduced racism?

Q3. Is there life after death?

Q4. How did it happen that governments came to own and run most high schools, while leaving food production to private enterprise? 

Q5. When will advancing technology make most of us unemployable? What should we do about this?

Q6. Should we trust fourteen-year-olds to make decisions about their own bodies? 

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS & FURTHER DETAILS

Please read the following carefully.

Entry to the John Locke Institute Essay Competition 2024 is open to students from any country.

Registration  

Only candidates who registered before the registration deadline of Friday, 31 May 2024 may enter this year's competition.

All entries must be submitted by 11.59 pm BST on  the submission deadline: Sunday, 30 June 2024 .  Candidates must be eighteen years old, or younger, on that date. (Candidates for the Junior Prize must be fourteen years old, or younger, on that date.)

Entry is free.

Each essay must address only one of the questions in your chosen subject category, and must not exceed 2000 words (not counting diagrams, tables of data, endnotes, bibliography or authorship declaration). 

The filename of your pdf must be in this format: FirstName-LastName-Category-QuestionNumber.pdf; so, for instance, Alexander Popham would submit his answer to question 2 in the Psychology category with the following file name:

Alexander-Popham-Psychology-2.pdf

Essays with filenames which are not in this format will be rejected.

The candidate's name should NOT appear within the document itself. 

Candidates should NOT add footnotes. They may, however, add endnotes and/or a Bibliography that is clearly titled as such.

Each candidate will be required to provide the email address of an academic referee who is familiar with the candidate's written academic work. This should be a school teacher, if possible, or another responsible adult who is not a relation of the candidate. The John Locke Institute will email referees to verify that the essays submitted are indeed the original work of the candidates.

Submissions may be made as soon as registration opens in April. We recommend that you submit your essay well in advance of the deadline to avoid any last-minute complications.  To submit your essay, click here .  

Acceptance of your essay depends on your granting us permission to use your data for the purposes of receiving and processing your entry as well as communicating with you about the Awards Ceremony Dinner, the academic conference, and other events and programmes of the John Locke Institute and its associated entities.  

Late entries

If for any reason you miss the 30 June deadline you will have an opportunity to make a late entry, under two conditions:

a) A late entry fee of 20.00 USD must be paid by credit card within twenty-four hours of the original deadline; and

b) Your essay must be submitted  before 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 10 July 2024.

To pay for late entry, a registrant need only log into his or her account, select the relevant option and provide the requested payment information.

Our grading system is proprietary. Essayists may be asked to discuss their entry with a member of the John Locke Institute’s faculty. We use various means to identify plagiarism, contract cheating, the use of AI and other forms of fraud . Our determinations in all such matters are final.

Essays will be judged on knowledge and understanding of the relevant material, the competent use of evidence, quality of argumentation, originality, structure, writing style and persuasive force. The very best essays are likely to be those which would be capable of changing somebody's mind. Essays which ignore or fail to address the strongest objections and counter-arguments are unlikely to be successful .

Candidates are advised to answer the question as precisely and directly as possible.

The writers of the best essays will receive a commendation and be shortlisted for a prize. Writers of shortlisted essays will be notified by 11.59 pm BST on Wednesday, 31 July. They will also be invited to London for an invitation-only academic conference and awards dinner in September, where the prize-winners will be announced. Unlike the competition itself, the academic conference and awards dinner are not free. Please be aware that n obody is required to attend either the academic conference or the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London.

All short-listed candidates, including prize-winners, will be able to download eCertificates that acknowledge their achievement. If you win First, Second or Third Prize, and you travel to London for the ceremony, you will receive a signed certificate. 

There is a prize for the best essay in each category. The prize for each winner of a subject category, and the winner of the Junior category, is a scholarship worth US$2000 towards the cost of attending any John Locke Institute programme, and the essays will be published on the Institute's website. Prize-giving ceremonies will take place in London, at which winners and runners-up will be able to meet some of the judges and other faculty members of the John Locke Institute. Family, friends, and teachers are also welcome.

The candidate who submits the best essay overall will be awarded an honorary John Locke Institute Junior Fellowship, which comes with a US$10,000 scholarship to attend one or more of our summer schools and/or visiting scholars programmes. 

