ALAI European Authors’ Right Award – supported by GESAC Guidelines for the 6th edition 2024

ALAI, a worldwide network of academics and copyright experts, wants to encourage young researchers to participate in academic work and provide them the opportunity to showcase their views and research on authors’ right/copyright by entering an essay competition. The award is supported by GESAC, the European Grouping of Societies of Authors and Composers, which serves as an umbrella organization of authors’ societies in Europe and advocates for adequate protection of authors’ rights and interests.

PRIZE

The author of the winning essay receives an amount of €2,000 (if the jury decides to award a second essay, the second winner will receive €1,000).

The winner(s) will also receive:

• a free registration to attend the 2024 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 (2025) (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 – Revue International de Droit d’Auteur”.

ALAI and GESAC may organise an award ceremony. In this case, the winner(s) receive(s) an additional lump sum of 500 Euros to cover travel and lodging to attend the event.

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

• master’s students or newly master’s graduates (year 2023) from any university in the world (minimum 4th year tertiary, master’s level, LL.M, pre-doctoral or doctoral level students/researchers);
• candidates must be under the age of 35 on 16 November 2023;
• candidates must have been recommended to apply by at least one IP professor at a recognized 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 2022.

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 spaces, possible annexes, and bibliography)
• Abstracts and essays must be submitted in Word format in either English or French.

JURY

The jury for the 2024 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
• Raquel Xalabarder, Catedràtica de Propietat Intellectual, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

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

• 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, 2023;
• 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, 2023;
• the short-listed candidates will need to submit their completed essay (see the part on Format) at the latest by: February 15, 2024;
• the jury will select the winner(s) and the results will be communicated to the candidates in the first week of April 2024.

* 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 are to be sent to: alai.award@gesac.org

French version of the full eligibility criteria and prize details is available here.

French version of the Application form is available here.