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Papers invited for 2020 SCL Hudson Prize

1st Prize - £2,500 plus a case of Champagne

2nd Prize - £1,250 plus a case of Wine

(Commendations may also be awarded)

The subject matter for entry must be related to Construction Law.

Topics could include: Construction & Engineering Contracts; Dispute Resolution / Avoidance; any aspect in relation to Construction of: Arbitration; Adjudication; Litigation; Company Law; Taxation; Torts.

The SCL invites entries from all disciplines. Past winners have included engineers, barristers (including a pupil), solicitors (including a trainee) lecturers, quantity surveyors and post-graduate students.

The Judging Panel will allocate marks as follows:

  • 50% - ‘Originality of thought or approach and contribution to the study or practice of construction law or its applications in the industry’.
  • 40% - ‘Quality of analysis, explanation and discussion of chosen topic’ Considerable weight is given to the freshness of ideas and the value of the work
  • 10% - ‘Clarity of presentation, grammar, spelling, punctuation and any referencing’.

NB: Entries must be original, ie, not previously published elsewhere. The Society reserves the right to publish the winning entries in hard copy and/or on its website, with copyright being held jointly by the author and the Society. The award of prizes or commendations, or the decision not to award them, is in the absolute discretion of the Society through its judging panel.

Entries must be:

  • Not more than 5000 words (Note: While footnoting or other method of referencing sources does not count towards this total and is encouraged, some recent entrants appear to have tried to avoid the word limit by loading footnotes with matters of substance, sometimes running to several paragraphs, in a disproportionate and inappropriate way. This is almost always counter-productive)

  • An accurate word count must be provided, including all text but not footnotes

  • Identifiable by essay title only: It is essential that the author’s name or company name does not appear anywhere on the paper itself.

  • Accompanied by a covering letter, showing title of entry, author’s name and daytime telephone number.

THE COMPETITION SAW A MAJOR DEPARTURE IN RULES ON ENTRY, SO THAT NOW ELECTRONIC ENTRY IS ENCOURAGED. The closing date for entries will be 5th January 2021, entries should be sent by email to admin@scl.org.uk and an acknowledgement obtained before midnight on that date. Hard copy entries will be accepted until the closing entry day but no allowance will be made for any delay in the post or for any other reason if this method is chosen. No hard copy entries received after 5 January will be forwarded to the Judges; anyone choosing hard copy entry is advised to submit their entry well in advance of the Christmas rush.The risk of arrival of hard copy entry is with the entrant choosing this method.

Email or post entries to:
SCL Administration
234 Ashby Road, Hinckley Leicestershire, LE10 1SW Tel: 07730 474074
Email: admin@scl.org.uk.