The judges' decisions are final, and no correspondence will be entered into.

R egistration opens: 1 April, 2024.

Registration deadline: 31 May, 2024. (Registration is required by this date for subsequent submission.)

Submission deadline: 30 June, 2024.

Late entry deadline: 10 July, 2024. (Late entries are subject to a 20.00 USD charge, payable by 1 July.)

Notification of short-listed essayists: 31 July, 2024.

Academic conference: 20 - 22 September, 2024.

Awards dinner: 21 September, 2024.

Any queries regarding the essay competition should be sent to [email protected] . Please be aware that, due to the large volume of correspondence we receive, we cannot guarantee to answer every query. In particular, regrettably, we are unable to respond to questions whose answers can be found on our website.

If you would like to receive helpful tips  from our examiners about what makes for a winning essay or reminders of upcoming key dates for the 2024  essay competition, please provide your email here to be added to our contact list. .

Thanks for subscribing!

The John Locke Institute's Global Essay Prize is acknowledged as the world's most prestigious essay competition. 

We welcome tens of thousands of submissions from ambitious students in more than 150 countries, and our examiners - including distinguished philosophers, political scientists, economists, historians, psychologists, theologians, and legal scholars - read and carefully assess every entry. 

I encourage you to register for this competition, not only for the hope of winning a prize or commendation, and not only for the chance to join the very best contestants at our academic conference and gala ceremony in London, but equally for the opportunity to engage in the serious scholarly enterprise of researching, reflecting on, writing about, and editing an answer to one of the important and provocative questions in this year's Global Essay Prize. 

We believe that the skills you will acquire in the process will make you a better thinker and a more effective advocate for the ideas that matter most to you.

I hope to see you in September!

Best wishes,

Jamie Whyte, Ph.D. (C ANTAB ) 

Chairman of Examiners

Q. I missed the registration deadline. May I still register or submit an essay?

A. No. Only candidates who registered before 31 May will be able to submit an essay. 

Q. Are footnote s, endnotes, a bibliography or references counted towards the word limit?

A. No. Only the body of the essay is counted. 

Q. Are in-text citations counted towards the word limit? ​

A. If you are using an in-text based referencing format, such as APA, your in-text citations are included in the word limit.

Q. Is it necessary to include foo tnotes or endnotes in an essay? ​

A. You  may not  include footnotes, but you may include in-text citations or endnotes. You should give your sources of any factual claims you make, and you should ackn owledge any other authors on whom you rely.​

Q. I am interested in a question that seems ambiguous. How should I interpret it?

A. You may interpret a question as you deem appropriate, clarifying your interpretation if necessary. Having done so, you must answer the question as directly as possible.

Q. How strict are  the age eligibility criteria?

A. Only students whose nineteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. In the case of the Junior category, only students whose fifteenth birthday falls after 30 June 2024 will be eligible for a prize or a commendation. 

Q. May I submit more than one essay?

A. Yes, you may submit as many essays as you please in any or all categories.

Q. If I am eligible to compete in the Junior category, may I also (or instead) compete in another category?

A. Yes, you may.

Q. May I team up with someone else to write an essay?  

A. No. Each submitted essay must be entirely the work of a single individual.

Q. May I use AI, such as ChatGPT or the like, in writing my essay?

A. All essays will be checked for the use of AI. If we find that any content is generated by AI, your essay will be disqualified. We will also ask you, upon submission of your essay, whether you used AI for  any  purpose related to the writing of your essay, and if so, you will be required to provide details. In that case, if, in our judgement, you have not provided full and accurate details of your use of AI, your essay will be disqualified. 

Since any use of AI (that does not result in disqualification) can only negatively affect our assessment of your work relative to that of work that is done without using AI, your safest course of action is simply not to use it at all. If, however, you choose to use it for any purpose, we reserve the right to make relevant judgements on a case-by-case basis and we will not enter into any correspondence. 

Q. May I have someone else edit, or otherwise help me with, my essay?

A. You may of course discuss your essay with others, and it is perfectly acceptable for them to offer general advice and point out errors or weaknesses in your writing or content, leaving you to address them.

