Please note, this competition is open to LSE students only.

2023 Guidelines

Theme

Human rights: Threats and Abuses

Choose one of the following questions/topics:

1. Discuss the relationship between human rights and strikes and/or protests.
2. Analyse colonialism’s contemporary consequences on human rights.
3. Make an argument for what poses the greatest threat to human rights.

 

All submissions must have a human rights focus, though this isn’t limited to a legal nor institutional understanding of human rights.

Eligibility

This competition is open to all undergraduate and master’s LSE students in any course or department. You do not need to be a student of Human Rights in order to participate in this competition.

You must ensure that your essay focuses on human rights and that you are answering one of the topics stated above. Please do not submit coursework to this essay competition.

Deadline

Submissions are due by 5.00pm (GMT) on Monday 5 June 2023. Winning submissions will be announced by the end of Summer Term.

Submitting your essay

The essay must be up to and no more than 2500 words (including any footnotes and subtitles, excluding the title). It should be submitted as a Word document or a PDF File. It should be written in English.

The essay should be an original piece of work, meaning that it can’t be a piece submitted as coursework or published elsewhere.

The essay should include a bibliography at the end and any citation style can be used but it must be consistent throughout the whole piece.

Send your essay to the Human Rights Competition Team at humanrights.blog@lse.ac.uk with ‘Essay Competition 2023’ in the subject line. Please include a cover sheet mentioning your name, course, and LSE student ID. Do not mention your name or other identifiable information anywhere else in the essay.

Prize

• First Place: £100 Book voucher
• Two runner ups: £50 Book voucher each
• Publication of the essay on the Human Rights Blog

 

Winning submissions will be selected by Dr Mai Taha and Dr Sara Salem from the LSE’s Department of Sociology.