Essay Competition
The Cambridge Centre for Animal Rights Law organises an annual essay competition in the field of animal rights law. The aim of this competition is to encourage students to explore the fascinating questions that animals rights raise, and to discuss these questions in an original piece of writing that may inspire them to engage further with the topic in the future.
Our Essay Competition prizes are sponsored by the International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR).
Essay Competition 2026
Our Centre is pleased to announce the return of our Essay Competition! This year, we are accepting essays on the following title:
‘Martha Nussbaum argues that animals need certain rights so that they can flourish. How far should human interests be limited in order to enable animals to flourish?’
This competition has two categories: one for university students and one for secondary school students.
For the university category, we welcome essays that are not longer than 3,000 words (including footnotes but excluding bibliography). Three prizes will be awarded in this category, with first place winning £750, second place winning £500, and third place winning £250.
In the secondary school category, we ask that essays do not exceed 1,000 words. We will award a Winning Commendation and two Special Commendations to the winning essays in this category. The schools of those who are awarded a Commendation will receive prizes of £250.
For more information and to access the 2026 Essay Submission Form, click here. Strictly one entry per person.
Please note that entries must directly address the essay title. Essays that do not directly address the title will not be considered.
The submission deadline is 13th February 2026. The winners will be announced by mid-March 2026. Winning entries will be uploaded to our website.
Essay Competition 2025
Our team were thrilled to receive an excellent array of essays in both our university and secondary school categories for our fifth Animal Rights Law Essay Competition. The submissions for this year’s Competition increased by over 40% from our 2024 Competition, and we are grateful to every applicant.
Our 2025 Competition invited essays on the following title:
“Is rights of nature a useful framework for giving rights to animals?” Discuss.
The competition had two categories: one for university students and one for secondary school students.
The winners of the university student category are:
First place: Michelle Strauss, (PhD candidate at City University Birmingham, LLB Otago University), ‘Is rights of nature a useful framework for giving rights to animals?’ . Ms Strauss won £750.
Second place: Faith Gakii (Undergraduate law student LLB at Strathmore Law School in Nairobi, Kenya), ‘Until Uhuru, the Enemy of Our Enemy is Our Ally’. Ms Gakii won £500.
Third place: Sheila Choi (US attorney, J.D. Georgetown Law, M.P.A. Harvard Kennedy School, M.B.A. UCLA Anderson School of Management, B.A. UC Berkeley, and founder of the Fuzzy Pet Foundation, USA), ‘The Limits of Rights of Nature (RoN): Why Animals Need Direct Legal Personhood’. Ms Choi won £250.
You can read the essays by clicking on the links above.
In the secondary school student category, we awarded a Winning Commendation and two Special Commendations. The schools of those who were awarded a Commendation received prizes of £250.
Essay Competition 2024
Our fourth Animal Rights Law Essay Competition was on the title:
“Whether autonomous, nonhuman animals have rights that ought to be ‘recognized by law’ is precisely the question [courts] are called upon to answer ... The immensity of that question does not place it exclusively within the domain of the legislature”. Discuss
Taken from the judgement of Judge Jenny Rivera, New York Court of Appeals, in Nonhuman Rights Project (Happy) v James Breheny, No 52, 14 June 2022
The competition had two categories: one for university students and one for secondary school students.
The winners of the university student category are:
First place: Anastasia Sloan (LLM Fellow, Lewis & Clark Law School), ‘Bringing Animals into the Room Will Awaken Us’. Ms Sloan won £750.
Second place: Ayush Sanghavi (BA Law finalist, Cambridge University), ‘Whether autonomous, nonhuman animals have rights’. Mr Sanghavi won £500.
Third place: Femke Oosterbaan Martinius (Law Lecturer, Radboud University), ‘A Winning Pleading for Animals? On feathered legal subjects and more’. Ms Oosterbaan Martinius won £250.
You can read the essays by clicking on the links above.