However, no part of your essay may be written by anyone else. This means that you must edit your own work and that while a proofreader may point out errors, you as the essayist must be the one to correct them. 

Q. Do I have to attend the awards ceremony to win a prize? ​

A. Nobody is required to attend the prize ceremony. You can win a prize without travelling to London. But if we invite you to London it is because your essay was good enough - in the opinion of the First Round judges - to be at least a contender for First, Second or Third Prize. Normally the Second Round judges will agree that the short-listed essays are worth at least a commendation.

Q. Is there an entry fee?

A. No. There is no charge to enter our global essay competition unless you submit your essay after the normal deadline, in which case there is a fee of 20.00 USD .

Q. Can I receive a certificate for my participation in your essay competition if I wasn't shortlisted? 

A. No. Certificates are awarded only for shortlisted essays. Short-listed contestants who attend the award ceremony in London will receive a paper certificate. If you cannot travel to London, you will be able to download your eCertificate.

Q. Can I receive feedba ck on my essay? 

A. We would love to be able to give individual feedback on essays but, unfortunately, we receive too many entries to be able to comment on particular essays.

Q. The deadline for publishing the names of short-listed essayists has passed but I did not receive an email to tell me whether I was short-listed.

A. Log into your account and check "Shortlist Status" for (each of) your essay(s).

Q. Why isn't the awards ceremony in Oxford this year?

A. Last year, many shortlisted finalists who applied to join our invitation-only academic conference missed the opportunity because of capacity constraints at Oxford's largest venues. This year, the conference will be held in central London and the gala awards dinner will take place in an iconic London ballroom. 

TECHNICAL FAQ s

Q. The system will not accept my essay. I have checked the filename and it has the correct format. What should I do?  

A. You have almost certainly added a space before or after one of your names in your profile. Edit it accordingly and try to submit again.

Q. The profile page shows my birth date to be wrong by a day, even after I edit it. What should I do?

A. Ignore it. The date that you typed has been correctly input to our database. ​ ​

Q. How can I be sure that my registration for the essay competition was successful? Will I receive a confirmation email?

A. You will not receive a confirmation email. Rather, you can at any time log in to the account that you created and see that your registration details are present and correct.

TROUBLESHOOTING YOUR SUBMISSION

If you are unable to submit your essay to the John Locke Institute’s global essay competition, your problem is almost certainly one of the following.

If so, please proceed as indicated.

1) PROBLEM: I receive the ‘registrations are now closed’ message when I enter my email and verification code. SOLUTION. You did not register for the essay competition and create your account. If you think you did, you probably only provided us with your email to receive updates from us about the competition or otherwise. You may not enter the competition this year.

2) PROBLEM I do not receive a login code after I enter my email to enter my account. SOLUTION. Enter your email address again, checking that you do so correctly. If this fails, restart your browser using an incognito window; clear your cache, and try again. Wait for a few minutes for the code. If this still fails, restart your machine and try one more time. If this still fails, send an email to [email protected] with “No verification code – [your name]” in the subject line.

SUBMITTING AN ESSAY

3) PROBLEM: The filename of my essay is in the correct format but it is rejected. SOLUTION: Use “Edit Profile” to check that you did not add a space before or after either of your names. If you did, delete it. Whether you did or did not, try again to submit your essay. If submission fails again, email [email protected] with “Filename format – [your name]” in the subject line.

4) PROBLEM: When trying to view my submitted essay, a .txt file is downloaded – not the .pdf file that I submitted. SOLUTION: Delete the essay. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “File extension problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

5) PROBLEM: When I try to submit, the submission form just reloads without giving me an error message. SOLUTION. Log out of your account. Open a new browser; clear the cache; log back in, and resubmit. If resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Submission form problem – [your name]” in the subject line.

6) PROBLEM: I receive an “Unexpected Error” when trying to submit. SOLUTION. Logout of your account; log back in, and resubmit. If this resubmission fails, email [email protected] with “Unexpected error – [your name]” in thesubject line. Your email must tell us e xactly where in the submission process you received this error.

