ALAI European Authors’ Right Award – supported by GESAC Guidelines for the 5 th edition / 2023
ALAI, a worldwide network of academics and experts in copyright wants to give young researchers the opportunity to showcase their views on authors’ right/copyright by entering an essay competition. The award is supported by GESAC, the European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers.
Prize
Prize amounts €2,000 to the winner and €1,000 to the second winner if the Jury decides to award a second essay.
The winner(s) will also receive :
• A free registration to attend the 2023 International ALAI Congress (no travel or lodging expenses are included);
• A free membership registration in a national ALAI group during the year following the award (2024) (the winner(s) home country group or the national group of the country where the winner(s) studies or resides);
• One year- subscription to the International Authors’ Right Journal “RIDA”;
ALAI and GESAC may decide to hold an award ceremony. In this case, the winner(s) receive an additional lump sum of 500 Euros to cover travel and lodging to attend the ceremony.
The selected abstracts and essays will be published (and, if necessary, translated) on the websites of ALAI and GESAC. They may be published as well as in the RIDA (see below).
Publication
The essays of the winners will be submitted to the International Authors’ Right Journal (RIDA) that may decide to publish them provided they haven’t been published elsewhere. In that case, the winner(s) accept(s) to give RIDA the exclusivity of the publication of the said essay(s) for a period of 6 months (starting from the publication date in RIDA). The winning essay(s) will also be posted on the websites of GESAC and ALAI.
Subject
The essay must:
• be related to authors’ rights/copyright
• have a European dimension (this may include a comparison of third-country systems with
those of the EU)
• include aspects that could be of interest to the collective management of authors’
rights/copyright.
Within this framework, the applicants will be free to select the specific issue for which they submit their applications.
Eligibility
• Research Master’s students from any university in the world (minimum 4th year tertiary student or Masters, LLM, or pre-doctoral level);
• Candidates must be under the age of 35 on 16 November 2022;
• Candidates must have been recommended to apply by at least one IP professor at a recognised university / faculty;
• The essays to be submitted for the competition can be a new work specifically prepared for the competition, or be based on another academic work still in progress or already completed and presented at an academic institution in 2021.
Format
Eligible students wishing to participate in the competition must provide:
• a completed and signed application form.
• an abstract of the essay they wish to submit (maximum one-page summary, approximately
2000 characters) and
• if their abstract is selected, an essay of maximum 30,000 characters (excluding spaces), or approximately 15 pages (excluding possible annexes and bibliography)
• Abstracts and essays must be submitted in Word format in either English or French.
Jury
The jury for the 2023 edition of the award is chaired by Professor Frank Gotzen, President of ALAI and
is comprised of two ALAI representatives:
• Paul Torremans, Professor of Intellectual Property Law, University of Nottingham (TBC)
• Raquel Xalabarder, Catedràtica de Propietat Intel·lectual, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (TBC)
and two representatives of GESAC:
• Caroline Bonin, Head of Legal Affairs, SACEM
• Gábor Faludi, outside Counsel for Artisjus, Associate Professor ELTE Law School Civil Law Department
Selection procedure/Key dates
1. The candidates must submit their application form and an abstract of the essay (see the part
on Format) they intend to present, at the latest by November 15, 2022;
2. The jury will make a first selection based on the abstracts submitted by the candidates. The result of this preliminary selection will be communicated to candidates on December 15,2022;
3. The short-listed candidates will need to submit their completed abstract (see the part on Format) at the latest by: February 15, 2023;
4. The jury will select the winner(s) and the results will be communicated to the candidates in the first week of April 2023.
The jury reserves the right not to name a winner if the quality of the essays is deemed insufficient.
Contact: Questions, application forms, abstracts, and essays can be sent to: alai.award@gesac.org
