LawSikho is pleased to announce a weekly blog writing competition. Every week we will select the top 5 published articles from iPleaders blog and give a reward of INR 2000 to each of them. This is not restricted to any particular week but will go on around the year, Monday to Sunday (what will count as the effective date for this purpose is the day of publication and not the day of submission), each and every week unless we suspend or cancel the competition at any time. 

One person can submit as many articles as they wish and as frequently as they wish. However, only one article submitted by one individual or co-authors in a week will be considered for the prize money. But, submitting more articles will definitely increase your chances of winning. However, article submitted by same individuals/ co-authors in other weeks might qualify for that week’s competition. 

We hope that the competition will help in motivating the legal community to write good articles and get them published on India’s largest legal blog – The iPleaders blog. We expect this to serve two great purposes – one is to encourage good legal writers to write more frequently and make more legal information and knowledge universally accessible.

All the necessary details related to the competition are available below. In case of any confusion, please contact Harsh at 7568795773 or Uzair at 8439572315.

What is LawSikho?

LawSikho is India’s leading online education company that creates advanced and practical legal courses that cater to lawyers, leading businesses and even universities.

We bridge the gap between theory and practice in legal education.

We bring industry insights into the domain of legal learning and make learning practical skills that help you to do client work simpler, quicker and cheaper.

Over the years, LawSikho has become a formidable library of practical legal knowledge, a repository of insights, video lessons, how-to guides and templates that can elevate a legal practice and help it to scale faster.

LawSikho is also a community of lawyers who are forever a law student in their heart and dedicates some of their time to studying and learning law, writing about it and even teaching it.

This community is also a force behind many projects like the iPleaders blog, which is one of the largest and most well-read legal blogs in the world, with around 1 crore individuals reading it annually, many events and webinars, as well as our fast-growing YouTube channel. There are projects like Project Access, through which we have been making the entire law school curriculum available on YouTube for free in the form of video lectures, and creating free to access reading the material as well.

Submission Guidelines

Perks

• Top 5 submissions of every week will get a cash prize of Rs. 2000 each
• Top 5 submissions will get a certificate of merit (no physical copy, but online)
• Top 10 participants would get the chance to intern at LawSikho if they wish
• Top 6th to 10th submission will get the e-certificate of excellence
• Best articles (including the above-mentioned ones) will get published on India’s largest legal blog, iPleaders blog.
• Top authors will be added to an official wall of fame.
• Internships at law firms that would partner with us to provide internships to winners
• LawSikho store credits worth INR 1000 (you can use this to buy courses from LawSikho.com) for top 5 authors.

Note: We keep sharing exciting content and many more exciting competitions on our YouTube channel, Telegram channel and Instagram channel. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, telegram channel and Instagram channel for the same.

Eligibility

Any person and every person who wants to submit an article on a legal topic which meets below-mentioned criteria is eligible to submit the article for the competition. 

Article published in a particular week will be eligible to be considered for the competition during that week only and for no other week.

Topics

Submissions on any legal topic will be accepted. We would also consider articles on legal industry, legal career, legal profession, law school life etc.

Word Limit 

Article should be a minimum of 2000 words (there is no maximum word limit).

Assessment Criteria

If more people read your article, like it, engage with it, share it and comment on it, we take that as a sign that your article is well received and this is something we would take into consideration while deciding the winners, apart from the quality of the article and hygiene factors.

It may so happen that we do not find 5 articles to select because they do not meet the following criteria, in which case we will not consider sub-par articles for the rewards. We may announce 4 or fewer winners or even none at all if the articles do not meet quality standards.

Your articles will be marked on the following points. You should meet the following standards in order to qualify to win:

1. The article should meet professional standards and be of publishable quality
2. Any plagiarism will lead to immediate disqualification. If we even find out about plagiarism, we will immediately blacklist you and revoke your winner status.
3. The content shouldn’t be too dense/ technical for a reader. Easier to read, better chances of winning.
4. Content should not be ambiguous, or should not have multiple meanings. We hate vague writing.
5. It should be detailed. Answer all the questions that may come to one’s mind regarding the topic. However, do not deviate and write irrelevant things to make up the word count. Content needs to be genuine and strictly relevant.
6. Information and law should be accurate. If this criterion is not met, we cannot select your article.
7. You have to be straight to the point and clear. No beating around the bush.
8. The idea should be communicated clearly and emphatically.
9. There must be sufficient examples. We would appreciate if there are accompanying PPTs, videos, tables, charts, infographics, etc. to explain the concept completely. Please do not violate someone else’s copyright for this. That would get you disqualified.
10. Inconsistent technical terms should not be used in the document.
11. Acronyms used in the articles should be explained.
12. Important points should be properly highlighted, and the paragraphs should have proper headings and subheadings. More headings and subheadings and bullet points you put, the better chance of winning, because we love well-structured articles. 
13. Information should not be repetitive.
14. You should avoid over-exaggeration or over-explanation of concepts.  
15. The article should be in proper flow. Paragraphs/ sentences/ headings/ sub-headings (select as appropriate) should be connected with the previous and subsequent paragraph/ sentence/ heading/ sub-heading (select as appropriate).
16. Sentences and bullet points should be complete sentences.  
17. All the judgments or statutory instruments should be hyperlinked. Non-functional/ not updated to the latest amendment links should not be inserted.
    