In the secondary school student category, we awarded a Winning Commendation and two Special Commendations. The schools of those who were awarded a Commendation received prizes of £250.
Essay Competition 2023
Our third Animal Rights Law Essay Competition invited essays on the following:
Richard Ryder once wrote: “Since Darwin, scientists have agreed that there is no ‘magical’ essential difference between human and other animals, biologically-speaking. Why then do we make an almost total distinction morally?” Assuming that is correct, how does this affect the arguments for and against animal rights laws?
The competition had two categories: one for university students and one for secondary school students.
The 2023 winners of the university student category are:
First place: Daniel Clark (Writer and translator), ‘The Marvellous Matadero’. Mr Clark won £750.
Watch this conversation our Centre had with Daniel Clark in which he reflects on his essay.
Alternatively, you can listen to an audio recording of ‘The Marvellous Matadero’ on our SoundCloud.
Second place: Francesca Jackson (LLM student, Lancaster University), ‘Richard Ryder once wrote…’. Ms Jackson won £500.
Watch this conversation our Centre had with Francesca Jackson on her essay.
Third place: Jessica Tselepy (LLM student, Lewis & Clark Law School), ‘Made in “Our Likeness”: The Impact of Darwin’s ‘Similarities-Point’ in modern Animal Rights Law’. Ms Tselepy won £250.
Watch this conversation our Centre had with Jessica Tselepy on her essay.
You can read the essays by clicking on the links above.
In the secondary school student category, we awarded a Winning Commendation and two Special Commendations. The schools of those who were awarded a Commendation received prizes of £250.
Essay Competition 2022
Our second Animal Rights Law Essay Competition was on the prompt: Imagine the world 50 years from now. Describe what you think the laws governing animals will look like and what will have influenced society in reaching that point.
The competition had two categories: one for university students and one for secondary school students.
The 2022 winning essays from the university student category are:
First place: Elien Verniers (PhD candidate, University of Ghent), ‘A New Era on the Horizon: From Anthropocene to Symbiocene’. Ms Verniers won £750 — our first prize kindly sponsored by the International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR).
Second place: Francesca Jackson (LLB student, Lancaster University), ‘Imagine the World 50 Years from Now’. Ms Jackson won £500.
Third place: Ashleigh Best (PhD candidate, Melbourne Law School), ‘Foregrounding Embodied Vulnerability and Human-Animal Relationality: How the Disasters of the Anthropocene Promise to Transform Animals’ Property Status’. Ms Best won £250.
You can read the essays by clicking on the links above.
In the secondary school student category, we awarded a Winning Commendation and two Special Commendations. The schools of those who were awarded a Commendation received prizes of £250.
Our Essay Competition was made possible through lead sponsorship by the Jeremy Coller Foundation and sponsorship by the Brooks Institute for Animal Rights Law & Policy. The first prize in the university category was sponsored by the International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR).
Essay Competition 2021
Our first Animal Rights Law Essay Competition followed in the footsteps of the competition run in 1795 by the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, when the question was: Anne liceat invitos in servitutem dare? (“Is it lawful to enslave the unconsenting?”). The competition was won by Thomas Clarkson, setting him on a course to become one of the leading English abolitionists. In 2021, our Centre invited essays on the same question: Is it lawful to enslave the unconsenting?
The winning essays were:
First place: Katharina Braun (PhD candidate, Free University of Berlin), ‘Consent, Animals, and the Other’. Ms Braun won £750 — our first prize kindly sponsored by the International Society for Animal Rights (ISAR).
Second place: Juan Fuente Bravo (SJD candidate, Central European University), ‘Animals as Subjects’. Mr Fuente Bravo won £500.
Third place: Katja Tiisala (Master’s student, University of Helsinki), ‘Is It Lawful to Enslave the Unconsenting?’. Ms Tiisala won £250.
You can read the essays by clicking on the links above.
We also received a number of impressive essays from high school students, to whom we awarded a certificate to commend them for their participation and work.