Inclusive Copyright Thesis Award

Description of program

This contest grants an award to the best master thesis written in English in the field of Copyright Law. Applicants from underrepresented groups (race/ethnic minority groups in countries where that group is minoritized or non-dominant; women; people with disabilities; LGBTQIA2S+) are especially encouraged to apply. The thesis must have been submitted to an institution of higher education in 2023, in the framework of a Master’s degree program. The deadline for submission is January 31, 2024

Requirements

• The thesis must have been submitted to, and accepted by, an institution of higher education in 2023, in the framework of a Master’s degree program.
• Law students enrolled in a JD program in the United States are eligible for this contest, provided they submit a research paper of publishable quality that was submitted for course credit and are nominated by the professor of that course.
• The thesis must be on copyright law and written in English.
• The work must be the applicant’s own original work.
• The work cannot have been submitted to other competitions for prizes or awards.
• Submissions must include, in addition of the thesis, the following:
  • Name, telephone number, address, valid email address
  • Name of the Master’s or JD's program, (planned) graduation date and title of the thesis
  • Official proof of acceptance of the thesis by the institution of higher education (in case of students in a JD program, the paper should be submitted for credit in the course of a JD program, and the nomination by the course instructor will suffice)
  • An executive summary of the thesis (max. 1000 words)
  • A personal statement on why diversity and inclusion issues matter to you (max. 500 words)
  • An essay on the intersection of copyright and diversity (max. 700 words)

Judging criteria

• Timeliness of the topic
• Legal relevance and level of profundity/extent of research done
• Methodology
• Novelty of the approach to, or of the insights into, the subject
• Use of language and writing skills

Award

The award consists of a sum of USD 5000 (gross). The winner will be announced publicly in June 2024.

Questions

If you have any questions, please reach out to us at thesisaward@google.com.

Official rules

1. Any person can apply. Underrepresented groups (race/ethnic minority groups in countries where that group is minoritised or non-dominant; women; people with disabilities; LGBTQIA2S+) are especially encouraged to apply.

2. The following are not allowed to apply:

   • Google staff or family of Google staff
   • Customers, partners or vendors of Google and their staff
   • Government officials
   • Persons who are (1) residents of US embargoed countries, (2) ordinarily resident in US embargoed countries, or (3) otherwise prohibited by applicable export controls and sanctions programs
   • Sadly, due to applicable regulations, we are not able to extend the competition to residents of the following countries/regions: Brazil, Crimea, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Quebec, Sudan, Syria.

3. Google reserves the right to disqualify any applicant if, in Google’s sole discretion, it reasonably believes that the applicant has attempted to undermine the legitimate operation of the contest by cheating, deception, or other unfair playing practices or annoys, abuses, threatens or harasses any other entrants, Google, or any judges.

4. Applicants grant to Google a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive right to copy, qualify and evaluate their work, and to perform the necessary acts for said qualification and evaluation.

5. All the requirements must be complied with. Incomplete submissions, or submissions that do not comply (fully or partially) with the requirements of the contest, will not be considered.

6. The deadline for submission is January 31, 2024.

7. The Jury of the contest is composed of members of Google’s Copyright Legal Team.

8. As a condition for accepting the award, the winner grants Google the consent to publish the winner’s name and the thesis’ title and abstract.

9. Google reserves the right to cancel, terminate or modify the contest if it cannot be completed as planned for any reason, including but not limited to infection by computer virus, bugs, tampering, unauthorized intervention, technical failures or corruption of any sort. Google reserves the right to not grant the thesis award in the event the applications are not of sufficient quality. The quality of the applications submitted shall be evaluated at the Jury’s sole discretion.