7) PROBLEM: I have a problem with submitting and it is not addressed above on this list. SOLUTION: Restart your machine. Clear your browser’s cache. Try to submit again. If this fails, email [email protected] with “Unlisted problem – [your name]” in the subject line. Your email must tell us exactly the nature of your problem with relevant screen caps.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU EMAIL US.

Do not email us before you have tried the specified solutions to your problem.

Do not email us more than once about a single problem. We will respond to your email within 72 hours. Only if you have not heard from us in that time may you contact us again to ask for an update.

If you email us regarding a problem, you must include relevant screen-shots and information on both your operating system and your browser. You must also declare that you have tried the solutions presented above and had a good connection to the internet when you did so.

If you have tried the relevant solution to your problem outlined above, have emailed us, and are still unable to submit before the 30 June deadline on account of any fault of the John Locke Institute or our systems, please do not worry: we will have a way to accept your essay in that case. However, if there is no fault on our side, we will not accept your essay if it is not submitted on time – whatever your reason: we will not make exceptions for IT issues for which we are not responsible.

We reserve the right to disqualify the entries of essayists who do not follow all provided instructions, including those concerning technical matters.

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Gwyneth Bebb Law Essay Competition

Home → Study Here → Outreach → Essay Competitions → Gwyneth Bebb Law Essay Competition

Gwyneth Bebb (1889-1921), was one of the first women to be awarded a degree in Law at Oxford, and the first to achieve first-class honours; she was an educational and legal pioneer.

The Principal and Fellows of St Hugh’s College are pleased to offer a prize of up to £500 for the best essay written in response the question:

Defend one of the following two propositions:

• The deployment of juries as part of this country’s criminal trial procedure should be abolished.
• There is no particular reason for our judiciary to be representative of this country’s population.

No detailed knowledge of English law is required to answer it; indeed, while cases reported in the national media may be referred to, entrants should not look to cite any specific case law or statutes in their work. Rather, they are encouraged to think about things a matter of principle. The judges will be looking out for an entrant’s ability to reason from wider precepts and to construct clear and coherent arguments.

Entry is restricted to pupils who, at the closing date, have been in the Sixth Form of any state-funded school or college for a period of not more than two years.

2023 winners

First Place

Carmen Buckingham, Y12, Richard Huish College: Are there any legal decisions which judges should not take?

Second Place

Aqsa Mahmood, Y12, Dr Challoner’s High School: Are there any legal decisions which judges should not take?

Third Place

Mariana Fedchyshyn, Y12, Reigate College: Are there any legal decisions which judges should not take?

The winners and a number of those who had done particularly well were invited to tea in College in September.

2024 Poster

Cover Sheet

Gwyneth Bebb Submissions Form

Please use this form to upload your submission for the Gwyneth Bebb Competition. Please do not forget to upload the Cover Sheet with your submission.

• First Name *
• Name of School *
• Your Essay Title *
• E-Mail Address *
• Upload Your Essay and Cover Sheet * Drop files here or Select files Accepted file types: docx, doc, pdf, docx, doc, pdf, docx, doc, pdf, docx, doc, pdf, Max. file size: 128 MB. empty to support CSS :empty selector. --> Please upload an electronic copy of your Essay, together with the completed Cover Sheet, in Word format. Please note that Essays should be no more than 4000 words in length.

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Hogan Lovells Equality and Diversity Essay Competition 2022

This essay competition is open to all undergraduate students in the Oxford Law Faculty, including those who were finalists in the 2021-2022 academic year.

Competition entries will be judged by a distinguished panel comprised of Rt Hon Lord Justice Singh ,  Kristin van Zwieten   and  Ciara Kennefick .

A prize of £1,000 will be awarded to the winner of the competition. This sum has been set with a view to enabling the prize-winner to take up opportunities for vacation work that might otherwise be inaccessible given travel and accommodation costs. The winning essay will also be published on the Oxford Law website.

A second prize of £250 will be awarded to the runner-up.

The judges may, at their discretion, select additional essays for special commendation. 

Essay question

This year’s question is: What is the role of law in ensuring equality of opportunity in society?

