EDI Essay Competition 2025
This essay competition is open to all undergraduate students at the Oxford Law Faculty.
Competition entries will be judged by a distinguished panel comprised of Lady Justice Ingrid Simler of the UK Supreme Court, Professor Simon Douglas and Professor Rebecca Williams.
Prize
A prize of £500 will be awarded to the winner of the competition. This sum has been set to enable the prize-winner to take up opportunities for vacation work that might otherwise be inaccessible given travel and accommodation costs.
A second prize of £100 will be awarded to the runner-up.
The judges may, at their discretion, select additional essays for special commendation.
The winning essay and runner-up will be published on the Oxford Law website in late Trinity Term.
Essay question
The question for 2025 is: To what extent do provisions for special category data within the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) help or hinder the achievement of evidence-based equality goals?
Submissions will be evaluated by reference to the clarity and cogency of the argument developed in response to the question.
Word limit and style
Your essay must be no longer than 2,500 words, including all footnotes/endnotes.
Footnotes/endnotes should be in OSCOLA format. Bibliographies are not required.
Essays should be typed and submitted in Word format, using size 12 font.
Submission process
Essays must be submitted to Clara Elod by no later than midday on Friday, 25 April 2025. The winner and runner-up will be announced in mid-Trinity Term.
Your cover email should include a statement that the essay you are submitting is entirely your own work, except where otherwise indicated, as well as a statement of the word count (again, including footnotes/endnotes).
Essays will be anonymised before being given to judges for evaluation.