Equality and Diversity Essay Competition 2021

This essay competition is open to all undergraduate students in the Oxford Law Faculty, including those who were finalists in the 2020-2021 academic year.

Competition entries will be judged by a panel that will include Baroness Hale of Richmond DBE, Christopher Hare, and Kristin van Zwieten.

Prize

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. 

Subject

Your essay should develop an argument for equality and diversity-related law reform in a particular area. You should be specific about the reform(s) you advocate and why you advocate for it/them. Essays will be evaluated by reference to the clarity and cogency of the argument that is developed.

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 equalityanddiversity@law.ox.ac.uk by no later than midday on Monday 20 September 2021. The winner and runner-up will be announced in the first two 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.