Submissions will be evaluated by reference to the clarity and cogency of the argument developed in response to the question.

Word limit and style

Your essay must be no longer than 2,500 words, including all footnotes/endnotes.

Footnotes/endnotes should be in OSCOLA format. Bibliographies are not required.

Essays should be typed and submitted in Word format, using size 12 font.

Submission process

Essays must be submitted to [email protected] by no later than midday on Monday 19 September 2022 . The winner and runner-up will be announced in the first three weeks of Michaelmas term.

Your covering email should include a statement that the essay you are submitting is entirely your own work, except for where otherwise indicated, as well as a statement of the word count (again, including footnotes/endnotes).

Essays will be anonymised before being given to any judge for evaluation.

Download the terms of the competition

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Seventh Annual Student Essay Competition

Hayek goes to family court.

Applying Hayek’s theory of law and liberty to contemporary American family law, this Essay concludes that family-law scholars—especially those undertaking distributional analyses—would benefit from greater attention to the Hayekian values of predictability, adaptation, and equal application.

Facilitating Future Workforce Participation for Stay-at-Home Parents: Mitigating the Career Costs of Parenthood

Current policies help parents stay in the workforce after having children. But what about the quarter of American mothers who choose to become stay-at-home moms, then later face employment obstacles? This Essay proposes expanding worker opportunity tax credits and Title VII to help stay-at-home pare…

Volume 133’s Emerging Scholar of the Year: Robyn Powell

Announcing the eighth annual student essay competition, announcing the ylj academic summer grants program, featured content, lock them™ up: holding transnational corporate human-rights abusers accountable, administrative law at a turning point, law and movements: clinical perspectives.

Law Reform Essay competition

The Bar Council's Law Reform Essay Competition is aimed at developing and fostering an interest in law reform. Students and pupils are invited to submit essays making the case to reform English, Welsh and European law.

The Law Reform Essay Competition 2024 will be opening in the first week of July. Please check this page for details.

Further information on prizes will be made available at the launch of the competition.

All prize winners will be invited to meet members of the Law Reform Committee at a small reception held at a set of chambers.

Previous winners and barristers share their thoughts on the competition, and offer essay-writing tips.

• Read the essays and blogs from the 2023 winners
• Read winning entries from previous years

Home Recruitment Chambers Essay Competitions

Chambers Essay Competitions

6KBW College Hill Essay Competition

6KBW College Hill is committed to making itself and the profession as accessible, welcoming and supportive as possible to the best candidates, whatever their background. As part of that commitment, we are pleased to launch our essay competition aimed at fostering greater diversity and inclusion at the Bar. The competition takes place each year, with the question being published in July and the deadline in September.

The competition is open to any student in tertiary education (i.e. any university degree, GDL, LPC, BPTC) or any graduate interested in the Criminal Bar who, at the closing of submissions, does not have pupillage or a training contract and who is from a group underrepresented at the Bar.

Please see below for details of this year’s competition, as well as past questions and competition winners.

Details of the 2024 competition will be published in July 2024.

2023 Competition

The 2023 competition has now closed. Thank you to all the entrants for their submissions, which we enjoyed reading. The winners were selected by a panel consisting of Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, HHJ Sarah Whitehouse KC and Duncan Atkinson KC. The prizes were awarded as follows:

1 st place: Nicole Chan

2 nd place: Lewis Hazeldine

3 rd place: Francesca Jackson

Shortlisted: Zara Prodromou, Imogen Rivers

The top three essays will appear shortly on the 6KBW College Hill Blog .

The prizes for the essay competition were as follows:

1 st prize: £500

2 nd prize: £200

3 rd prize: £100

We offered mini pupillages to the 10 essayists who made the longlist.

Essays had to be no more than 1,500 words (including footnotes) and the question was:

Can a computer programme commit a crime?

Entrants were also asked to outline at the start of their essay (in no more than 50 words) what makes them a person typically underrepresented at the Bar. They also had to confirm what stage they are at in their studies, and that they do not yet have a pupillage or training contract.

