Due to the disruption caused by the ongoing coronavirus situation, our colleagues at SCL HQ have taken the decision to extend the deadline for the SCL Sir Henry Brooke Student Essay Prize 2020. The closing date for entries will now be 17.00 on Friday 31 July 2020.

They hope that this will allow even more students the opportunity to submit an essay and win the chance to stand out from the crowd, add credibility and marketability to their profile and win access to one of the best tech law events of 2020. The prizes include publication in SCL's 'Computers & Law' Magazine and on the SCL website and £300 cash.

Essay topic

Entrants must answer the following question:

"At the start of the 2010s, two billion people used the Internet, MySpace rivalled Facebook as the most popular social network, iPads did not exist and few people had swapped their trusty Nokias for iPhones. Peer to peer networking was seen as an existential threat to copyright industries and net neutrality was not yet the law anywhere, while cloud computing was unknown to the general population. The future was unpredictable.” What, where, how, and when will the greatest regulatory challenges for the Internet of 2030 be? Justify your answer with reference to existing laws, regulation, and government policy documents".

Length of essay

A maximum of 2,500 words of text (and a minimum of 1,500), plus up to 500 words for citations (but not any further descriptive or explanatory material, so no padding your essay with footnotes). Full competition rules are available appear at the bottom of this page.

Who can enter

You are eligible to enter this competition if you are a student (undergraduate, taught postgraduate, or research postgraduate) currently registered at an accredited academic institution or legal practitioner training course (e.g. to become a barrister, solicitor or advocate).

Full details can be found here.