Subject matter

Students are invited to submit a video identifying an important human rights issue within Irish society and to provide a discussion on the effectiveness of the existing legal framework in protecting that particular right. Students are encouraged to be creative and think outside the box when delivering the discussion, format and content of the video.

Topics may include housing and homelessness, direct provision, issues affecting the Traveller community, sexual and gender based violence, LGBT+ rights, disability rights, human trafficking, climate justice, amongst others. The Committee welcomes additional topics that relate to current and pressing human rights issues affecting persons within Irish society.

Judging criteria

Marks will be awarded for:

• importance and complexity of the legal issues involved,

• authority of the argument and relevance of human rights law to the topic,

• relevance of the topic to present issues within Irish society,

• originality, creativity and professionalism in the video delivery,

• research of the topic discussed, and

• impartiality in delivering the information.

Style guide

Students are invited to be creative in the delivery of the video. The video can be in multiple forms, such as a PowerPoint presentation, documentary, interview or short play.

The video must not exceed 15 minutes and the audio must be of sufficient quality to ensure that all speakers can be heard. Video entries exceeding 15 minutes will be automatically eliminated from the competition.

Entries are restricted to one per candidate. However, up to three students may work on the same entry. Students may record their video using their home device, i.e. mobile phone, laptop, tablet, camera.

Prizes

The winning entry will be awarded €500 and advertised on the Law Society’s social media. The winning entrants will also be invited to attend an award ceremony, in which they will be provided the opportunity to meet members of the judiciary, legal practitioners and members of the Human Rights & Equality Committee. This is an excellent opportunity to meet inspiring members of the legal community, particularly for those seeking to excel in their legal career.

Entry process

Students must upload their video to a suitable file-sharing platform such as Dropbox, WeTransfer, Google Docs or YouTube. A link to the video on the file-sharing platform must be included in the submission email.

Additional information to be provided includes: full name and contact details of all participants, level of study (i.e. undergraduate, LLM, FE1s) and a brief written description outlining the content of the video and topic(s) discussed. Participants must also indicate their willingness for their names and submission to be advertised on social media.

Students are invite to send their entries to Nadia Quinn Sciascia, Secretary to the Human Rights and Equality Committee at n.quinn-sciascia@lawsociety.ie.

Deadline

All entries must be received no later than Friday, 3 November 2023. If you have any questions, please contact Nadia Quinn Sciascia, Secretary to the Human Rights and Equality Committee at n.quinn-sciascia@lawsociety.ie.