Entries had to be submitted as a single Word document by midnight on 5 September 2023 to [email protected]

  Further Details

The eligibility criteria for the competition are as follows:

• Eligibility criterion 1: Entrants to the competition must have started their first year of undergraduate study (whether in law or any other discipline) before 7 November in the year of the competition. Entrants may have completed their studies, and may be of any age and any background, but they should not have already been awarded a pupillage or training contract.
• Eligibility criterion 2: Entrants may be from any group(s) which is/are underrepresented at the English Bar. They will be asked to describe, briefly, how they meet this criterion. For instance, underrepresented groups include (non-exhaustively):

2.1. women;

2.2. people from minority ethnic backgrounds;

2.3. people with disabilities;

2.4. LGBT+ people;

2.5. people who spent time in care;

2.6. people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds (as indicated, e.g., if an entrant was eligible for free school meals, or comes from a family on income support/universal credit);

2.7. people who attended state schools, in particular non-selective state schools, for the majority of their secondary education (i.e. between the ages of 11 and 18 years); and

2.8. people who were in the first generation in their family to attend university.

• Applicants must meet eligibility criteria 1 and 2.

Essays are judged in two stages:

• In the first instance, members of chambers review all entries to select a shortlist.
• At the second stage, the prize-winners are decided by a panel of three eminent legal practitioners and judges.

Each essay is judged against three criteria: (1) legal analysis; (2) structure; and (3) style and presentation.

Please note that we are unable to provide feedback on any entry to the competition. 

2022 Competition

The question for 2022 was ‘ One rule for them: should anyone ever be exempt from the criminal law?’

Thank you to all the entrants for their submissions, which we enjoyed reading. The winners were selected by a panel consisting of Mrs Justice Arbuthnot, HHJ Sarah Whitehouse QC and Duncan Atkinson QC. The prizes were awarded as follows:

1 st place: Nathan Thompson

2 nd place: Syed Muhammad Humaid Adil

Shortlisted: Emily Baker, Beth Doherty

The top three essays can be found on the 6KBW College Hill Blog . We offered mini pupillages to all those who made the longlist.

2021 Competition

The question for 2021 was “ When, if ever, should it be a crime to go to a friend’s for dinner? ”

1 st place: Cara Shepherd

2 nd place: Sean O’Neill

3 rd place: Tochi Ejimofo

Cara’s essay can be found on the 6KBW College Hill Blog . We offered mini pupillages to all those who made the longlist.

6KBW College Hill Essay Competition 2022

6kbw college hill essay competition 2021, recruitment.

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2022-2023 Law Essay Writing Competition

The Competition

We want to hear your opinions on the current Real World Questions being asked of lawyers, public and business professionals today.

Choose one of the three questions below and write an essay that argues the differing views across the industry. Be inquisitive, research to expand your knowledge in the area and develop key skills that will help you achieve your ambitions.

We have given possible ideas you may want to explore and provided resources to get you started .

Find out about The University of Law’s Real World Questions campaign by clicking here .

Does the world need more entrepreneurs?

Things to consider:

• What is entrepreneurship?
• Do individual people make a business succeed?
• What role does Organisational Structure play in the success of a business?
• To what extent do People and Dynamics influence a thriving business?
• How much of a business’ success is due to Environment and Competitive Advantage?

Will stop and search protect or polarise our society?

Things to do consider:

• What rights do police officers have to stop and search under the Criminal Justice and Public Order act?
• Is stop and search effective in leading to lawful arrests?
• Are perceptions of stop and search affected by cognitive and/or implicit biases?
• What role does Procedural Justice Theory play in how society views stop and search?
• What role do future generations of police officers have?

How is Mental Health protected by the Law and is it enough?

• What does ‘Mental Health Disorder’ mean under the Mental Health Act?
• What rights do patients with Mental Health Disorders have?
• How does the Mental Health Act operate to protect people with Mental Health Disorders?
• How do Human Rights interact with the Mental Health Act?

Why should you take part?

Develop key study skills for future study (Researching, referencing and essay writing)

Support and enhance your current study (subject area and EPQ)

Strengthen your Personal Statement and CV

Gain professional knowledge

2021 Law winning Essay

Click the icon to download the winning essay for 2021 in the Law category.

