IWLA Blog Competition to Celebrate the First 100 Years of Women in Law

The theme for the inaugural IWLA Blog Competition is inspired by our celebrations commemorating 100 years since the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 which allowed women to become lawyers for the first time. IWLA are asking participants to write a short blog piece (word limit: 600 – 800 words), which will be published on the IWLA website.

The winner will receive a year’s free membership of IWLA along with two tickets to a celebratory dinner, which is being held in collaboration with King’s Inns, the Bar of Ireland and the Law Society of Ireland to mark and celebrate 100 years of women in the law. This dinner will take place on the evening of Saturday 30 November 2019 here at King’s Inns. We are delighted to announce that former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, will give a keynote address on the night. More details about the event can be found here. 

Titles

1. The most important contribution(s) of women lawyers to Ireland in the last 100 years.
2. A letter to Irish Women Lawyers in 2119. 

Participants are asked to chose from one of the above titles.

Word limit 

600 – 800 words

Judging criteria 

Jean Tomkin, Solicitor and Catherine O’Sullivan, of University College Cork will select the top three entries which will then be forwarded to IWLA President and former Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuiness, who will cast the deciding vote. The blogs will be judged on the following criteria and marks will be awarded out of ten;

1. Originality of piece
2. Relevance to theme
3. Content
4. Quality of prose / clarity of expression
5. Alignment with the IWLA Pillars
6. Uniqueness of concept

Entries

Entry is open to all undergraduate and postgraduate students studying law, to students studying for the FE1’s or King’s Inns entrance exams, and to trainee solicitors and barristers.

The closing date for entries is 12pm on Thursday 7 November 2019. Entries should be forwarded to contact@iwla.ie using the subject line ‘Blog Competition 2019‘ along with a brief cover letter containing the participants name and contact details. Please ensure that your name is not identified in the substantive piece as all entries will be anonymised before being forwarded to the Judges. 

Rules

• Plagiarism is strictly forbidden and will result in elimination from the competition.
• A minimum number of entries must be received for the competition to proceed.
• The decision of IWLA President and former Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuinness, is final.
• By entering this competition, you are consenting to the IWLA retaining your information and using it only for the purpose of the competition and in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulations.
• Winners will be announced within 3 weeks of the closing date, IWLA reserves the right to extend the time for announcement of the winners should they so require.

More information can be found on the IWLA website here.