The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law organises an annual essay competition in the field of animal rights law. The aim of this competition is to encourage students to explore the fascinating questions that animals rights raise, and to discuss these questions in an original piece of writing that may inspire them to engage further with the topic in the future.
Our Essay Competition is made possible through the generous support of our donors: lead sponsor is the Jeremy Coller Foundation, the prizes are sponsored by the International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR), and additional sponsorship for the Centre is by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law & Policy.
Essay Competition 2024 (now open)
The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law is pleased to announce its fourth Animal Rights Law Essay Competition. This year, we are inviting essays on the title:
“Whether autonomous, nonhuman animals have rights that ought to be ‘recognized by law’ is precisely the question [courts] are called upon to answer … The immensity of that question does not place it exclusively within the domain of the legislature”. Discuss
Taken from the judgement of Judge Jenny Rivera, New York Court of Appeals, in Nonhuman Rights Project (Happy) v James Breheny, No 52, 14 June 2022
The competition has two categories: one for university students and one for secondary school (high school) students.
University students
This category is for anyone who has started or completed an undergraduate or postgraduate degree programme but who has not completed a doctoral degree. We welcome essays that are not longer than 3,000 words (including footnotes but excluding bibliography). Three prizes will be awarded in this section. The winning essay will be awarded £750, £500 will go to the second place, and £250 to the third-place winner. Entrants can approach the essay question from various perspectives and are not limited to a legal perspective, but entries must address the question. Only one entry is permitted per person.
The deadline for submissions is 4 March 2024. Please submit your essay (and a summary up to 500 words of your biographical/educational details) here.
Secondary school students
This category is for anyone who has not started an undergraduate degree at a university (ie anyone who is at high school, college, or similar). We welcome essays that are not longer than 1,000 words. A Winning Commendation and up to two Special Commendations will be sent to the winners in this category, and prizes of £250 will be sent to the winners’ schools. Entrants can approach the essay question from various perspectives and are not limited to a legal perspective, but entries must address the question (hint: the question could be answered by exploring the appropriate place – courts or legislature – for law reform). Only one entry is permitted per person.
The deadline for submissions is 4 March 2024. Please submit your essay (and a brief summary of your background/educational details (up to 200 words) and contact details of your school and Teacher/Head Teacher) here.
The winners will be announced by early-April 2024. Winning entries will be uploaded to our website.
Full details here: https://animalrightslaw.org/essaycompetition
Animal Interfaith Alliance 