2021 Business winning Essay

Click the icon to download the winning essay for 2021 in the Business category.

2021 Criminal Justice winning Essay

Click the icon to download the winning essay for 2021 in the Criminal Justice category.

Find out what our winners have to say

Hear from our 2021 winners on their experience; how they felt receiving their first prize awards, their cash, laptops, mentoring and work experience placements

Entry instructions

How to enter.

The competition is open to all students studying in years 10-13. See the entry page for more details and to submit your essay. Don’t miss out, the closing date is 18 September 2022.

Choose a title

Judging criteria, terms and conditions, meet the judges.

Our judging panel draws from a wide range of backgrounds and expertise. Click below for details of our eight judges.

Director of Employability, University of Law

John watkins.

Campus Dean, University of Law

Lawyer and Project Coordinator at Deutsche Bank

Chris miller.

General Counsel, Food and Ventures, the Co-op

Gill gardner, the university of law.

What really sets us apart from other universities is the guiding principle that future lawyers and business leaders should learn in a realistic, professional and contemporary context, with plenty of practical interactive engagement. That's why we keep our contact hours high and our teaching groups small.

Our undergraduate courses   combine academic rigour with practical skills to provide you with the essential groundwork needed to begin your journey into a variety of careers. 

You can attend a variety of live virtual events that will help support your decision making around future career pathways.

Our track record of excellence in learning and development has helped us establish worldwide connections within the legal and business industries. More than 250 of our tutors are qualified lawyers and business professionals, all have extensive practical experience which they are able to pass on to our students. 

Find more about our staff and alumni competition judges here .

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Top 5 Essay Competitions For Law Students in 2022

The new year brings forth new opportunities. Law students are always on the lookout for new challenges and competitions. In this article Team YLCC brings you latest information on leading essay competitions you can apply for. Read on!

• NLIU BHOPAL SHORT STORY WRITING UNDER ‘E- NYAYAGANGA’ ON NATIONAL GIRL CHILD DAY.

Last date of registration – 23 January, 2022 by 2 pm.

Results on – 24 January, 2022  by 6 pm.

Registration fees –  No registration fees.

Prize money – First prize – 5000/- INR .

Second prize – 3000/- INR.

Third prize –  2000/- INR.

Certificate to all the participants.

Theme – The importance of Girl Child in society and Nation Building.

Mode of competition – Online.

Eligibility – No criteria for eligibility.

Submissions procedure  & guidelines –

• The Story must be in a word file converted to PDF.
• Formatting –  Font theme – Times New Roman

Spacing –  1.5

Font size – Heading – 16, Body – 12.

Footnotes – Font size – 10, Spacing – 1.0

• The submitted Short story Copyright will be vested to NLU, Bhopal.
• Maximum words – 1000.
• Language – In all Indian vernacular language including Hindi & English.
• The story must depict the theme it may also related to any issues if patriarchal society, social issues of recent times or of government schemes and polices.
• Selected story will be published on NLU, Bhopal websites.
• Submit your story via this link provided below-   https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfJXdPs6YkjdCclW7PQIdSo0UtzNn27xox7kVsvQ8bGBidXIA/viewform

2. RASHTRIYA RAKSHA UNIVERSITY’S ESSAY COMPETITION.

Last date of registration – 27 January.

Registration fees – Not required .

Prize – RS 15,000/- INR.

Subscription to exclusive legal database.

Certificates of participation.

Theme –  Commentary on State practice on the present International law commission Agenda Items.

You can comment on any Nation’s state practice on the following topics-

• Provisional Application of Treaties.
• Protection of Atmosphere.
• Immunity of State Officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction
• Protection of Environment in relation to armed conflict
• Peremptory norms of general international law (jus cogens)
• Succession of State in respect to state responsibility.
• General Principals of Law.
• Sea level rise in relation to international law
• Crimes Against Humanity.
•  Piracy and Armed Robbery.

Mode of competition –  Physical.

Competition Date – 4 th February.

