MANILA, Philippines – The IBP Journal, official legal publication of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), invites all lawyers and law students to participate in its “National Legal Writing Competition” with the theme: The Philippines’ sovereignty over the Kalayaan Island Group and Scarborough Shoal. The competition is sponsored by former Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio.
Here are the competition details and submission guidelines, according to the IBP.
Eligibility
Entries to the competition will be sorted into two categories.
- Students
Bona fide students enrolled in the Juris Doctor program of any Philippine law school in the Philippines may participate in the Law Student category. A maximum of two students may co-write and submit a paper as co-authors. Co-authors may come from different schools.
- Lawyers
Lawyers and members of good standing of the IBP may submit an entry to the Lawyer category.
Submission guidelines
- Theme
Entries must include an analysis of current issues, laws, jurisprudence, or principles relevant to the theme. Entries that merely describe or enumerate facts, issues, or principles without providing analysis of legal issues are discouraged.
- Word count
Entries must be written in English or Filipino. The Student category requires a word count of 2,500 to 4,000, while the Lawyer category requires 3,500 to 6,000 words. This excludes footnotes, appendices, and tables, etc.
- Format
For the body, font must be 12 pt., Times New Roman or Book Antiqua, with 1.5 spacing. For the footnotes, font must be 10 pt., Times New Roman or Book Antiqua, with 1 spacing.
Entries must be submitted as PDF files. Other formats are not allowed.
Entries must not contain any personal identifying information.
The footnotes and references must include sources and references to support the analysis and discussion. Participants are encouraged to refer to the Philippine Manual of Legal Citation or The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation when formatting their footnotes.
A cover sheet must be submitted as a separate PDF file with the following information:
- name
- email address
- mobile phone number
- category (Law Student or Lawyer)
- school (for students); position and organization (for lawyers)
- total word count
By submitting work to the competition, participants warrant that the entry is their original work of the and has not been published in any journal, law review, or other publications, whether in the Philippines or in any foreign jurisdiction. Failure to comply, including the use of artificial intelligence tools to draft an entry, will merit disqualification and/or revocation of any prize given.
Only one entry per person is allowed, including joint entries by students.
Entries must be sent to journal@ibp.ph or ibp.journal@gmail.com with the subject: NLWC Submission – [Name] [Category]. Printed or hard copies will not be accepted.
The deadline of entries is on May 15, 2025, at 5 pm. Late entries will not be accepted.
Judging
The entries will be reviewed by a panel of experts composed of and/or selected by the IBP Journal’s Board of Editors. All decisions of the panel are final and not appealable.
Evaluation criteria
Entries will be judged according to the following criteria.
- substance (50%)
The work must forward a coherent argument with a strong conclusion. This includes depth of analysis and strength of legal argumentation.
- novelty of issue (35%)
The work must articulate original thought addressing the theme.
- form and organization (15%)
The work must be structured well, with proper citations, logical flow of arguments, and with proper grammar and style.
Entries may be disqualified if they do not meet any of the formatting or submission guidelines.
Prizes
For each category, the winners will receive:
- 1st prize: P100,000
- 2nd prize: P75,000
- 3rd prize: P50,000
Intellectual property and publication
By participating in the competition, the participants assign the exclusive copyright of the entries to the IBP Journal. Winning entries may be published in the IBP Journal as well as other publications of the IBP at the sole discretion of the IBP.
In any use of the winning entries, proper attribution to the IBP and that it owns the copyright to the original work, must be made. – Rappler.com