    
    Note: Hyperlinks are to be like this: In X vs. Z, 2018 Supreme Court (see here) or in the report by Fox News (see here). If materials will be shared in print only (and there is no online mode), simply footnote the link, because the link will not be knowable or clickable.

    [Ctrl + Shift + K is the Google Keyboard Shortcut for inserting a hyperlink].

18. All the sources of the information should be acknowledged hyperlinked to the same.
19. Heading should not be marked as subheadings (and vice-versa).
20. Unoriginal content should be avoided.
21. Formatting standards should be followed.
22. Editors discretion is final regarding winners.
    
    Refer to these articles to understand what we consider as good article.

1. 1. https://blog.ipleaders.in/how-to-register-cyber-crime-complaint-with-cyber-cell-of-police-online-complaint-procedure/
   2. https://blog.ipleaders.in/examination-of-witnesses/

Also, read this article as it may help you a great deal.

Date of Submission

Sunday of every week will be considered as the last day of submission for that week. All the articles submitted after Sunday will by default be considered for next week. This is a weekly competition. The week will be considered to start every Monday and end on every Sunday.

Mail your write-ups on Email Id: [email protected]

Declaration of results

Results will be declared within 30 days from the last day of submission (30 days from Sunday of that week).

Exclusive license

By submitting your article for this competition, you are giving Addictive Learning Technology Private Limited exclusive and unlimited license, without any restriction of time or geographical restriction, to publish your article on iPleaders blog, as well as any other compendium where we may like to publish it. Quid pro quo is the opportunity to participate in the competition. However, if we do not publish your article within 30 days of submission, we would have no rights to your article and you would be free to publish it elsewhere or use it as you deem fit. However, if we publish it, you will not attempt to publish the same article/content anywhere else.

Points to keep in mind regarding the format of the blog

1. Headings – Font Size 16, BOLD
2. Sub Headings- Font Size 14, BOLD ITALIC
3. Content- Font Size 12, NORMAL
4. Font- Times New Roman
5. Line Spacing (main text)- 1.15
6. References – You have to mention all the sources from where you have taken the information in your article as ‘References’.
7. References- Font Size 10, NORMAL
8. Line Spacing (References)- 1.0
9. Margins- 2” on each side
10. Structure of the article should be well made i.e., must include every possible aspect of law and judicial pronouncements.
11. The article should be exhaustive in itself to give the reader all information necessary to him.
12. The article should be logically and creatively written.
13. Grammar and concept should be correct.
14. Articles submitted should be original and unpublished. (Articles have more than 20% unoriginal content will be rejected)
15. Should be submitted on an exclusive basis.
16. The topic should be creative in itself

Resources – How to write an article

• Videos

1. 1. 1. https://youtu.be/ujdfwn2x4ic
      2. https://youtu.be/MfhPWyj72pg
      3. https://youtu.be/OWwzBhXDULg
      4. https://youtu.be/K1gYgt5gevU
      5. https://youtu.be/2Lt5rc-KNbY
      6. https://youtu.be/dstqC7rGQ54
      7. https://youtu.be/LOxUraXB-y8
      8. https://youtu.be/-YwNd5L_e_Y 

• Articles

1. 1. 1. https://www.legallyindia.com/views/entry/a-simple-5-step-guide-on-how-to-write-effective-and-popular-legal-articles
      2. https://blog.ipleaders.in/the-biggest-mistake-you-will-make-while-writing-a-law-article-and-how-to-avoid-it/

• Sample article

1. 1. https://blog.ipleaders.in/how-to-register-cyber-crime-complaint-with-cyber-cell-of-police-online-complaint-procedure/
   2. https://blog.ipleaders.in/examination-of-witnesses/ 

Contact Details

E-mail: [email protected]

Harsh Jain, Senior Associate, LawSikho: [email protected]

Uzair, Assistant Blog Manager: [email protected]