Submissions procedure and guidelines –

• Word limit – 3500 words.
• Footnotes must be as per the late OSCOLA edition.
• Entries to be sent to [email protected] , with there name, address, contact details.

3. GLOBAL ESSAY COMPETITION FOR ST.GALLEN SYMPOSIUM.

Last date of registration –  1 February, 2022. 11:59 PM.

Results in – mid March via e-mail.

Prize –  Jury will decide three awards based on the quality of the content.

             16,28, 894 will be divided among the three awardees.

Eligibility –

• Any field college student can apply who is born in or after 1992 .

You need to provide the following documents-

• Copy of passport or other identification (in English for non Roman languages)
• Confirmation of matriculation/enrolment from your university which proves your enrolment in a graduate/postgraduate level programme as of February 1, 2022 (download sample document here).
• Your contribution file with no indication of your name in the file name, the file metadata or the file itself.

Theme – Collaborative Advantage: What should be written into a new intergenerational contract?

• Word limit – 2,100 ( excluding abstracts, bibliography and footnotes).
• Language – Only English.
• Your identification details such as name, e-mail, contact must not be there in the contribution file.
• The idea should be of your own and related to theme and for the contest.
• All the contribution must be citied and the file will go through a plagiarism check.
• Must be doc, docx or PDF format.
•  The best competitors will be given a chance to present there content on a big stage through a video and they will be informed before.

For further details click on the link below-

4. NATIONAL ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION BY ANAND LAW COLLEGE

Last date of registration – February 15 th , 2022.

Registration fees – 100/-.

Bank Name : Bank of Baroda

Account Holder Name : Anand Law College

Account No. : 02940100001292

IFSC Code: BARBOANANDX [Fifth Character is Zero]

(Please mention the subject as “Essay Writing” while making the payment)

Prize – 1st Prize: Trophy & Certificate of Merit

2nd Prize : Trophy & Certificate of Merit

3rd Prize : Trophy & Certificate of Merit

 An E- Certificate of participation will be issued to all the participants

Eligibility – For all law students.

• Juveniles should be treated and tried as adults.

 • Violent video games should be banned.

• Animal testing should be prohibited.

Submission procedure and guidelines-

• Plagiarism up to 20%  is acceptable.
• Original work of the participants.
• The essay must deal with the current issues in this field and analytical in nature.
• Word limit – 1000-1200 words.
• Language – only English.
• File format – docx .
• Font – Times New Roman.
• Font size – 12
• Line spacing – 1.5.
• File name – title of the essay.
• Submit via e-mail- [email protected] , Subject – Essay writing Submission.
• These details are to be submitted in separately in word –
• Topic Chosen
• Title of the Essay
• Name of the Author
• College/Institute/University of Author
• Programme Enrolled & Year of Study of Author
• E-mail address & Contact No. of Author.
• The payment receipt and registration form  should be attached with it.
• ALLIANCE CENTRE FOR ALTERNATE DISPUTE RESOLUTION (ACADR) ESSAY WRITING COMPETITION.

Last date of registration – 15 April, 2022.

Results on – 15 th March, 2022.

Last Submission Date – 30 th April, 2022.

Registration fees – No fees.

Registration link https://forms.office.com/pages/responsepage.aspx?id=ZXera4fDDU2b539WeSUVlCTQLhc0HyZOhlPi7fx6vJpUMlUzOVY3QkdSTlUzSllZT1pYNlNJTzJFVS4u

Prize – Five best essays will be published ACDR Newsletter.

Top ten best submissions shall also be awarded merit certificates by ACADR, Alliance School of Law, Alliance University, Bangalore.

Eligibility – All law students.

Theme – Impact of Judicial Intervention in the Field of ADR is a Boon or a Bane.

• Co-authorship of entries (maximum two) among individuals.
• Essay should be original, unpublished, and non-plagiarized.
• Word limit : 1000-1200 words.
• Citation style: Uniform style of citation should be followed throughout the essay.
• File  name – Name of the Author(s) .
• File format – Microsoft Word format.
•  submissions via email to [email protected]

YLCC would like to thank Aarushi Tiwari for her valuable contribution in this article.

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