Deadline: February 3, 2025
American University Human Rights Essay Award is offered every year with the goal of promoting academic writing in the domain of international human rights law. The theme for 2025 online essay competition will be “Human Rights and Human Trafficking”. Candidates can choose to write on any issue that is related to this topic but the essay’s main focus must be closely related to the theme for 2025.
The Academy has selected this topic for international contest as it is still very significant and demands that legal human rights standards be continuously developed across different international protection systems. Among many other issues, the problem can be examined from a variety of perspectives, such as domestic regulation, criminal legislation, redress mechanisms, fundamental causes, migration dynamics, and the activities of criminal networks.
The American academy has pledged to support human rights education and scholarly articles to enhance the analysis of this critical issue. In the end, this will help create stronger legal frameworks and protection for human trafficking victims.
Host University
- American University Washington College of Law
Topic
- Human Trafficking and Human Rights.
Benefits
- Winning essays will be published in The American University International Law Review.
- Participants of the Essay Award can participate in the Moot Court as judges if they want to.
- The award will include full tuition scholarship to the Program of Advanced Studies on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law for the Diploma or Certificate of Attendance options.
- The Academy will give six awards which will include three awards for English essays and 3 awards for Spanish essays including ‘Award for Best Essay’, ‘Honorable Mention for Second Best Essay’, ‘Honorable Mention for Third Best Essay’.
- Winners will receive a certificate.
Eligibility
Applicant’s applying:
- Must have a law degree, Juris Doctor, (J.D.), Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.), or any other equivalent degree.
- Should have an experience or interest in international human rights law.
- Should have the ability to select any topic related to Human Trafficking and Human Rights.
- Must have not particularly in the past.
- Must submit an unpublished legal essay in English or Spanish written only by yourself. Essays written by a group of people will not be accepted.
- Can submit only one entry (either in English or Spanish).
Application
- Essays must be submitted through the online submission form.
- Sign in with your Google email address and password.
- Enter your full name, country, institute name of your law degree, email address and contact number.
- Upload the resume.
- Upload the essay file.
- Essays should be submitted in word format only.
- Submit CV and essay in separate files.
- Answer other questions asked and submit the form.
- Entries sent by email will not be accepted.
- After submission of your essay, send an email to information the Academy about your submission. No attachments should be included in this email.
- Participants should ensure that the essay does not exceed 35 pages including footnotes.
- Use Times New Roman font, 12-point double-spaced for the body of essay.
- Use Times New Roman font, 10-point single-spaced for the citation footnotes.
- The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation must be used for citation.
- Character spacing pf the document must be normal with 1 inch (2.54 cm) margins all around.
- All essays should be on letter size paper with the measurements (8.5 x 11 inches/21.59 x 27.94 cm). Other sizes will not be accepted.
Rules
- The authors need not write their names or any other identification.
- To cite sources, single-spaced footnotes should be used.
- If the proper format is not followed, the 5 points will be deducted.
- Past winners cannot submit the essay.
- One person needs to submit one essay only.
Required Documents
- CV (including your experience or interest in human rights issues).
- Essay document.
- No other additional documents are required.
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