Following the success of our Essay Competition 2015, we are pleased to announce the launch of our Essay Competition 2016! The winner will be presented with a prize of £150. Last year’s winner was presented the award in the House of Commons by the Clerk of the House.
To enter
The essay competition is open to all undergraduate students, who should complete an essay with a focus on parliament(s) and closely related issues, with a word limit of up to 3,000 words (excluding bibliography and references).
In order to enter, lecturers must submit an essay on their students’ behalf by the closing date of Wednesday, 01 June 2016. Please note that only one submission can be made per lecturer (teaching assistant), who must be a member of the PSA and of the Specialist Group Parliaments and Legislatures. Students can only be entered once per competition.
Entries should be anonymised and sent to Cristina Leston-Bandeira (C. Leston-Bandeira@leeds.ac.uk) and Louise Thompson (Louise.Thompson@surrey.ac.uk), with the following information:
- Title of the essay
- Student name
- Student number
- Word count of the essay (excluding bibliography and respective references).
Essays will be judged by a panel consisting of academics and practitioners, to be confirmed (see below for last year’s details). Essays will be judged on the basis of:
- Originality
- Rigour
- Strength of analysis
- Presentation (writing)
The winner will be announced in July 2016.
Essay Competition 2015
In spring 2015, the Specialist Group held its first essay competition with much success. Students were asked to write about a parliament, legislature or a specific matter concerning legislative studies. A highly esteemed judging panel, consisting of Michael Rush (Emeritus Professor, Exeter), Ben Worthy (Lecturer, Birkbeck) and Paul Evans (Senior Clerk at the House of Commons), judged the essays on four criteria: originality, rigour, strength of analysis, and quality of presentation/style.
Details about last year’s essay competition can be found here.