National Essay Competition

Win publication in the NHC Security and Human Rights Journal and additional special prize from the Netherlands Helsinki Committee in our Essay Competition on COVID-19 impact on Access to Justice in Europe!

During the pandemic, Courts were and still are closing, reducing, or adjusting their operations, which can negatively impact the provision of timely and fair hearings, contribute to increased case backlogs, and lead to increased length of judicial and administrative proceedings. Certain groups are especially affected by these changes. While there may be burdens, there are also many benefits and lessons to be learned from this pandemic and how it has impacted our judicial systems in Europe.With many topics and perspectives available under the topic of the competition, we welcome all essays under the given subject, as far as they comply with the following rules:Deadline: 31 January 2021, at 23:59Word count: 2500-5000Font: Times New Roman, size 12, 1.5 spacing, justifiedTopic: Must be legalFront page: includes full name, contact information, university and year of studies, and the topic of the paperOther formalities: Must include footnotes and a bibliography using OSCOLA; must include an abstract that is about 10% of the length of the essay; must include a short introduction of the writer.Participants must be law students in one of the countries where ELSA is present!

Send submissions and questions to academicactivities@nl.elsa.org The essays are shortlisted by ELSA the Netherlands based on the submission criteria, and judged by a panel of professionals from the Netherlands Helsinki Committee. Essays not following the above rules will not be considered.PS. Shout-out to our Director for Graphic Design for preparing the visual materials for the competition!

Good luck!