The Construction and Infrastructure Law Section has established a law school essay competition related to general topics in Canadian construction and infrastructure law. The objectives of the competition are to promote and reward interest in construction and infrastructure law topics in Canadian law schools, and to promote participation by Canadian law students in Construction and Infrastructure Law Section activities.
Criteria and eligibility
The prize is presented annually for the best scholarly paper on a subject relating to Canadian construction and infrastructure law.
Authors must be full-time university students currently enrolled at a Canadian law school, either at an undergraduate or graduate level.
PLAGIARISM POLICY
Submissions must not infringe the intellectual property rights of others and must not plagiarize another’s work. Plagiarism is deliberately presenting the ideas, expression of ideas, or work of others as one’s own. Plagiarism includes reproducing or paraphrasing portions of someone else’s published or unpublished material, regardless of the source, and presenting these as one’s own without proper citation or reference to the original source. The CBA reserves the right to assess all submissions for content that potentially infringes on or plagiarizes the work of another and will disqualify any candidate that submits such content.
Policy statement on the use of generative ai in essay contest submissions
The use of generative AI tools to create any content for essay contest submissions is strictly prohibited. The Canadian Bar Association (CBA) reserves the right to review all submissions for compliance with this policy. Any candidate found to have submitted content generated by generative AI will be disqualified from the contest.
Submission and selection process
Papers must adhere to the following guidelines:
- Papers must be no more than 30 pages in length, including references.
- Papers must be double spaced using Times New Roman, font size 12
- Papers must address a theme of significance in the field of Canadian construction and infrastructure law, public policy, or public affairs related to Canadian construction and infrastructure law affairs.
- Papers must be appropriately referenced; all commonly used referencing methods in the legal field will be accepted.
- Papers may be written in English or in French.
- Papers must be researched and written by one author. Papers must be the author's own original, unpublished work. Papers that are submitted for a law school course are eligible.
- The author's names must not appear on the paper itself, but must be sent under separate cover.
- A short abstract (max 150 words) and author biography (max 150 words) must also be submitted.
- The recipient of the award will be selected by a Section-appointed jury.
- Additional formatting requirements.
Deadline for submissions
April 25.
Entries received after the deadline will not be considered.
Contact
CBA Sections
Phone: (613) 237-2925 or
Toll Free: (800) 267-8860
E-mail: CBAConstructionLaw@cba.org
Award
- During the Section’s biennial PD Conference, the award consists of a cash prize of $500, a complimentary registration to the PD conference (valued at up to $355.00), the presentation of an award certificate at the PD conference, and posting of the winner’s paper on the National Construction and Infrastructure Law Section webpage.
- During the Section’s non-Conference year, the award consists of a cash prize of $500, an award certificate (both of which will be mailed to the winner), and posting of the winner’s paper on the National Construction and Infrastructure Law Section webpage.
Award winners
- 2024: No winning essay selected this year
- 2023: Sara Haider: Winning Essay
- 2022: Jacob Lokash: Winning Essay
- 2021: Alex Maly: Winning Essay