Essay competitions are a common yet mostly unexplored platform by law students in particular. The question that needs to be posed is why such unwillingness to participate in law essay writing competitions? The prime reason is that there are no judging criteria for them. A plethora of organizations (for-profit as well as non-profit) or law schools that organize such competitions does not reveal the panel of judges who are going to assess the entries. In today’s time, such competitions have been taken for granted as it is clearly evident from the face of the mission of it that it is solely for-profit. It has come to a situation wherein every person or organization who has their own blog announces such competitions and earns from the registration fees in order to publish the winning essay without caring much about legal research or legal drafting skills.
What are the pros of essay competitions? Why do students need to sign up for the same?
Keeping aside the detrimental factors, essay competitions are platforms for the students that instill a sense of responsibility and zeal and stimulate legal research. Not all competitions are for-profit or with a motive to promote their blog; some also care about legal writing and analysis. Some competitions are based on bringing about a change in students and encouraging them with financial incentives and other opportunities that aid in molding them to become better writers. Competitions that are proposed by the universities, law firms, etc. embolden the students to enhance their analytical abilities and interpretive skills by going into the depths of the world of legal research. Furthermore, competitions by law firms provide an opportunity for the freshers, i.e. first-year law students to participate and earn an internship opportunity in their firms. This can spur a commitment to self-improvement. To be precise, students who participate and win in such competitions not only get rewards but also get a chance to get their essays published in reputed journals or blogs. On the other, those students who participated and did not win can get their essays published in other blogs like World of Legal Research, Pro Bono India, etc. To conclude, essay competitions, especially in the legal field, is a positive way to boost the student’s knowledge through legal research and legal drafting. However, that solely depends on how well and adequately it is organized. One will harvest many things of he/she takes part in the appropriately constructed competition. Rewards must not always be the aim for the students for such legal publications and competitions. The primary motive must be to enlighten his/her fellow mates about such a platform and encourage them to participate in such legal essay competitions.
