The Procurement Lawyers’ Association is proud to announce its Third Annual Essay Competition.

This annual competition has been established in memory of Rosie Choueka, a committed and hard-working member of the PLA’s Executive Committee who sadly passed away in 2015 following a valiant fight against breast cancer.

Rosie had a passion for public procurement law which the PLA aims to honour by encouraging young lawyers (students, solicitors and barristers (or national equivalents) up to 2 years post qualification status) to submit an essay of not less than 2000 words and not more than 3000 words on different public procurement subjects. This year the chosen topic is:

“What is the purpose of the Abnormally Low Tender provisions and how should an authority determine when a tender is abnormally low?”

The essay may focus on any procurement-related aspect of the above topic and should be submitted to the PLA by no later than 5pm on Friday 6^th April 2018 via email to Rebecca Rees at Trowers & Hamlins LLP (rrees@trowers.com).

We are pleased to announce that the following prizes will be available for the winning essays:

• £1000 – first prize
• £500 – second prize
• £250 – third prize

(In addition, there will be three free places at the 2018 Whitepaper Conference on Public Procurement Law awarded to the above prize winners)

The winner will be invited to present their paper at the Autumn 2018 meeting of the Procurement Lawyers’ Association.

About Rosie Choueka (1976 – 2015)

Rosie was an active and lively member of the Procurement Lawyers’ Association. Her commitment to the PLA has helped contribute to its growth and success and she was particularly interested in the advancement and development of public procurement law in the UK – this shone through her work with Duncan Osler in heading up the PLA’s Working Groups, with one of the first being the Working Group on Evaluation. Rosie had a first class intellect, winning the EU law prize at Oxford University, where she also won an Exhibition to Brasenose College, and took a double first in Jurisprudence.  Rosie wrote a blog about her fight with cancer, which has been much acclaimed and can be read at http://fightinggenghis.wordpress.com. After her death in June 2015, Rosie’s husband Elliot, their family and friends launched Secondary1st. The mission of Secondary1st is to help fund research into the prevention, diagnosis and causes of secondary (metastatic) breast cancer and the development of more effective treatments. More information can be found at www.secondary1st.org.uk/.

Competition Rules

• The submitted essays should be between 2000 and 3000 words long and should be an original piece of work.
• Each entry must be accompanied by a front cover sheet stating:
• Essayist’s name
• Contact details (including email address)
• Name of place of work/academic institution
• Statement that confirms, “I certify that this essay is no less than 2000 words and no more than 3000 words long (excluding citations), is an original piece of my own work and no part of it is copied directly from any book or other source (eg a website) unless directly attributed as such within the essay.”
• Essays should be submitted in Arial Font Size 12 in Microsoft Word format and there should be no name or other identifying material on or in the essay itself (apart from on the front cover sheet), so that they can be judged anonymously.
• Footnotes are discouraged and any used will count towards the overall word count.
• The title of the essay should be on every sheet submitted.
• Essays should be submitted for the attention of Rebecca Rees at Trowers & Hamlins LLP via email: rrees@trowers.com in accordance with these Rules
• The competition is open to individual entrants who are students (including under-graduate, post-graduate and professional studies (law and non-law) students), solicitors and barristers up to 2 years post qualification status and their equivalents in any jurisdiction. If you have any queries regarding your eligibility to participate please contact Rebecca Rees at the contact details set out in Section 6 above.
• All entries must be received by 5 pm on Friday 6^th April 2018.

Winners will be notified by the end of June 2018 and by submitting an essay you consent to it being published on the PLA website and agree to present the essay at the Autumn 2018 PLA meeting of its members.