Exploring Corporate Insolvency: IIC Law Student Writing Awards

Established in 2014, the IIC Law Student Writing Awards is an annual competition for full-time undergraduate students in Canadian Law Schools. 

The purpose of the IIC Law Student Writing Awards Program is to stimulate interest among law students in the research and development of papers based on corporate insolvency and restructuring topics and to recognize outstanding achievements in this endeavour.   

The awards program encourages undergraduate students to research insolvency issues, develop ideas, and bring proposals for reform to the attention of the business and legal community.

All papers submitted to the Law Student Writing Award Judging Panel are confidential and are anonymized so as to not include the author’s name or university affiliation to ensure impartiality during the judging process.

IIC 2026-2027 Law Student Writing Awards – Opening Soon

Submission Deadline: TBD

First, second and third prizes of $7,500, $5,000, and $2,500 will be awarded. Judging of the papers submitted this year is underway and will be announced in September 2025.

Both the first-place winner and their faculty sponsor will be invited guests at the Annual IIC Conference.

Complimentary conference registration (including accommodations, programming, the Award dinner and social events) and travel costs (economy) will be provided for the winner and sponsor only.

If a co-authored paper is selected for first place, the division of the prize and the reimbursed travel costs will be entirely at the discretion of the winners.

Eligibility 

  • The competition is open to law students in full-time undergraduate law programs at Canadian universities. Entries may be submitted in English or French.
  • Each student is limited to one entry. There is no limit to the number of entries that may be submitted from one university, but each paper must bear the endorsement of a law faculty member.
  • Papers must be no longer than 3,000 words (exclusive of footnotes) and must be typed. Papers may be jointly written.
  • Papers must be submitted through the form below and all faculty sponsors must have confirmed their support by the deadline.
  • The paper must be focused on a corporate insolvency and restructuring topic.

Students may use the online Entry Form below and attach their paper for submission, or can complete the Entry Form included in the Brochure and email it, along with their paper, to info@insolvency.ca by the deadline.

Submission of Entries

All entries will become the exclusive property of the IIC and may be published in the Journal of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, on the IIC’s website, and/or used in any other manner whatsoever in the IIC’s sole discretion. 

Each entrant waives all proprietary rights they may have in and to the paper submitted (including revised and updated versions thereof). Publication or re-publication of the paper (including revised and updated versions thereof) may be done only with the prior express written permission of the IIC in its sole discretion. 

All entries must be for the IIC’s exclusive consideration, and simultaneous submissions to other competitions or publications is not permitted.

SUBMIT YOUR PAPER

Closing date: Deadline for the submission of papers for the 2027 Awards will be announced soon.

Students can make their submission using the online form, or the Entry Form included in the Brochure which can be emailed to info@insolvency.ca.

Name of Author(s) (up to 2)

Telephone number

Email Address

MANDATORY:

Please have your faculty sponsor email info@insolvency.ca with the following: “I endorse the submission of the paper submitted by ____________ to the IIC Law Student Writing Awards Program and confirm that the author is a full-time student at _________ university.” All faculty sponsor support emails must be received by the deadline.

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